What is the most powerful web framework? Is it React or Angular? Is it Vue? What else did we have over the course of the time? We had Backbone, Knockout and many more that I am not aware of. Technology and the frameworks we use on a constant change, but we will always have our Web APIs.

By using the frameworks, we abstracted ourselves away from the API’s provided by the vendors. We started to ship megabytes of javascript files in order to create a simple dashboard application. I am not saying that we need to re-invent the wheel every-time we start a new project, but the problem is, newcomers will not be able to learn the most powerful web framework we have, the Web API. With the dominating frameworks in the web, it seems the only way to develop a web application is to use these frameworks. Instead of advocating frameworks, we need to advocate web as a whole. We need to push the vendors to implement specifications as it is. After all, frameworks will pass and we will always have our APIs.

In order to understand real challenges behind the curtains, we need to understand what web really is. What kind of limitations we have and what kind of trade-offs we had since the web was a thing. Only after truly understanding what web is, we will be able to shape it according to our needs.