Yesterday I needed a drop of super glue to fix something. Although I only needed a drop – and I use the tiny 5ml tubes – I still got some on my fingers. Because that’s almost a rule with super glue. It sticks, and that includes your fingers. And it’s hard to get it off skin.
You might wonder what super glue has to do with frameworks.
Swings and roundabouts
Apart from getting glue on my fingers, I’ve been trying to optimise our website.
I started using HTML more than 20 years ago. (What? You didn’t know websites existed that long ago? Some of us remember the real browser wars.)
Last year we redesigned the Incus Data website. After all the years of hand-coding the website, I gave in and used a content management system. It wasn’t an easy choice.
It’s a case of swings and roundabouts. If you don’t know that expression, it means there are an equal number of advantages and disadvantages.
The CMS made some things easier. I don’t have to worry about responsive CSS and cross-browser testing. It has blog software. There are plug-ins for everything, and easy ways to integrate with other tools.
But it isn’t all smooth sailing. I get frustrated having to make changes via the interface. The more functionality there is, the harder it is to find what I want. I don’t have as much control. The plugins need to be updated, and sometimes break. And it adds lots of bloat, which slows pages down.
It’s a bit like super glue. It does the job, but not without some mess.
The framework isn’t enough
Even with the CMS, I still do some things “by hand”. In some cases it is faster and cleaner. In other cases, it is the only way to get what I want.
By chance I came across an online argument about setting the focus on a web form. I didn’t understand the need to argue, because it’s simple in HTML. Apparently it’s not as easy in some JavaScript frameworks.
The same day I saw a meme about new web developers. It shows someone at the bottom of a staircase. The person is trying to avoid using the bottom stairs marked HTML/CSS, JavaScript and Git, and climb directly to the top stair marked React. There are variations of this for other technologies. It’s not funny, but it makes a point.
And here I get stuck – no pun intended – with my super glue analogy. I could say that, contrary to old ads, it can’t lift cars. Except that frameworks actually do the heavy lifting. But any tool is only as good as the person using it. Without the right knowledge and skill, you’re likely to make a mess.
Do you get frustrated with frameworks? Or do you think the tools are so good that developers don’t need the basics anymore? Am I the only one with super glue on my fingers? I’d love to hear your opinion.
