170: The Case for Vanilla JavaScript with Chris Ferdinandi Greater Than Code

00:53 - Chris’s Superpower: Derailing conversations and having a knack for taking complex tasks and breaking them down into smaller, simpler parts that people find easy to understand.


01:44 - The Pitch for Vanilla JavaScript


03:06 - Peoples’ Biggest Challenge as a Developer



Having Trouble Keeping Up
Adding Processes and Tools Make it More Difficult to Get Started
“The Right Way To Do It”


05:50 - The Problem With The Way We Do Things Today



Front-End Development
Back-End Developers Move to Front-End


08:30 - Modern Web Development



The Use of Frameworks
Package Managers
“The Cascade is Bad” - Using More JavaScript


11:42 - A Better Approach To Web Development



Sometimes Old Is Better
Don’t Ditch The Old Just Because Something New Came Out
Embrace The Platform
Think Smaller And More Modular
Remember That The Web Is For Everyone


17:15 - CSS and JavaScript



Web Bloat That Affects The End User
Accessibility - Being Able To Work On Improvement
Accessibility Audit On Gutenberg
Being Too Heavily Focused On One Programming Language


25:05 - The Notion of Development At Scale



The Google Hiring Process And Frameworks


27:45 - Silos Of Technology


31:10 - Complexity And/Or Simplicity



Focusing On Quality Over Volume
Factoring For Growth


37:20 - Advocating For Vanilla JavaScript



Documentation
Unexpected Incidentals


44:10 - Gradual Movement Of The Code Base


45:30 - Using The Word “Just”


49:30 - The Concept Of State


52:45 - Use Of Static HTML


53:40 - Do Companies Actually Build For The Web Like This



Netflix Page Loads With Vanilla JS
Happy Middle Ground


58:05 - Summation Of Positives Of Vanilla JavaScript



Ease Of Beginner Developer Onboarding
Allowing Non-JavaScript Developers To Participate More Meaningfully In Your Process
Overall Resilience And Performance For The End User


Reflections:


Rein: Pick the thing that reduces your suffering the most.


Jacob: If you are just starting to learn JavaScript, it is ok to not learn a framework immediately. It is also ok to dive into something else and come back to learn vanilla JS. Also, Noel Rappin - Modern Front-End Development for Rails, takes a great approach to using differing technologies and what they can bring to your project.


Chris: Thinking about the instances where it does make sense to use some of these tools as opposed to reasons why you shouldn’t use them. Liked the talk about minimizing your pain.
If you feel like there are too many moving parts to JavaScript, you are not alone, it’s not you, and you’ve totally got this.


This episode was brought to you by @therubyrep of DevReps, LLC. To pledge your support and to join our awesome Slack community, visit patreon.com/greaterthancode


To make a one-time donation so that we can continue to bring you more content and transcripts like this, please do so at paypal.me/devreps. You will also get an invitation to our Slack community this way as well.


Amazon links may be affiliate links, which means you’re supporting the show when you purchase our recommendations. Thanks!
Special Guest: Chris Ferdinandi.
Support Greater Than Code