Comment by Xavier Duncan on "I'm creating a single page portfolio. What's some contemporary technology I could use that isn't a JS framework?"

CommentI'm creating a single page portfolio. What's some contemporary technology I could use that isn't a JS framework?

Xavier Duncan

Full Stack Web Developer, UX / UI.

Apr 3, 2017

To be honest, React could still be an option for you. It's not a framework like Angular or Ember. It's more similar to something like jQuery, a library that can be used anywhere on your page / site. It's also super easy to learn... I was able to learn and apply it to a small piece of a site I was working on in about 30 - 45 minutes.

That being said, if your main goal is aesthetics and you just want to try something new along the way, I would go with one of the libraries you replied with earlier. They offer solutions out of the box that will get you to your desired results much easier / faster. I've impressed a lot of clients using Tilt + Waypoint :)

estevan carlos benson

Artist & Technologist

Apr 3, 2017

It's like Jquery? I may not at all understand the point of React. So it's just for the purpose of DOM manipulation? I thought it was more specifically about managing user input but not necessarily DOM manipulation.

If you really wanted to, you could replace jQuery with React, although certain tasks would be harder in React and vice versa. DOM manipulation is the primary function of React, and the way it handles this is what makes it so cool. Google search "React and the Virtual DOM" if you're interested.

React, as well as Vue, are just one piece of the puzzle: views / rendering. They do one thing, and do it very well. Unlike Angular, which tries to solve everything and falls short sometimes.

That being said, you can still build a "React app", which is probably why some think of it as a framework. Depending on the complexity of the app though, you would need to combine it with other libraries to handle your states, routing, etc... since React wasn't really designed for these things. Angular, Ember, and Backbone were.

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