Simpler Front-end Toolset

When looking to start a simple front end project, many people may default to using things like React, TypeScript, Vite, or Tailwind.

Instead, here are some recommendations that don’t require using Node or NPM.

CSS

Use a “classless” CSS library like CSSBed or Pico.css.

It’s similar to Bootstrap, but doesn’t require writing any CSS or adding any CSS classes to your HTML. Just include the <link> tag in your HTML document.

If you prefer to try a utility based approach, similar to the “Tailwind” everyone keeps raving about, try Basscss. Again, no tooling, just need a tag.

JavaScript

For adding some interactivity to your site, htmx is a pretty simple approach. If you really want something like React, then Mithril.js is quite similar but much simpler.