Why I Still Use Vanilla JS for Side Projects

It’s pure, it’s fast—and it reminds me what I know.

Side projects are a useful place to remember that JavaScript works without a framework standing nearby. Starting with the platform keeps the setup small, makes the trade-offs visible and delays the traditional weekend project milestone of configuring fourteen dependencies.

Starting without a framework keeps the first decisions visible. Sometimes the project grows into needing more structure; sometimes it never does, and I am pleased not to have paid for complexity in advance.

The answer is rarely a universal rule. It is a way of looking at the decision clearly enough to choose on purpose.

Prefer the thing that survives contact

Front-end work has a habit of looking simple from a distance. The browser then introduces real content, small screens, old devices, keyboard navigation and somebody using the product in a way nobody drew in the design file.

That is why I favour choices that are easy to inspect. Start with semantic HTML, let CSS do the layout work it was designed for, and add JavaScript where it creates genuine value. Cleverness is occasionally useful; legibility is useful every day.

The best front-end code does not show off. It makes the interface feel obvious.

A practical way to start

A few questions help me decide what to do next:

• What problem are we actually trying to remove?
• Who will have to understand this after us?
• What evidence would make us change direction?

None of those questions produces an automatic answer. They do make the trade-offs visible, which is usually the point where a team can stop arguing from instinct and start making a decision together.

The web is wonderfully forgiving, but users should not have to rely on that forgiveness. Build from sturdy foundations and the interesting parts become much easier to enjoy.

There will always be exceptions. The trick is to make them deliberate exceptions rather than habits nobody remembers choosing.