The State of Disappearing Frameworks in 2023

TL;DR

This paper surveys disappearing frameworks in 2023, highlighting their focus on minimal JavaScript delivery, reliance on compilers, and ecosystem diversity, reflecting a shift in web development priorities.

Contribution

It provides a comprehensive characterization of disappearing frameworks in 2023, analyzing their features, ecosystem options, and underlying technologies.

Findings

Frameworks rely heavily on compilers

Most support static output and progressive enhancement

Ecosystem includes both UI library agnostic and opinionated solutions

Abstract

Disappearing frameworks represent a new type of thinking for web development. In the current mainstream JavaScript frameworks, the focus has been on developer experience at the cost of user experience. Disappearing frameworks shift the focus by aiming to deliver as little, even zero, JavaScript to the client. In this paper, we look at the options available in the ecosystem in mid-2023 and characterize them in terms of functionality and features to provide a state-of-the-art view of the trend. We found that the frameworks rely heavily on compilers, often support progressive enhancement, and most of the time support static output. While solutions like Astro are UI library agnostic, others, such as Marko, are more opinionated.