Buildless JavaScript

The title didn't catch my interest the first time I looked at it. I'm not working on any JavaScript project at the moment after all. But the second time made me curious. And I'm glad I clicked on the link.

So it talks about using JavaScript without any build system. Aaah, a topic that is close to my heart. Ever remembered the days when you can just add some <script src="..." tag in your HTML and call it a day?

I'll just list a few things that are interesting to me here:-

  • Julia's Vue project template - it just index.html + script.js

  • Twind - I'm excited about this one. Always wish I can just use tailwindcss by simply adding the <script src= tag. This makes it possible. It's a compiler that will compile tailwind utility class into CSS on the fly.

  • Fresh - Deno web framework. TIL that Deno is not fond of a build system.

  • Supabase - ok, this one is not really related to the topic but I saw it on the Fresh chat demo. It claims to be an open-source Firebase alternative. Basically, it gave you hosted PostgreSQL database with a nice Firebase-like API to access it.

  • HTMX no build step.