What I Want Out Of A Web Framework

What you need is a REST framework and not a web framework. The server side web frameworks are archaic for building true web applications. Use a client side framework and communicate with your REST framework. Use a CMS to do templating, the world does not need another server side tempalting language to do poorly what CMS's do.

Implement you view in pure HTML / CSS / Javascript. This makes development tool portability, server platform portability and CMS portability a none issue for your UI. By completely separating the view it also forces your architecture to implement all business logic and data access as services. Which creates an open API for mobile and 3rd party developers as well as future uninvented UI products.

The UI moves faster than business logic and requires different development procedures. As much as it is software development to produce a web app, it is just as much digital publishing which requires a total different release schedule and less labor intensive quality verification requirements.

Server frameworks have been making the compromise of faster development to satisfy the digital publishing requirements (ASP, PHP) or strict enforcement to satisfy the software development quality requirements (Java, .NET). All of them are bastardized to either the designer or the developer take you pick.

Removing the view from the server cleanly severs the two worlds and allows designers and front end developers the ability to rapidly iterate while allowing middleware developers the ability to enforce contracts and security.

Build the best REST framework available and you will start to see developers flock in droves as more and more organizations realize the benefits of separating the two disciplines.