unfortunately we have a new class of dev's that never learned html but went straight for React. Now with LLMs they will never learn HTML.
hence they reach for react components where simple html would have been sufficient.
When I first had to use XML, I had to learn the XML spec and output it manually - serialization libraries didn’t really exist yet. I’ve since seen generation of juniors come up through the ranks using XML as an interchange format (and then JSON) without ever learning it fully. It was fine, and nothing terrible happened.
I’ve seen AJAX go from the hot new thing to people not knowing what it stood for, to now most people not even recognizing the term. AJAX didn’t die; it became so common we don’t need a word for it anymore.
Thank god the underlying language, libraries, and browser support have moved forward. And IE6 is dead. God, what a nightmare.
IE 5.5 was much, much worse, and there was a long time there when it didn’t get any updates at all.
html forms still work the same way.
can one say the same for the various form libraries for react or state solutions.
For example the HTML approach to style parts of a control is to use pseudoclasses. Sometimes the selectors are different across browsers! Then you have to test across browsers because who knows if it will actually work correctly.
React is not just easier it's more dependable. If I make something with React and some divs I know it's going to work the same in all browsers.
For example, Blink/Webkit allow <meter> and <progress> to be styled. Firefox does not support those pseudoclasses so you can't style those elements cross browser.
Then there is <input type="range">
Blink, Webkit:
::-webkit-slider-thumb
::-webkit-slider-runnable-track
Firefox:
::-moz-range-thumb
::-moz-range-track
::-moz-range-progress