Principle background checks

When we choose to adopt a framework to work with, it can be easy to forget that we are also choosing design principles to abide by.

Looking at the home pages for Angular, React, Ember and Vue, it’s pretty clear what the primary call to action is:

This is a classic marketing technique. They’re trying to steer you towards the ‘a-ha!’ moment - actually building something with the framework.

Here’s something to think about next time you come across a shiny new framework. Ignore the Get Started link and try looking for the guiding design principles and ethos instead.

To be fair to Vue.js, they do also provide an introductory video, right next to the Get Started button:

This video includes some design goals (not principles exactly), such as approachability, versatility and performance. But there are also some clear design principles briefly mentioned in there: progressiveness, componentization and reactivity.

As an exercise, take another look at your favourite JavaScript or CSS framework site and see if you can find an explicit discussion of the guiding design principles.

You might be surprised at what you find (or don’t).

All the best,

– Jim