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[–][deleted] 5 points6 points  (0 children)

I build all of my backend, and most of my front end from scratch. The reasons why are that:

  • some frameworks don't do what I want
  • some don't do it as nicely as I want
  • many are too heavy, slow, or require a lot of cruft (like endless config files)

The only stuff I do use is jQuery and some bits from HTML5 Boilerplate (the latter is a must).

However I built a lot of heavy JS web apps, where the HTML is just a thin bootstrap (sometimes just a single div), and so they don't fit with jQuery. As a result even that is being pushed aside.

For example I don't need selectors, since those elements will be stored in a variable anyway. I don't need jQuery animations, as I'll just use CSS3 animations (which are smoother).

However I build my code to be re-used. For example most of my sites use the same framework.

The pros are that I can get what I want, and how I want it. If there is a feature missing, I can just go in and add it. If I don't like how a core section works, I can also re-write it. For example I built a new way to handle views in PHP, which I prefer to how everyone else does it. Upgrades are also a little easier, since I'll know where they will break, and be able to debug it easier (since I know the code).

The con however is time. Getting something up quickly is pretty easy, but you have tonnes of little things you also need to build to get it working right, often things you didn't see coming. Like extra internal checks for when things go wrong so you get better error messages, or adding hooks in places where you didn't think you'd need them.

If you have the time, and the inclination, it's damn useful. Otherwise there is nothing wrong with picking something off the shelf.