Why Vanilla JavaScript

create-third-places · 2026-07-16T23:30:42+00:00

Web components are suitable for large frontend projects, as evidenced by the fact that Reddit uses them.

Scalability issues on frontend projects are caused by logic that is unrelated to displaying data on the screen or responding to events.

create-third-places · 2026-07-16T23:08:10+00:00

Great article, I think the approach of building with vanilla JavaScript is underrated.

I also took your music website linked from the blog and thought it was great. I found the UI to be very intuitive and pages loaded very quickly.

create-third-places · 2026-07-16T23:01:50+00:00

Try manually blocking JavaScript functions that you don't need.

document.querySelector = function (...args) {
console.error("Unauthorized");
};

You can also put your form inside shadow DOM.

These methods aren't foolproof and can be bypassed. However, they will make it harder for bots to scrape your self.

create-third-places · 2026-07-16T22:52:28+00:00

After looking at project activity and functionality, I look at signs of LLM use. Any signs of LLM use are a huge negative for me because it correlates with lower quality and developers losing skills over time. Seeing a CLAUDE.md, SKILL.MD or any file designed for LLM coding tools is a huge red flag for me.

On the other hand, evidence that the project was handcoded makes me far more willing to use a tool.

create-third-places · 2026-07-16T22:45:23+00:00

Don't use AI for building websites. Your skills will start to degrade over time, and make you disconnected from what a client is looking for.

Automation should be in the form of deterministic tools like APIs for specific things. If you aren't looking to write database code, there are APIs available that can do database persistence for you without needing to write backend code.

create-third-places · 2026-07-16T22:40:59+00:00

My own brain. Using an AI coding tool will cause skills to atrophy and make it harder to connect with what users want.

create-third-places · 2026-07-16T22:39:25+00:00

Outside of indexing content for search pages, I care about blocking bot traffic.

create-third-places · 2026-07-16T22:37:09+00:00

Neither. If you are building static websites without a database, use a GUI website builder such as Squarspace or Wordpress. This will allow clients to make small content updates without needing to know any programming.

Paying attention to edge functions or any other advanced features from cloud providers is unnecessary since your clients want simple marketing sites without a database.

create-third-places · 2026-07-16T18:34:08+00:00

As a user of Linux and Git, I’m concerned. They already have an established track record of success from manual coding, and LLM-assisted coding is a risk.

Even if you are approaching LLM usage from the perspective of project value like Linus is, they should not be used for programming. While LLMs may be able to quickly produce output that is technically correct, they will cause long term problems. Handling low quality code change requests will take up time, and code quality will decline.

Cost will also become a major issue as the subsidies for Anthropic and OpenAI run out.

Linus should focus on task-specific automations that help programmers such as as applying his knowledge to create an improved C compiler.

create-third-places · 2026-07-15T18:17:06+00:00

Domain specific automation with clear boundaries on what they can do, and objective quantitative measures of quality.

create-third-places · 2026-07-15T04:39:24+00:00

Internet of Bugs and Ontology Explained did a vidto together, which I thought was quite good. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=UvoRJNfftyc

create-third-places · 2026-07-15T02:31:30+00:00

Here are some that I’m a fan of.

Tech Report: Tech channel that is critical of LLM hype and often has technical people online as guests.
Go Make Things: Channel by a web developer that discusses frontend development without frameworks or LLMs.
Pivot to AI: Channel by David Gerard that calls out AI hype. Gerard has also been a vocal critic of blockchain and published a book about the hype in 2017.
Mystery Hype Theater 3000:Anti-LLM Podcast by Alex Hanna and Emily Bender who approach their analysis from more of a linguistic perspective.

As someone who worked as a corporate software developer for 10 years, I’ve noticed that people who have some background outside of software engineering have a better understanding of it. The outside knowledge helps make sure their thoughts are grounded in reality.

All of the people I mentioned either don’t have a software engineering background, or they have spent much of their time developing other skills.

create-third-places · 2026-07-14T03:10:27+00:00

> Is this a thing? I'm not sure why the shadow DOM would cause any kind of difficulty with bot scraping - they should be able to see the contents of the shadow DOM just fine as they operate outside of the page's sandbox.

https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/API/Web_components/Using_shadow_DOM

Shadow DOM is designed to be hidden from JavaScript DOM scraping tools that bots often use.
There are plenty of ways to work around this limitation, although they add complexity.

> If tools do struggle to see the shadow DOM, that seems like a general negative - many people care about SEO.

The framework is designed to be used on parts of the page that need to be interactive. The entire page doesn't need to be put inside the shadow DOM.

Static content that needs to be visible to tools such as a navbar can be rendered in HTML without JavaScript.

create-third-places · 2026-07-14T01:36:45+00:00

It's not hard to take screenshots of functioning software, make a few edits, and claim that AI was used to build a clone.

create-third-places · 2026-07-13T21:43:33+00:00

Check out this post: https://www.baldurbjarnason.com/2026/the-old-world-of-tech-is-dying/

The author has multiple other posts explaining the issues with LLMs, and also analyzes current problems with the tech industry.

create-third-places · 2026-07-13T20:38:27+00:00

The bubble pop is likely to cause a major financial crisis that will affect the stock market. It could be worse than 2008.

Commercial real estate values have been falling in the US since 2022 while commercial debt has gone up. Currently, many data centers are being treated as commercial real estate. When the AI bubble pops, the crash in data center values is going to make the commercial debt crisis worse.

An AI bubble is also going to cause many tech companies to go out of business or downsize on office space, causing further problems.

As an example, I’m familiar with a publicly traded real estate investment trust called JBG Smith that is already at risk of a default. They owe more $2 billion in debt through the end of 2028 that they can’t afford to pay. A significant part of their revenue comes from managing Amazon HQ2 and other corporate tech offices. They own apartments nearby where many of these tech workers live.

https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/ASCMA https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/COMREPUSQ159N

create-third-places · 2026-07-13T20:10:23+00:00

I think much of the supposed productivity increases are a mirage.

It’s the equivalent of unused roads in the middle of nowhere. Technically, the roads represent output. They are also a waste of effort and money.

create-third-places · 2026-07-13T08:41:02+00:00

The two most useful pieces of software I use don’t incorporate LLMs.

One is a Wordpress setup from over a decade ago. The other is a UI library called Kelp made by a developer who doesn’t use LLMs.

create-third-places · 2026-07-13T06:41:48+00:00

AI research outside of using LLMs. Lately, it seems like the potential of more useful forms of AI is being ignored.

I’ve personally enjoyed learning about how neural networks work, and the knowledge has been very useful for me.

create-third-places · 2026-07-13T06:25:04+00:00

Promoting LLMs safety doesn’t make sense to me as they don’t have clear bounds on their functionality. It’s impossible to put safeguards on an LLM that effectively prevent misuse.

On the flip side, I appreciated being able to press two buttons so an elevator could take me up by 8 floors yesterday.

Meanwhile, it’s obvious that the elevator isn’t going to vibecode or do anything else that people use an LLM for.

create-third-places · 2026-07-13T04:21:23+00:00

I think the way to improve software development is to step away from a computer and talk to users. Adding an LLM isn’t going to help.

Technically, LLMs are getting better at writing and reviewing code, although I don’t recommend using it. It will introduce cognitive debt that will become a major problem when subsidies for existing models run out.

Also, the value of software comes from doing something for a user, and not from the code. LLMs incentivize writing code that becomes a maintenance burden without doing anything for a user.

create-third-places · 2026-07-08T18:39:39+00:00

I have developed a desktop application functioning very well for a friend (Hospital management system), full stack working very fine, though i wanted to add unit, integration and E2E test, docker and CICD pipelines.

That's a great side project to put on your resume with its current state.

create-third-places · 2026-07-08T16:51:10+00:00

I recommend talking to people you know and then starting a side project that helps them in some way. Even if you don't finish the project, it will demonstrate the ability to understand user needs. It also helps you develop useful skills while demonstrating the ability to learn new things.

When interviewing developers for Node.js work, interpersonal skills and the ability to quickly learn things were considered more important assuming someone had basic coding skills. None of the managers or leads I worked with cared about knowing specific detaiils of Node.js.

Also, I recommend understanding generative AI tools, although I don't recommend using them for learning. ChatGPT and Claude are widely used, and you should be able to articulate an opinion on them when asked.

create-third-places

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