I don't know what you're looking for, and what your "not super simple" is, but baseline browser tech provides various controls, layout mechanisms, styling, interactivity, etc.

Do you have a concrete idea of what and where specifically you hope for gains by using frameworks? Do you plan to hold a lot of state on the client that needs state separated from the DOM and its mechanisms? Do you want a standard library of styled components instead of using the native ones or styling them yourself? Do you want more robust JavaScript? Those are all very different concerns and requirements.

I like the low complexity, low barrier, low requirements of baseline web tech. The native html form controls may arguably look "ugly", but those can be styled, individually or through a style-only CSS lib.

But you (almost certainly) started using those backend frameworks after you had experience. You learned the basics first, and then incorporated frameworks when you got to larger projects.

I came here to say the same thing as the original reply in this thread, albeit with slightly different justification:

If you don't know the basics, and can't build a functional site with just HTML/CSS/JavaScript, all of the frameworks will be a nightmare. You should really learn those first, even if it means building a practice site, or completely rebuilding your frontend when you decide to use a framework.

The frameworks can make your life easier, but there's a learning curve, and a huge cognitive burden especially when you are just starting. You'll fight them more than work with them at the start.

That all said, never use what's "hip" on the frontend. JS frameworks typically have the lifespan of a house fly. React is one of very, very few that has remained popular, and continued to get updates for a long time (at least in JS framework terms). It's a solid choice with a huge community, good docs, good tooling, etc. There may be other valid choices, but seriously - avoid anything new and flashy, because that usually just means its deficiencies haven't been found yet, and as soon as they are, there will be a new framework.

What’s your goal?

I think building something with what you know should be a good start. Then look into the different frameworks and determine which is the best for your use case to convert it. Definitely overkill.

All that to say, just jump in and pick one.

Well there is no silver bullet. My two cents is React, but that drives people nuts. Pick one of the big three (React, Angular, and Vue) and then start practicing.

As a frontend dev working my way to the backend, I would probably say a stack of React/Vue, Typescript, and SASS. These are industry standards (or at least, as standard as you can get with such a fractured ecosystem). And/or: learning the ins and outs of an ecommerce platform for theme development, like Shopify or BigCommerce. In terms of frameworks, I prefer Vue because it's a little higher level than React and translated well from vanilla JS.

The most future proof web tech is not using frameworks and libraries at all.

Render native HTML controls.

I also assume it's lower barrier than any of the libs and frameworks you could use, which is always a subset of web tech with the addition of their own concepts.

The general play is:

1. Make non-shit software
2. ???
3. $$$

Yeah, I'd say that's true. I think the alternatives may be just as good, but React was the first mover in its category, gained and maintained popularity for years, is battle-tested, and the improvements they've made over the years has kept it fresh.

My understanding is that one of the benefits of Svelte, for example, is that it eliminates the virtual DOM abstraction that React uses, so if you cared enough to shave milliseconds off your frontend rendering time for a complex site, then you may want to look into Svelte, but the reality is that React is already very good.

In reality, your choice of framework is usually already dictated by whatever project you're contributing to, and for most fairly modern projects that ends up being React, and sometimes Vue or Angular. Beyond that, I personally just try these new libraries occasionally, build a toy project to see if they solve some pain point that I have, and determine if that is good enough for me to switch or recommend.