Rich Harris (Svelte) is really giving Web Components some attention now.

His latest crusade against Web Components is basically a rant against the standard behavior of the <template> tag (available since 2015, yes 15)

https://x.com/Rich_Harris/status/1844134732306792631

And when people try to explain to him this just is what the <template> does, he continues:

Use the standard any way you want

Like it or not this <template> has been around since 2015, and will be around for a long time.

I say, learn what it does, and doesn't, and use what is useful to you

I extended Rich his complaint into a playground to play with.

Here are two examples using both a <template> and a regular <div>

The whole point of a <template> is to be different, as it was for the past 9 years

If you don't want its behavior, use a <div>

Note how this blogpost was not about Custom Elements or shadowDOM

PS: @rich, calm down, this is not good for your health