Starting a new web app project. Wary of bloated frameworks with a gabillion dependencies. I'm a relatively inexperienced developper and I often feel like I don't know what the heck is going on under the hood in a framework like Angular. Part of me wants to code closer to the browser API but at the same time I want to be efficient and not reinvent the wheel.

I've read many posts like this one:

Why You Shouldn't Use A Web Framework

David Wickes ・ Jul 26 '18

#webdev #framework #beginners #react

and if you take a look at the comment sections, you can see that most reasonable people, whether they tend to be pro-framework or not, agree that in certain cases, it does make sense to use a framework, or to not use one.

Both sides go on at length explaining the pros and cons of using, or not using, a framework. The one thing that everyone just seem to never get into is WHEN, exactly should we use / not use a framework? Where is this imaginary threshold where one passes from "framework good for my project" to "framework bad for my project"? How do YOU make that determination? Where do YOU draw the line? Let's get into specifics. Examples. Level of complexity. Scope. Team size.

You're pro-framework but are reasonable enough to admit that sometimes it makes sense to not use one? On what kind of project would you consider ditching the framework and go vanilla / few small libraries?

You're anti-framework (looking at you @gypsydave5) but are reasonable enough to admit that sometimes it makes sense to use one? On what kind of project would you consider using a framework?

You're of the opinion that one should NEVER / ALWAYS use a framework? Please avoid commenting on this post and consider adding to the lively discussion on @gypsydave5 's post instead. 😜

Really interested to hear your diverse opinions.