It makes me sad that today you cannot say react without nextjs in the same sentence.
React used to be the leader in how to make ui reasonable in the generic client sense. Having done java swing, android, swift ui, and custom game dev ui work with all the forms of state management, react was on to something…
until the ssr fad attacked. Now it is all but nextjs in disguise.
There really isn't any need to conflate React with Next. React has its issues — notably more after exposing its internals in hooks —, but Next should be seen as something on its own.
I don't mind picking up a contract for maintaining React code, but never again am I touching anything built by Vercel; unless I specifically crave the “automagically different every release” quicksand masochism of their tools. I'm sorry to the people working on, say, Next; these are qualified and talented individuals. But the DX over time, gods…
React is still a reasonable view library, although not a top choice at all (for me). Insisting on using it for SSR via Next is self-inflicted pain down the road.
React used to be the leader in how to make ui reasonable in the generic client sense. Having done java swing, android, swift ui, and custom game dev ui work with all the forms of state management, react was on to something… until the ssr fad attacked. Now it is all but nextjs in disguise.