Why wouldn't simple HTML be a great starting point for simpler sites? What's it missing that React solves, in your opinion?

How do you define a framework if React is not one?

It is one of more clear examples of a framework:

- calls your code

- heavily affects how the code is written

- requires significant build configuration (could even be argued it is something more than a framework, but definitely not a library)

A framework is declarative. You declare what you want. Generally in a configuration file and you get an app.

A library does not impose any configuration. I don’t see any required configuration with React. You can use it wherever you want in your code as an addition.

My piece on that: https://datacadamia.com/code/design/library_vs_framework

Genuinely curious if you could point to some examples of actual "frameworks" by your definition then. Because from your description, Rails, Django, Laravel, Phoenix, Vue.js, and basically every other "framework" I've encountered aren't actually frameworks.

Completely agree. People regularly conflate react core libraries with stuff like next