Beyond Frameworks: Mastering Frontend Development Requires Understanding the Fundamentals
Numerous articles advise developers against over-reliance on frameworks, advocating for a deep understanding of underlying languages. However, the real reason isn't the fleeting nature of frameworks; it's this: you can't master frontend development without understanding the underlying mechanisms. Modern frontend stacks often involve frameworks like React and numerous intermediary layers, with CSS applied indirectly via JavaScript tools. While these tools offer convenience, understanding the browser ecosystem makes debugging JavaScript and CSS errors, writing custom CSS, and understanding client-side browser errors significantly easier. The author shares anecdotes illustrating how seemingly complex frontend issues—multicolored footers, custom icons, and webfont optimization—are easily resolved with solid CSS and JavaScript knowledge, avoiding bloated npm dependencies. While most developers write excellent React and TypeScript code, few can judge CSS code quality, impacting website performance. Mastering browser and network fundamentals is crucial for building robust, maintainable applications and rapidly resolving incidents. Ultimately, deep language proficiency is key to becoming a senior frontend engineer.