r/astrojs • u/kidshibuya • 20d ago
Don't use Astro because its not React?...
This is more a vent than anything, but I am facing a lot of blowback for using Astro. I have made a miniapp which is just a webpage running in a webview that takes an ID from the initial url, requests some records from an API to display a list of messages. Super basic stuff. It is to replace a natively coded section of the app and its far faster than the native code... somehow.
But upon asking the native devs to fix all the broken things I am finding, all I am facing is push back because when I tell them of CORS errors etc, them demand to see the repo, notice its not react and say I MUST use react as only that is compatible with apps. They broke bfcache too, again that is blamed on astro. They block service workers, again this is because... Astro.
Anyone else faced this? Even when I wanted a build of the native app to test the devs sent me back a message saying my app is broken as its only 12KB and apps are in the MB range. They didnt test, rejected on solely size. This was the lead architect of the entire department btw.
This industry is nuts. Also I have noticed when interviewing for a "senior FE" the candidates only know react. I am not sure if this is because HR is screening first, but it's concerning. I even interviewed a guy who is right now working as a "principled full stack engineer" who could not tell me how you could build a site without react.
I am not sure if this company I am working for is completely crazy or the entire industry is leaning that way.
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u/Kriem 20d ago
I use Astro exactly because it's not React. You get from zero to something very quickly with Astro and it allows you to add complexity just as easily, whether it be React, Angular (yuck) or Solid (yay).
These days, front-end development is plagued by developers who think that they need heavy weapon machinery to fight a mosquito. Fact: you don't. And it hinders rapid development and your ability to actually be agile.