Managing complex interactive UI with stated-based UI tools

Yesterday, I talked about how a challenge I sometimes see with clients is using too little tooling for complex, data-driven UI.

If you find yourself in that situation, there are a handful of not-React-or-Vue tools that can make managing UI a lot easier.

Preact is tiny and super performant. I really enjoy using it with Signals to make managing state updates nice and simple.

My own state-based UI tool, Reef, has a simpler templating approach than Preact (in my opinion), with many of the same ergonomic benefits.

And if your app is mostly static HTMl with some pockets of interactivity, a tool like Astro or Svelte might be worth a look. Both are static site generators (SSGs) with a little something extra for islands architecture.

And for a really modern approach, you can use Web Components with manual DOM diffing or a state-based UI library. It provides a really easy-to-reason-about HTML structure.

If you’re looking to simplify a complex UI setup and need some help, reach out and book an exploratory call to talk options. I’d love to help.