Escape Velocity: Break Free from Framework Gravity
November 6, 2025
We saw this cycle with jQuery in the past, and we’re seeing it again now with React. We’ll see it with whatever comes next. Success breeds standardization, standardization breeds inertia, and inertia convinces us that progress can wait. It’s the pattern itself that’s the problem, not any single framework.But right now, React sits at the center of this dynamic, and the stakes are far higher than they ever were with jQuery. Entire product lines, architectural decisions, and career paths now depend on React-shaped assumptions. We’ve even started defining developers by their framework: many job listings ask for “React developers” instead of frontend engineers. Even AI coding agents default to React when asked to start a new frontend project, unless deliberately steered elsewhere.
Source: Escape Velocity: Break Free from Framework Gravity — Den Odell
I think this is a very important read for anybody who works in the front-end. Whether you are particularly invested in a framework like React or whether your focus is more towards the open web technology platform stack.
I think the web is at a real crossroads. I’ve got more to say about that, but I won’t say that here. But I certainly think if you take your role in developing for the web seriously, the kinds of issues that are raised here are very important to consider.
