Hey everyone! I’m new to frontend dev and I’m curious about how things were done in the past. These days we’ve got all these cool frameworks like React and Vue, plus tools like Webpack. But they all need Node.js to work.
So I’m wondering: how did people build websites before Node.js was a thing? Did they just drop in script tags for stuff like jQuery? Was there any kind of build process at all?
It’s hard for me to imagine frontend dev without all the fancy tools we have now. If anyone’s been in the game for a while, I’d love to hear about the old-school methods. Thanks!
Before Node.js, frontend development was quite different. We relied heavily on server-side technologies like PHP, ASP.NET, or Java for dynamic content generation. JavaScript was primarily used for client-side interactivity, often with libraries like jQuery or Prototype.js. For styling, we used CSS preprocessors like Sass or Less, but compilation was typically done separately.
Build processes existed but were less sophisticated. We used tools like Ant, Make, or Grunt for task automation. Version control was handled with systems like SVN or CVS before Git became popular. Testing was often manual or used frameworks like QUnit.
While it might seem primitive now, these methods were effective for their time and laid the groundwork for modern frontend development practices.
hey, i remember pre-node days well; we used plain js, jquery and manually minified code. no fancy build tools then. it’s interesting how we managed simple scripts in a complex world. what makes u curious bout those old methods?
yo jasper, back then we’d use stuff like dreamweaver or just notepad++ to code. no fancy package managers or hot reloading. we’d ftp files directly to servers lol. css was a nightmare with browser compatibility. kinda miss those simpler times tbh.