[simquat]

A few years ago I rebuilt a 3D model checker for the building industry and intentionally avoided a full frontend framework to keep the UI performant.

I wrote a small internal mini-framework to follow the MVC pattern and Web Components for reusable elements. I also used external libraries: three.js for 3D rendering, sql.js for handling the 3d's models meta-data in a performant way, and @tanstack/virtual for virtualizing large lists and tables.

The biggest benefit was finer control over performance. The main downside was a less comfortable developer experience — it’s harder to find polished, ready-made vanilla-JavaScript components, so you implement more yourself.