Brutal.js – framework for building brutalist web applications

brutal.js

A crazy-small framework for building brutal/brutalist web applications

small

110 source lines of code. 2 functions: R and render

"React like"

This is React/JSX:

function ButtonWidget(props) {
    return (
      <button onClick={() => showModal(props.name)}>
        Show {props.name} Modal
      </button>
    );
  }

This is R/brutal.js:

function ButtonWidget({name}) {
  return R`
    <button click=${() => showModal(name)}>
      Show ${name} Modal
    </button>
  `;
}

Basic usage:

render(App(), document.getElementById('root'));

Differences to notice

• Event listeners are named by event names directly. No on- prefix. So use click not onlclick
• There is never any need to quote an attribute, brutal does it for you, so title=${title} never title="${title}"
• every bit of HTML is tagged with an R and written with backticks. Technically, this is an ES6 template literal and template tag function.
• Every replaced value is enclosed in ${...} instead of {...}

Why brutalist?

To me, brutalist means as close to the basic raw HTML/ JavaScript as possible. There's more to do on the roadmap, but for many projects, these simple functions are enough. For example, take a look at a working TodoMVC example made with brutal.js. Everything in brutal is "as close to the metal" ( the JS / HTML ) as possible. This is ensured by their being minimal JS code, minimal opinionation (everything is just HTML elements and event handlers), leaving you free to structure things however you like.

roadmap

• Server side rendering / client-server symmetry
• Encourage / macro-ise targeted forms and named iframes ( sooo brutal )
• Encourage / bundle brutalist CSS sheets

conclusion

If you know HTML and JS, you know brutal.js. Give it a spin, open an issue, make a PR, and let me know how you're using it, and where you think it should go.

projects using brutal.js

• TodoMVC in brutal.js