"Old-fashioned" desktop GUI systems, like Win32 MDI, are built out of composeable widgets. HTML is built out of composeable widgets. Whatever you do with Wasm and direct pixel rendering? That isn't.
The travesty that is modern web development is, absolutely, a step back from what we had back in the day. But that's not inherent to the web: it's a deficiency of practice. Many web APIs are delightful, and while they're all clunky, Win32 MDI also has its footguns. https://devblogs.microsoft.com/oldnewthing/20120213-00/?p=83...
I agree. Still looking for something that bridges that gap, to make modern web pages as simple as old WinForms.
The only web based tools that I've come across that seem to hide all the JavaScript/html, and be 'simple' are tools like Elmish, or some of the other functional programming 'DSL's. Where the page is kind of composed by functions that compile into the JavaScript. With JavaScript, by the time I'm manipulating the DOM, I keep thinking some tool should be handling this for me.
I don't think there is much argument that HTML+JavaScript was actually a set backwards that we've been trying to build out of for 20 years.
What the web solves is mass distribution.
But for programming it is awful.