My background: Long time IT security engineer here that can code when I need. For dev experience, I have worked with various languages over the years like assembly, C/C++, js, typescript, PERL, python, etc. When needed, I can hack out a specialized tool but I am absolutely not a professional developer.
My ask: I just want a simple web framework that I don’t need to think about too much. There are a few ideas I have regarding security analyst workflow in a SIEM-type of environment and need a way to code simple tools as basic snap-ins to a central analysis console.
The ELK stack serves a inspiration (specifically Kibana). However, there is so much more I want to build into an security specific analysis console and building it one snap-in at a time seems manageable over time.
What is the current flavor of the day regarding Web app dev frameworks that might function how I want? What frameworks would be compatible with a broad audience over a long period of time? (I never liked open source applications that use super niche libraries or frameworks that become obsolete and stale after a few months.)
I hope I was able to describe clearly enough what I am looking for. I would google around for ideas, but I simply don’t know the correct questions to ask about this kind of thing until I get more up-to-speed.
When I was trying to find frameworks that I liked. I learned VanillaJS. Then wrote the same app using VanillaJS, Web Components, React and Svelte. I am not a professional developer either I just like to write code. I was very familiar with python. That helped me iterate through my app and also find a framework fit.
Svelte came most naturally to me. So now I either use Svelte or VanillaJS.
For me, Svelte is clean, modular and is not as confusing as React. I love the concept of Svelte stores. I use it all the time.
The mention of the ELK stack made me think of good ol’ LAMP stack (Linux, Apache,
MySQLMariaDB and PHP/Python/Perl). That’s still a reasonable choice today for many, I would say. You can get quite far with this stack serving HTML and CSS, with some JavaScript added on top where you need it.If you search for LAMP stack alternatives you might get some more contemporary spins. Nginx is a quite popular Apache alternative. PostgreSQL is a popular MariaDB alternative. Pretty much any language has some variant of an HTTP server than can serve HTML responses, and a more or less vibrant ecosystem of libraries that makes it easier to do.
You mention Python, something to look at there is Django. I’ve used it before and been quite happy with it, though Python isn’t the language I use most.
In the JavaScript/TypeScript world there are perhaps too many options. One approach is to use a generic server library like Fastify or Express with a templating engine of your choice (f. ex. Liquid) to make the HTML writing part a bit simpler. Templates let you reuse fragments / components, loop over collections, add conditionals and such. For Fastify it’s via a plugin called
@fastify/view. You can then use whatever view library you want (if you need one at all) for handling things in the browser, such as Svelte which another commenter mentioned.If you are interested in Svelte, something to look into there is SvelteKit. With that Svelte will be your “template engine” and it includes both server and browser functionality. Though depending on your needs it may also be overkill, solving for problems you don’t have.
Just be aware that there are no perfect solutions.
I just need something that mostly works and doesn’t have a huge learning curve. The web-dev aspect is something I really don’t want to think about, but, is something that I can dive into for hyper-customization if needed.
