> Why did Frontend development explode in complexity?
The browsers became more capable (as someone said in another comment, they are effectively shooting for operating systems now), and more ambitious projects became possible. Consider such web apps as:
- Google Maps
- Google Docs
- Google Meet
- Youtube
- Adobe Photoshop online
- Figma (or Penpot)
- Miro (or Mural)
- Excalidraw (or diagrams.net, or lucid charts)
- Slack (or Discord)
- ...etc
> Is that complexity necessary or artificially inflated?
This entirely depends on the product. You need the complexity for some products; and not for others.
The browsers became more capable (as someone said in another comment, they are effectively shooting for operating systems now), and more ambitious projects became possible. Consider such web apps as:
> Is that complexity necessary or artificially inflated?This entirely depends on the product. You need the complexity for some products; and not for others.