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Aksara-Mart’s author says the school marketplace was built with vanilla JavaScript, modular CSS and Progressive Web App techniques to serve students on budget Android phones and crowded school Wi-Fi. The project article reports a gzipped JavaScript-and-CSS payload below 48 KB and a First Contentful Paint around 320 ms on school 4G—but these are author-reported results, not independently verified benchmarks, and the published evidence does not establish the test device or repeat-run method.
The useful lesson is not that frameworks are inherently slow. It is that shipped code, rendering and navigation design, caching, devices and network conditions all shape the experience. A PWA can use vanilla JavaScript or a framework; its defining features concern how a web app is delivered and used, not which UI library it uses.
What Aksara-Mart’s author says was built
In the project account, Achmad Junaedi writes: “We threw out all third-party frontend frameworks and built the entire user interface in pure Vanilla JavaScript, modern modular CSS, and Progressive Web App (PWA) standards.” The article describes a multi-file project with an HTML shell, modular JavaScript and CSS, a service worker and a web app manifest. It says the service worker caches app-shell resources so the catalog can open in areas with poor connectivity. These are implementation details reported by the author, not independently inspected findings. Read the Aksara-Mart project account.
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What the reported performance numbers do—and do not—show
| Reported result | What is established | What is not established |
|---|---|---|
| Below 48 KB | The Aksara-Mart article reports a gzipped payload for JavaScript and CSS combined. | The source does not independently verify the figure or establish the full transfer size of the page, assets or later requests. |
| Around 320 ms FCP | The author reports First Contentful Paint on school 4G. | The test device, browser, network profile and repeated-run method are not established. |
| “Instantaneous” TTI | The author uses this qualitative description for Time to Interactive. | No precise duration or threshold is given, so it is not a comparable measured value. |
All three figures come from Achmad Junaedi’s project article; its publication year is not established in the available page evidence. Treat the numbers as project-reported outcomes rather than a controlled comparison of vanilla JavaScript with a framework. The source does not show that the same app, features, device, network, cache state and measurement method were tested both ways.
A PWA does not mean “no framework”
A progressive web app is a web application built with web technologies that can support installation, offline operation and background capabilities. A service worker is commonly used to enable offline behavior, but MDN notes that it is not a prerequisite for installing a PWA. PWA describes capabilities and delivery patterns; it does not require vanilla JavaScript or rule out frameworks. MDN’s PWA overview.
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That distinction separates two decisions that are easy to conflate: which tools build the interface, and which browser capabilities make it installable or resilient to network loss. A team can choose a framework and still build a PWA, or write a PWA without one.
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Why the architecture and cache matter as much as the language
A small initial bundle can help a first visit, but performance also depends on what the browser must render, how navigation works, what is fetched when a user opens a route, and whether useful resources are cached. A service worker can make repeat visits or route changes faster, but its caching rules must still fit the app’s need for current data and correct behavior.
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Ele.me’s separate PWA case study illustrates that architecture and precaching can affect results: web.dev reports an 11.6% loading-time reduction on precached pages and a 6.35% average reduction across pages. Those figures describe Ele.me’s implementation and are not evidence that vanilla JavaScript caused the gains or that the same results will occur in another app. The case study discusses navigation architecture and resource preloading as part of the picture. Read the Ele.me PWA case study.
MDN’s PWA guidance also treats compatibility across browsers and devices, offline behavior, deep links, speed and accessibility as important quality considerations. A fast first paint is useful, but it does not by itself establish that a marketplace is easy to navigate, accessible, reliable offline or maintainable. MDN’s PWA best practices.
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How to make a fair framework-versus-vanilla comparison
If a team is deciding whether to use a framework, compare working implementations rather than assuming a fixed overhead or attributing every speed difference to the framework choice. Keep the following conditions constant:
- User journey and features: Test the same catalog, product view, search or checkout flows, with equivalent functionality.
- Device, browser and network: Use representative low-cost phones, browser versions and constrained network profiles, and document them.
- Cache state: Report first-visit and repeat-visit results separately; a service worker or browser cache can change what must be downloaded.
- Payload accounting: Say whether JavaScript and CSS values are compressed, and distinguish them from images, fonts and other transfers.
- Meaningful outcomes: Measure rendering and usable interaction with defined metrics and thresholds. Avoid labels such as “instant” without a measurable definition.
- Quality beyond speed: Check accessibility, deep links, browser compatibility, offline behavior and the maintenance burden of each implementation.
This is a more useful decision than asking whether frameworks are always slow. A framework may add runtime or bundle overhead, but the actual outcome depends on what the app ships and how it renders and navigates. The sources available for Aksara-Mart do not establish a controlled framework comparison.
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