Building Services to GDS Standards Without a Frontend Framework

IntroductionHere’s a question for you: do you need to use a frontend framework to build a modern UK government service?As readers of my blog will know, I’m a massive fan of the ⁠GOV.UK Design System and the team who work on and maintain it. Having worked with the team for several years, it’s fantastic to see people so dedicated to their craft and who understand the gigantic impact their work has on inclusive design across government.At the heart of the Design System is ⁠GOV.UK Frontend, the component library used by services across Government Digital Service (GDS) and other government departments.As you’ll see in the ⁠release notes for the latest version (v6.5.1 at the time of writing), the installation instructions specifically mention:npm install govuk-frontend@6.5.1A developer looking at GOV.UK Frontend for the first time could therefore reasonably assume that using the Design System means using only Node.js, npm, Nunjucks, and JavaScript.And to be fair, that is often the easiest…