
Jemima
Jemima Abu is a self-taught front-end developer, Google Developer Expert, Microsoft MVP, and Certified Professional in Accessibility Core Competencies. She is passionate about diversity in technology and accessibility in web development.
Your React App Doesn't Need All That JavaScript
React Summit 2026
Upcoming
Your React App Doesn't Need All That JavaScript

Should we be using a state management library to toggle dark mode? Do we really need a custom hook for opening an accordion? And how many event listeners is too many when animating on scroll?
React gives us an incredibly powerful way to build UI, but not every UI behaviour needs React level machinery.
In this talk, we’ll take a look at how to use HTML and CSS to build simpler alternatives to common interactive components such as accordions, modals, scroll transitions, carousels etc We’ll also take a look at the performance and accessibility benefits and real-life applications and use-cases of these components.
The goal is to simplify how we handle content, display and animation using native browser features and leaving React to do what it's best at: everything else.
React gives us an incredibly powerful way to build UI, but not every UI behaviour needs React level machinery.
In this talk, we’ll take a look at how to use HTML and CSS to build simpler alternatives to common interactive components such as accordions, modals, scroll transitions, carousels etc We’ll also take a look at the performance and accessibility benefits and real-life applications and use-cases of these components.
The goal is to simplify how we handle content, display and animation using native browser features and leaving React to do what it's best at: everything else.