Frontend framework
Vue
An approachable component framework we use where it fits the stack.
Vue is an open-source, progressive JavaScript framework for building user interfaces. It's known for being approachable and incrementally adoptable, from a single interactive widget up to a full app. HDC uses Vue for interactive UI where it suits a client's existing stack or team, building self-contained components that drop into fast sites without bloating the rest of the page.
Where it shines
- Approachable and well-documented, one of the easiest frameworks to pick up and maintain
- Progressive and incrementally adoptable: use it for one widget or a whole app
- Single-File Components keep template, logic and styling tidy in one file
- Clean reactivity model and Composition API make state easy to reason about
- Drops into Astro as interactive islands, just like React
- Strong, independent open-source community and a stable, mature core
Trade-offs to weigh
- Smaller hiring pool than React in many markets, so it's a stack-fit decision
- Ships JavaScript to the browser, unnecessary on a purely static page
- Fewer third-party integrations than React's larger ecosystem in some niches
What Vue is
Vue is an open-source, progressive JavaScript framework for building user interfaces. “Progressive” is the key word: Vue is designed to be adopted incrementally. You can use it to enhance a small part of an existing page, embed it as a web component, build a full single-page application, or, with its meta-framework Nuxt, render whole sites on the server. It scales up as your needs do, rather than forcing an all-or-nothing commitment.
Vue’s defining feature is the Single-File Component (.vue file), which keeps a component’s template, JavaScript logic and styling together in one tidy, readable file. Combined with its clean reactivity model and the modern Composition API, this makes Vue one of the most approachable frameworks to write and, just as importantly, to maintain.
How HDC uses Vue
We use Vue where it’s the right fit, not by default. The clearest cases are when a client already runs on Vue, or when a client’s own team will maintain the work and prefers a framework they find approachable. In those situations, building interactive features in Vue keeps everything consistent and makes handover smooth.
In practice that means:
- Building interactive pieces, booking widgets, calculators, filters, multi-step forms, as self-contained Vue components.
- Dropping those components into fast Astro sites as interactive islands, so only the interactive part loads JavaScript and the rest of the page stays instant.
- Reaching for Nuxt, Vue’s meta-framework, when a whole site or app should live in the Vue ecosystem with server rendering.
As always, we layer TypeScript on top for safer code and Tailwind CSS for styling.
Why we apply it
The case for Vue is fit and maintainability. Not every business runs the same stack, and a framework that a client’s team can comfortably own is worth a great deal once the project is handed over. Vue’s approachability and tidy component structure lower the long-term cost of keeping a site alive and growing.
For us, Vue also slots into exactly the same disciplined approach we use everywhere: interactivity added only where it earns its place, as islands, so a client never pays a speed or SEO penalty for features they need. The interactive widget gets its JavaScript; the rest of the site stays lean.
How Vue fits our stack
Vue is one of two component frameworks we work in, the other being React, and we choose between them on fit rather than habit. On a content site, Vue components drop into Astro as islands exactly as React does. When a project should be built wholly in the Vue world, Nuxt is the meta-framework we step up to, much as we’d reach for Next.js in the React world. Underneath, we use TypeScript for type safety, Tailwind CSS for styling, and Vite, the fast build tool created by Vue’s own author, to tie it together.
When Vue isn’t the right tool
We don’t force Vue onto a project just because we like it. If a page is purely informational, it shouldn’t ship any framework JavaScript at all, plain static Astro HTML is faster and better for SEO. And when a client’s stack, team or hiring market points clearly towards React instead, we use React, because consistency with what a business already runs usually matters more than our personal preference. Vue earns its place when it genuinely fits the client’s world and the page needs real interactivity, and that’s exactly when we use it.
Worked example
An interactive booking widget on a Vue-friendly site
Picture a garden-services firm whose team already knows Vue, and whose site we're improving rather than rebuilding from scratch. They want a tidy interactive booking widget, pick a service, choose a date, see availability, send the request, that staff can confidently maintain after handover. Because Vue suits their stack, we build that widget as a Vue Single-File Component: template, logic and styling in one clean file, dropped into the page as an island so the rest of the site stays fast. The client gets a polished interactive feature in a framework their team is comfortable owning long after the project ends. (Illustrative, every build is scoped to your goals.)
Better together
How Vue fits with the rest of our stack
Vue: your questions answered
What is Vue used for?
Vue is used to build user interfaces, from a single interactive widget added to an existing page right up to a full single-page application. It's especially valued for being approachable, which makes the resulting code easy for a client's own team to maintain.
Why does HDC use Vue?
We use Vue when it's the right fit for a client's existing stack or team. If a business already runs on Vue, or wants a framework their developers find easy to maintain, building interactive features in Vue keeps everything consistent and hand-over-friendly. We embed it as islands in fast Astro sites, so the interactivity never slows the rest of the page down.
Is Vue better than React?
Neither is simply better, they're both excellent component frameworks, and we work in both. Vue is often praised for being more approachable and tidy out of the box; React has a larger ecosystem and hiring pool. We choose between them based on what fits the client's stack, team and goals, not on dogma.
Is Vue good for SEO?
Used carelessly as a whole-site client-side app, any JavaScript framework can struggle for SEO. We avoid that: we use Vue as islands inside server-rendered Astro pages, or with its meta-framework Nuxt for server rendering, so the content is in the HTML for search engines and AI crawlers to read.
What's the difference between Vue and Nuxt?
Vue is the core framework for building components and interfaces. Nuxt is a meta-framework built on Vue that adds routing, server-side rendering, static generation and a project structure, it is to Vue roughly what Next.js is to React. We use Vue for interactive pieces and Nuxt when a whole site or app should be built in the Vue ecosystem.
Can my team maintain a Vue project after handover?
That's often a reason to choose it. Vue is widely regarded as one of the most approachable frameworks, and its Single-File Components keep each piece self-contained and readable. When a client's team is comfortable in Vue, building in it makes long-term maintenance smoother for them.
Want Vue working for your business?
Tell us what you're trying to achieve, we'll show you, honestly, whether it's the right tool and how we'd apply it.
Enquire now