Bootstrap, jQuery and Drag-and-Drop: Crafting Rich Interfaces Without React or Vue

Before SPAs became the default approach to front-end development, crafting rich user interfaces meant getting creative with simpler tools. At Activus, where I led the transition from a legacy Windows Forms system to a web-based platform, we didn’t have the luxury of a full JavaScript framework like Vue or React. Instead, we made it work with jQuery, Bootstrap, and plenty of pragmatic engineering.

The goal wasn’t just to move the application to the web - it was to retain and improve the usability that users had come to expect from a WinForms application. That meant supporting drag-and-drop interfaces, dynamic data interaction, and responsive layouts. All of this had to be done with a team that was new to web development and a tech stack that didn’t assume a JavaScript-heavy frontend.

We began by introducing Bootstrap to standardise the visual language. This gave us an instant lift in consistency, accessibility, and layout responsiveness. It allowed us to quickly create a grid system and components that felt modern without having to build from scratch.

jQuery became our go-to tool for interactivity. While jQuery might be considered dated by today’s standards, it offered the flexibility we needed to hook into the DOM, bind event handlers, and control the flow of data and UI state. For instance, when building drag-and-drop functionality, we used jQuery UI’s draggable and droppable components. It wasn’t as elegant as modern libraries, but it was effective - and importantly, understandable by the team.

One of the major benefits of this approach was performance. The server rendered most of the content using Razor views, which meant faster load times and less reliance on client-side JavaScript. It also aligned with the team’s strengths, allowing them to work confidently within the MVC framework while learning about front-end behaviour incrementally.

There were trade-offs, of course. We lacked the componentisation that Vue or React would have offered, and managing UI state across multiple interactions could get messy. But we kept it maintainable through good conventions and a tight coupling between markup, data attributes, and jQuery handlers.

What this project taught me is that great user experiences don’t require the newest tools. They require clarity of purpose, smart choices, and a willingness to work within your team’s strengths. Modern frameworks solve many of the problems we faced back then - but they’re not the only way to build rich interfaces.

Sometimes, the best solution is the one your team can implement confidently, learn from, and maintain. At Activus, jQuery and Bootstrap weren’t just compromises - they were enablers of progress.

And in many ways, they still are.