Flutter is a nice alternative I found in that a lot of thought really went into how to design a UI framework from the ground up using everything we now have learned over the years about what works, what is important and without having to worry about backwards compatibility but could take a greenfield approach.
With that one exception I otherwise agree, CSS especially in 2024 is actually very nice to use for the most part.
It's hilarious to me that even with 25 years of engineering hindsight, you can only point to one framework that has executed well enough to be considered superior to CSS.
With 20 years of prior art to look at, new options should be better by default. What does it say about our industry when the vast majority of "replacements" are not?
With that one exception I otherwise agree, CSS especially in 2024 is actually very nice to use for the most part.