Evan You (born 1987) is a Chinese-American software developer who created Vue.js and Vite. His focus on developer experience and approachable design made Vue one of the most popular JavaScript frameworks despite competing with Facebook-backed React and Google-backed Angular.
Background
You studied art history at Colgate University and later earned a master’s degree in Design and Technology from Parsons. His non-traditional path to software development influenced his focus on design and usability.
Creating Vue
While working at Google on AngularJS projects, You wanted to extract the parts he liked into something lighter. Vue 1.0 was released in 2014, gaining popularity through clear documentation and an approachable learning curve.
Sustainability Model
Unlike React (Facebook) or Angular (Google), Vue has no corporate sponsor. You works on Vue full-time through:
- Patreon and GitHub Sponsors
- Consulting and training
- Corporate sponsorships
This independence allows design decisions based purely on developer needs.
Creating Vite
In 2020, You created Vite to address slow development server startup times. Using native ES modules and on-demand compilation, Vite provides nearly instant server start and sub-second hot module replacement.
Philosophy
You emphasizes approachability and progressive adoption. Vue can be dropped into an existing page or power a complex SPA. This “progressive framework” philosophy lets developers adopt features incrementally.