Let’s be real for a second: for the better part of a decade, handling forms in React was a boilerplate nightmare. We spent years juggling useState, manual isLoading flags, and cumbersome useEffect hooks just to submit a login form without blocking the UI.
If you ask ten React developers how they handle form state, five will swear by controlled components, three will advocate for useRef, and the remaining two are likely using a library that abstracts the problem entirely.
In the landscape of web development in 2025, the humble web form remains the primary gateway for user interaction. Whether it’s a login screen, a complex multi-step application, or a dynamic survey, the way you architect your forms defines the reliability of your application.