Beginner: Capacitor vanilla javascript project with Ionic?

Ionic Framework
1

I came across Capacitor while re-familiarizing myself with Cordova for a vanilla javascript project. I like it and I’ve created a project with it using “npm init @capacitor/app”. After initial testing and trying to get used to the structure and running of a project, I decided to look at adding some good UI widgets.

This led me to Ionic. But I’m a little confused. Is Ionic at it’s most basic level just a great set of UI widgets or is there more beyond what I’m seeing due to my immediate need?

Also, “ionic start” doesn’t seem to allow for the creation of a vanilla javascript project. Both the command line and the app creation wizard require a choice between Vue, React, and Angular. Is there a way to use Ionic UI elements similar to how one would use OnsenUI widgets (by directly downloading the Onsen CSS and JS files and then adding them to the project)?

Thank you to anyone who can offer any help. Again, I’m totally new to Ionic (and Capacitor).

2

You should be able to use ionic components by installing @ionic/core package (or using it from a CDN)

All components docs have a tab for javascript usage.

3

can you be more specific about what you are trying to accomplish? What exactly do you me by plain javascript? What kind of mobile application are you trying to build? Your question is very general so you are going to get a lot of random responses