Yes, in a way... it’s certainly (IMO) nicer to use than the DOM API. But “done right” used to mean not just “nicer to use” but “actually implemented correctly” (unlike major browsers at the time). Now that the DOM basics are pretty well-standardized, it’s mostly just “sugar” which isn’t necessarily worth the extra bundle size.

Another, bigger factor is that most modern frameworks use some form of templating and binding which means that you have less need to modify/interact with the DOM directly.