In 2020 Carson Gross released HTMX, which takes a radically different approach to web development than other frameworks. Instead of programming against a Javascript API, we extend the underlying HTML syntax and eliminate most of our JS. The default pattern is that each element on the page updates itself, if you click
We create a pseudo function that also exposes an endpoint to update state. This deceptively simple approach eliminates a lot of the complexity in JS-oriented web development. We no longer need
There is a natural synergy between UI updates and the stateless nature of http, each component’s state is transmitted with each request.
This contrasts with JS-oriented webapps which have to duplicate a lot of functionality already provided natively by the browser. We get two big benefits.
The reduction in page load size is particularly important for respecting user experience and channelling prospects into a sales funnel.