htmx

Yes, and

In this essay, Carson Gross discusses his advice to young people interested in computer science worried about the future given the advancements in AI.

The Future of Htmx

In this essay, Carson Gross and Alex Petros discuss htmx's future direction and philosophy. They explain how the project aims to emulate jQuery's success through API stability, minimal feature additions, and quarterly releases while continuing to promote hypermedia-driven development and support the broader web…

Moving from React to htmx

David Guillot at Contexte gave what we are calling 'The Mother of All htmx Demos' at DjangoCon 2022. This essay summarizes this real-world case study of replacing React with htmx in a SaaS product, demonstrating significant improvements in code size, performance, and development team efficiency through the adoption of…

Htmx 2.0.0 has been released

htmx gives you access to AJAX, CSS Transitions, WebSockets and Server Sent Events directly in HTML, using attributes, so you can build modern user interfaces with the simplicity and power of hypertext htmx is small (~14k min.gz’d), dependency-free, extendable, IE11 compatible & has reduced code base sizes by 67% when…

How did REST come to mean the opposite of REST?

In this article, Carson Gross explores how the term REST (Representational State Transfer) evolved to mean nearly the opposite of its original definition in modern web development. It traces how REST, originally defined by Roy Fielding to describe the web's architecture of hypermedia-driven interactions, came to be…

</> Htmx – The Fetch()ening

You know, technically, I never said anything about a version *four*

Htmx 1.9.0 has been released

htmx gives you access to AJAX, CSS Transitions, WebSockets and Server Sent Events directly in HTML, using attributes, so you can build modern user interfaces with the simplicity and power of hypertext htmx is small (~14k min.gz’d), dependency-free, extendable, IE11 compatible & has reduced code base sizes by 67% when…

Is htmx Just Another JavaScript Framework?

Alexander Petros give a thoughtful exploration of htmx's relationship to traditional JavaScript frameworks, examining how its HTML-first approach and narrow focus on network requests sets it apart. He argues that while htmx exhibits framework-like qualities in how it shapes application architecture, its deep…

An SPA Alternative

In this essay, Carson Gross explores alternatives to Single Page Applications (SPAs), advocating for an 'HTML-Centric' development approach. He highlights the drawbacks of SPA complexity and the benefits of embracing HTML as the core medium for web development, offering a simpler, more efficient way to build…

Why I tend not to use content negotiation

In this essay, Carson Gross explores his preference for separating JSON and hypermedia APIs instead of using content negotiation, a feature in HTTP that allows clients to request different formats (e.g., HTML, JSON). He discusses the limitations of content negotiation in APIs, especially when mixing stable, versioned…

The myth that you can’t build interactive web apps except as single page app

Tony Alaribe challenges common myths about multi-page applications (MPAs) and explores how modern browser technologies can enable fast, interactive, and offline-capable web applications without relying on single-page application (SPA) frameworks. Alaribe discusses advancements in service workers, caching, and…

How a hypermedia approach can address usability concerns with multi-page apps

In this essay, Carson Gross gives an analysis of Rich Harris's talk 'Have Single-Page Apps Ruined the Web?', exploring the debate between Single-Page Applications (SPAs) and Multi-Page Applications (MPAs). Carson examines Harris's criticisms of both approaches and proposes hypermedia-oriented solutions using htmx…

Why Htmx Does Not Have a Build Step

In this essay, Alexander Petros explores the reasons why the htmx JavaScript library does not include a build step, detailing the benefits of its simple, dependency-free structure. He highlights the longevity of plain JavaScript, the improved debugging experience, enforced code clarity, and the tradeoffs of avoiding…

Markdown in /src

In this essay, Carson Gross argues that Markdown is now an important source artifact for software systems built with LLMs, and that, following the principle of locality, it should live in /src, alongside the code it produces.

HATEOAS: An Alternative Explaination

In this essay, Carson Gross explores HATEOAS (Hypermedia as the Engine of Application State), explaining how it enables REST APIs through hypermedia responses and contrasting it with modern JSON-based APIs. Using clear HTML examples, Carson demonstrates how HATEOAS allows clients to discover available actions…

Htmx 1.2.0 Release

The Hypermedia-Driven Application (HDA) Architecture

In this essay, Carson Gross explains the Hypermedia-Driven Application (HDA) architecture, which combines the simplicity of traditional Multi-Page Applications with the enhanced user experience of Single-Page Applications by extending HTML infrastructure through declarative syntax and hypermedia-based server…

Locality of Behaviour (2020)

Carson Gross explores the Locality of Behaviour (LoB) principle, which emphasizes making the behavior of code units obvious on inspection to enhance maintainability. He discusses the tradeoffs between LoB and other software design principles like DRY and SoC, offering insights on balancing clarity, abstraction, and…

Htmx 1.0.0 Release

</> htmx ~ When Should You Use Hypermedia?

This essay by Carson Gross explores when to use hypermedia in web development, highlighting its advantages and trade-offs. Carson discusses scenarios where hypermedia is a good fit, such as text and image-heavy UIs, CRUD applications, and nested UIs with well-defined areas. He also addresses when hypermedia may not be…