htmx Is Pro-JavaScript

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JSNation 2024

Carson Gross

JSNation US

JSNation US 2024

Yes, using htmx to build a web application means you will write less overall JavaScript for your web application. No, this does not make htmx anti-JavaScript. While there are certainly htmx enthusiasts who hate JavaScript, nonetheless, htmx can be looked at from a pro-JavaScript angle: by relieving JavaScript from having to be everything for your web application, you can focus on using it where it was designed to be used. And, in doing so, rediscover the joy of JavaScript!

No Seriously: htmx is Pro-JavaScript!

In this talk we will take a look at an idiosyncratic javascript library, htmx, which is designed to make HTML more powerful as a hypermedia. It does this by generalizing the idea of hypermedia controls such as anchor tags and forms. Web developers who use htmx typically do not write nearly as much javascript as they would if they chose a more popular SPA javascript library for their front end needs. In this way, htmx can help address "JavaScript Fatigue", a general sense of being overwhelmed by the JavaScript world. htmx is sometimes held up as a library "for people who hate JavaScript". Ironically, however, by dramatically reducing the amount of JavaScript a web developer must write to build a web application, htmx can make the JavaScript that a developer wants to write much more enjoyable, making writing JavaScript a playful, high-value and fun part of a broader web application rather than a chore that must be dealt with to accomplish simple tasks.