Felix Eckhardt & Benedikt Stemmildt

Why HTMX is crushing React, Vue & Svelte.

Is your SPA framework adding unnecessary complexity? See how HTMX delivers modern interactivity by sending HTML, not JSON, over the wire.

Why HTMX is crushing React, Vue & Svelte.
#1about 2 minutes

Questioning the default choice of SPAs for web development

The talk begins by challenging the automatic adoption of single-page applications and introduces the context for exploring simpler alternatives like HTMX.

#2about 4 minutes

The hidden complexities of single-page applications

Modern SPA frameworks introduce significant overhead, including complex build steps, dependency management, and performance issues for content-heavy sites.

#3about 2 minutes

Revisiting the history of web development and MVC

The evolution from server-rendered pages to client-side SPAs was a long journey, but modern protocols like HTTP/2 enable a return to simpler architectures.

#4about 5 minutes

Setting up the live demo with a backend stack

The demonstration uses a backend stack of Kotlin, Spring Boot, and the JTE template engine to serve HTML directly to the client.

#5about 3 minutes

Demonstrating the core concept of HTMX

A simple button demonstrates how HTMX uses HTML attributes to trigger a server request and swap the returned content into a target element.

#6about 6 minutes

Building the shop UI with server-side templates

The e-commerce shop's product list is rendered on the server using a template engine, showing how components can be built and populated with backend data.

#7about 3 minutes

Creating a search feature with progressive enhancement

A functional search is first built using a standard HTML form and server-side rendering, ensuring it works without JavaScript as a baseline.

#8about 3 minutes

Adding reactive filtering with HTMX attributes

By adding a few HTMX attributes, the standard search form is enhanced to provide live, reactive filtering without a full page reload.

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Why you might not need JavaScript for everything

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The only frontend stack that truly matters
11:10 MIN

The only frontend stack that truly matters

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The industry's focus on frameworks over web fundamentals
11:32 MIN

The industry's focus on frameworks over web fundamentals

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Navigating the growing complexity of modern CSS
09:00 MIN

Navigating the growing complexity of modern CSS

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The value of progressive enhancement and semantic HTML
03:31 MIN

The value of progressive enhancement and semantic HTML

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How a broken frontend culture impacts the web
04:02 MIN

How a broken frontend culture impacts the web

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Exploring modern JavaScript performance and new CSS features
08:07 MIN

Exploring modern JavaScript performance and new CSS features

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Recreating React components using AI and dev tools
04:56 MIN

Recreating React components using AI and dev tools

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