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by creatable 1124 days ago
Why do I continue to see people imply that React is the only way of writing frontend web applications with JavaScript? There are plenty of alternatives to React that I would say are far more "idiomatic". I highly recommend taking a look at Vue 3 or Svelte to get a better idea of what frontend JavaScript can be.
1 comments
listenallyall 1124 days ago
React isn't the only way, of course, but it's likely the most popular. Why do you consider Vue or Svelte to be valid alternatives but not HTMX, despite plenty of people endorsing it and openly proclaiming how successful it's been in their projects?
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creatable 1124 days ago
I personally do consider HTMX to be a valid alternative to React, but I also think that a lot of usage / promotion of it comes from people who are misinformed and think that the entirety of the JavaScript ecosystem is React. I consistently see a lot of people use HTMX over React alternatives purely because of a "distaste for JavaScript" or an understanding that everything is or has to be as complex as React unless you're using HTMX.
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listenallyall 1124 days ago
If people are "misinformed", that's a marketing fail by those other frameworks, despite many years of headstart. How are people even finding HTMX (with a single developer and until very recently, no corporate support) in a marketplace which includes Angular, backed by Google?

Or maybe people are kinda informed, and simply drawn to HTMX because it's easier to learn than Vue, Svelte, Mithril, Cycle, whatever (or they just don't want to try a zillion frameworks) and it works really well and developers seem to love it and recommend it a lot?

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creatable 1124 days ago
> or they just don't want to try a zillion frameworks

But isn't HTMX one of said zillion frameworks? What makes it any different?

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listenallyall 1124 days ago
It's easy? It works? It feels like HTML? No build steps? No JSON? The primary documentation fits in a single page? Most common patterns (i.e. polling, and then stopping if necessary) are built-in? Because fundamentally, it's just standard HTML forms? The entire dev experience is focused on a single application (backend) as opposed to writing a backend and a seemingly separate frontend project, in a different language (unless you use JS on the backend)? Simply replacing HTML fragments is conceptually simpler than maintaining a shadow DOM? It embraces web standards/APIs (see client validation discussion above)?

Here's polling in Svelte: https://stackoverflow.com/questions/61391174/how-to-do-polli...

and in HTMX:

  hx-trigger="every 2s"
https://htmx.org/docs/#polling

Maybe Svelte has an easier way, but Google isn't directing me straight to it, which is all part of the "easy to learn" aspect.

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