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by andy800 1037 days ago
I see it as much more, many things can be stripped out altogether. Client-side state management. Client-side input validation. Fallbacks for when data hasn't been loaded yet. Less async-based code, less coordination-required and event-driven code (this stuff happens but much easier and often code-free with HTMX).

Its not a fit for every site or use case but more than any other front-end tool or library or framework, it has enabled me to actually realize the UI concepts in my head to the actual screen, and usually a lot quicker than I'd expect.
1 comments
zarzavat 1036 days ago
So you only do input validation on submit? Isn’t that user hostile?

This is what I don’t get about HTMX, you can’t give a good experience without client-side JS, sure some developers might love it, but that shouldn’t be the yardstick.

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andy800 1036 days ago
Not hostile at all, and we arent degrading the user experience -- much improving it, in my opinion. With HTMX you can do real-time validation on each input element on the server and provide instant visual cues to the user anytime one fails. https://htmx.org/examples/inline-validation/

Moreover, HTMX makes it incredibly easy to change the whole paradigm of submitting data. You can eliminate some forms entirely and just enable a series of individual questions/inputs/selects one at a time, especially useful when a single static form isn't always appropriate (multiple pathways, questions/options that are contingent on the response to a previous question, etc).

In my experience the UI flow and degree of detail for avoiding common errors is greatly improved.

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zarzavat 1036 days ago
Disagree that it’s good UX. Now the user only gets feedback when they lose focus on the field, forcing them to go back and refocus it. In conventional React they get feedback on each keystroke allowing errors to be fixed while the field is still focused.
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andy800 1035 days ago
So when the person is starting to enter an email address, the page goes red until he enters the .com at the end? He gets an error for the first 9 digits of a phone number? Do you implement debouncing?

There isn't one thing called "conventional React", there are all kinds of validation libraries on npm and many strategies laid out on Stack Overflow. https://stackoverflow.com/questions/41296668/how-do-i-add-va...

I think it's fair to say we have different opinions on good UX, no need to debate it any further

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