HTMX Sucks (kinda)

The true troll trolls themselves

HTMX Sucks is probably the epitome of self-trolling. The author, Carson Gross, is the creator of HTMX. The essay is a critique of the project and the web development community in general. It’s a fun read and I recommend it.

During the Big Sky Conference Carson had a talk about open source marketing where one of his big points was…

Agree & Amplify

Every negative contains a positive.

Take the criticism of your project and amplify the positive aspect.

But…

It doesn’t address many of the points, just brings them to the surface. Most people will not be effected by the issues brought up in the essay. If you are, you probably already know it. It was enough for me to develop, maintain, and promote Datastar.

Conclusion

Even if I agree with the points brought up in the essay, I still think HTMX is a great project. It’s a great way to get started with hypermedia driven development. The book (especially the first 3 chapters) is a great read and I recommend it.

If you love the idea of HTMX but want to go deeper, I recommend giving Datastar a try.