June 30th, 2024

An Htmx Success Story

Discussion on transitioning from Django+React to Django+HTMX stack. Challenges with Django and React highlighted, solved with HTMX and AlpineJS. Improved simplicity, productivity, and compatibility with older devices. Transition driven by developer productivity.

Read original articleLink Icon
An Htmx Success Story

Porting from Django+React to a Django+HTMX based stack is discussed in this article. The author highlights the challenges of using Django and React, requiring diverse skills and causing delays in development, especially for junior developers. The introduction of HTMX, a lightweight JavaScript library, and Alpine.JS for state management, simplified the tech stack and improved developer productivity. The team found HTMX easy to use, enabling faster development with minimal guidance. The final tech stack included TailwindCSS, AlpineJS, HTMX, Django, and Postgres, enhancing simplicity and productivity. The benefits of this transition included improved accessibility, reduced network usage, lower resource requirements, and compatibility with older devices. The focus on developer productivity and happiness was a key driver for adopting HTMX and AlpineJS, allowing both experienced and junior developers to contribute effectively. The article concludes by mentioning additional resources for those considering a similar transition from React to HTMX.

Related

Exposition of Front End Build Systems

Exposition of Front End Build Systems

Frontend build systems are crucial in web development, involving transpilation, bundling, and minification steps. Tools like Babel and Webpack optimize code for performance and developer experience. Various bundlers like Webpack, Rollup, Parcel, esbuild, and Turbopack are compared for features and performance.

Understanding React Compiler

Understanding React Compiler

React's core architecture simplifies app development but can lead to performance issues. The React team introduced React Compiler to automate performance tuning by rewriting code using AST, memoization, and hook storage for optimization.

Understanding React Compiler

Understanding React Compiler

React's core architecture simplifies development but can lead to performance issues. The React team introduced the React Compiler to automate performance tuning by rewriting code. Transpilers like Babel convert JSX for efficiency. Compilers, transpilers, and optimizers analyze and produce equivalent code. React Compiler enhances functionality using Abstract Syntax Trees, memoization, and hook storage for optimized performance.

Enhancing New York Times Web Performance with React 18

Enhancing New York Times Web Performance with React 18

The New York Times upgraded to React 18 for better performance and new features like Concurrent Mode and server-side rendering. Challenges with "embedded interactives" were overcome, leading to improved website performance.

Remix is better than GraphQL

Remix is better than GraphQL

Remix and GraphQL are compared for data loading in applications. Remix offers type-safe data fetching with loaders, while GraphQL allows selective data queries but may face challenges with authorization and performance. Remix is favored for simpler authorization and is recommended for full-stack teams, while GraphQL suits separating backend and frontend teams with expertise.

Link Icon 2 comments
By @rk06 - 4 months
If you are planning to use both alpine and htmx, why not go one step further and switch completely to Vue?

You will get better ecosystem, more features, better devtools. And it will be relatively simpler.

By @owenpalmer - 4 months
> I got them to write some code using HTMX and AlpineJS and watched

I love this. You're making concrete observations about how the use of a technology affects your team.