htmf VS solid-docs

I've successfully used this pattern (HTMX hypermedia style) to create an offline-first web app SPA[^1]. One of the pages is pretty dynamic and I wasn't sure if I would need a traditional front end library to work with it. But, nope, hypermedia to the win, it worked fine without a front end framework.

To build it I used my own library called HTMF[^2]. I started out using mpa-enhancer[^3] but found that that pattern is a little to janky sometimes. I think reloading a page every time on every interaction uses too many resources for a browser especially when you use a phone that doesn't have as much power as a laptop.

But overall I find the pattern very easy to use and keeps the complexity down.

I think some of the issues with traditional SPAs is that they have a lot of state and state is nonlinear in complexity. But using templating systems makes the complexity more linear in nature.

Also, I find libraries like React to be overly complex for what it does, see above. The way React works is just odd and counter intuitive. All for problems that are easy to solve. I do think there are places for a React-like library is needed but those are for websites that are inherently highly state-based. But most websites aren't state-based even ones that appear to be state-based at first.

The websites I work on are usually just forms and forms are pretty powerful and can get you a long ways before you need to go outside of that paradigm.

[^1]: https://github.com/jon49/Soccer

[^2]: https://github.com/jon49/htmf

[^3]: https://github.com/jon49/mpa-enhancer

I wrote a js lib similar to HTMX, which I call HTMF[1]. Unlike HTMX I try to stay as close to the metal of the current semantics as possible. So, all interactions are based off of forms. I also tried to keep the wording similar to HTML/JS semantics. It's pretty small lib but pretty amazing how far I can get with it. These days I mainly build offline-first apps with it. But I built it in such a way that it can easily be a progressive enhancement to an MPA app.

[1]: https://github.com/jon49/htmf

React has introduced measures like batching state updates, background concurrent rendering and memoization to tackle this. My opinion is that the best way to solve the problem is by improving their reactivity model. The app needs to be able to track the code that should be re-run on updating a given state variable and specifically update the UI corresponding to this update. Tools like solid.js and svelte work in this manner. It also eliminates the need for a virtual DOM and diffing.

Similarly to Promises/A+, this effort focuses on aligning the JavaScript ecosystem. If this alignment is successful, then a standard could emerge, based on that experience. Several framework authors are collaborating here on a common model which could back their reactivity core. The current draft is based on design input from the authors/maintainers of Angular, Bubble, Ember, FAST, MobX, Preact, Qwik, RxJS, Solid, Starbeam, Svelte, Vue, Wiz, and more…

Solid.js is a very performant web framework that shares some similarities with React. For example, both use JSX, utilizing the function-based approach to components, but instead of using Virtual DOM, it converts your code to vanilla JS. Still, it is more famous for its approach to fine-grained reactivity by utilizing signals, memos, and effects. Still, the signal is the simplest and most known primitive of Solid. They contain value along with their getter and setter functions, allowing the framework to observe and update the changes as needed in the exact location in the DOM, unlike React, which re-renders the whole component.

Two well-known JavaScript frameworks and libraries used for creating user interfaces are React.js and Solid.js. Solid.js, a lightweight reactive library, prioritizes fine-grained reactivity and efficient rendering through a reactive programming model. However, React.js, which was developed by Facebook, is well known for its declarative architecture based on components and its handling of the virtual DOM (Document Object Model). Different approaches to state management and reactivity set these tools apart, even though they both enable developers to create dynamic and interactive web apps.

Solid.js like Svelte is quite new when compared to React, Angular, and Vue however it might be that pocket Hercules we've all been ignoring because we are so addicted to other frameworks. Solid.js is an interesting framework that deserves to be a part of this discussion. Solid.js pioneered the concept of signals when other Javascript frameworks made reactivity and state management a nightmare for developers, a factor that has contributed to the growth of Solid. Solid.js is incredibly easy to adopt and it aims for a simpler syntax and learning curve compared to other frameworks. It emphasizes the use of pure Javascript functions and avoids concepts like hooks.

React Server Components are the poster child for that trend, but other frameworks such as Solid or Qwik rethink client-server interactions from the ground up.

If you aren't married to the react paradigm, I had a great time with solid.

Frontend : SolidJs.