The unique and very special aspect of HTMX's approach is that it changes just 4 things in browser behavior (list from the Hypermedia book):
- Any element should be able to make HTTP requests
- Any event should be able to trigger an HTTP request
- Any HTTP Action should be available
- Any place on the page should be replaceable
The default behavior of browsers (without HTMX) is that only A and FORM tags can make requests, only GET (A,FORM) and POST (FORM) HTTP actions are available, only click can trigger a request, and only the full can be replaced.
By changing these 4 things, it opens up a huge range of possibilities, but requires learning very few new concepts. And it also lets you work in whatever language you're most comfortable with -- you don't generally have to use JS (e.g very useful for data scientists, who generally know python).
By changing these 4 things, it opens up a huge range of possibilities, but requires learning very few new concepts. And it also lets you work in whatever language you're most comfortable with -- you don't generally have to use JS (e.g very useful for data scientists, who generally know python).