HTMX is a new web technology I discussed in a previous blog post that continues to take the web development world by storm. As developers continue to unbox the power of HTMX, developers like Matthew Tyson are exploring the potential for HTMX in full stack applications and finding success.

However, HTMX is not the only new kid on the web development block making waves. A new all-in-one server-side JavaScript runtime platform and toolkit called Bun allows developers to “develop, test, run, and bundle JavaScript & TypeScript projects”. Pairing HTMX and Bun with the high-performance HTTP server Elysia (which was built for Bun) and MongoDB, Tyson builds a full stack application in his two part article and the result is smooth and speedy. Tyson also uses a JavaScript templating engine called Pug that helps with configuring DOM interactions. Pug also serves to make creating user interfaces easier to build and scale. In addition, Pug can actually output HTMX itself.

Tyson admits that even with HTMX being as powerful as it is, falling back on writing your own JavaScript in certain cases is inevitable. He adds that it takes some getting used to if you are accustomed to working with JSON APIs, but learning to use its capabilities will pay dividends in performance and speed because you are essentially removing an entire layer of JSON conversion. This is demonstrated in how HTMX takes care of form handling with its “hx-post” attribute which eliminates the work of taking the data from the form and converting it to JSON and submitting it with JavaScript.

With the emergence of powerful web technologies like HTMX and the transformative power of A.I., the future of web development as we know it is being paved in big ways as this post is being made. A technological revolution is happening now and the curve is being shaped, so it is time to move with it or be left behind.