HTML as Hypertext

Modern Frontends with HTMX (Thymeleaf and Spring Boot)

@atomfrede

About me

  • Senior Software Engineer @adesso in Paderborn
  • Father of two
  • JHipster Core Team Member
  • JUG Paderborn Organizer
  • OSS Enthusiast

Frederik Hahne

@atomfrede

About me

  • Java Server Pages
  • Wicket
  • Joomla, Wordpress
  • JQuery, JSON, XML
  • AngularJS, AngularX,
  • React, Vue
  • OpenAPI
  • Stimulus
  • Microfrontends

Disclaimer

@atomfrede

Disclaimer

@atomfrede

Outline

  • Brief History of the web
  • HTMX Overview and Introduction
  • Some examples
  • Coffee Break (?)
  • Code yourself
  • Wrap-up and Q&A

@atomfrede

Web 1.0

  • Hypermedia & Hypertext in the form of HTML
  • Client & Server
  • Cacheable
  • Stateless
  • HATEOAS

@atomfrede

Web 1.0

@atomfrede

JSON Apis

  • "Almighty" JSON Apis
  • Javascript-based applications communicate with the backend
  • HATEOAS is pointless
  • ...however we should not dismiss it completly

@atomfrede

Javascript-based applications

@atomfrede

Javascript-based applications

@atomfrede

Javascript-based applications

SPAs incur complexity that simply doesn't exist with traditional server-based websites[…]

Too often, though, we don't see teams making that trade-off analysis, blindly accepting the complexity of SPAs by default even when the business needs don't justify it.

 

https://www.thoughtworks.com/radar/techniques?blipid=202203006

@atomfrede

@atomfrede

HTMX

  • Try to complete HTML as hypertext
  • 11k, dep-free
  • enhance HTML with custom attributes
  • overcome the limitations imposed by html

@atomfrede

HTMX

  • Every element can make a HTTP request
  • Every event can trigger a HTTP request
  • Every HTTP method is allowed
  • Every element in the DOM can be replaced

@atomfrede

HTMX

<input class="form-control" type="search" 
       name="search" 
       placeholder="Begin Typing To Search Users..." 
       hx-post="/search" 
       hx-trigger="keyup changed delay:500ms, search" 
       hx-target="#search-results"
       hx-indicator=".htmx-indicator">

@atomfrede

HTMX

<tbody>
  <tr>...</tr>
  <tr>...</tr>
  <tr hx-get="/contacts/?page=2"
      hx-trigger="revealed"
      hx-swap="afterend">
    <td>Agent Smith</td>
    <td>void29@null.org</td>
    <td>55F49448C0</td>
  </tr>
</tbody>

@atomfrede

HTMX

  • TODO MVC App
  • Thymeleaf & Spring Boot
  • Add HTMX to get rich UX

@atomfrede

TODO MVC

@atomfrede

TODO MVC

  • github.com/atomfrede/htmx-workshop-source
  • github.com/atomfrede/htmx-workshop-handout
  • addons.mozilla.org/de/firefox/addon/livereload-web-extension
  • adoptium.net

@atomfrede

Let's get fullstack

@atomfrede

Real World Example

  • Moving a SAAS product from React to HTMX in production
  • https://www.contexte.com/
  • https://htmx.org/essays/a-real-world-react-to-htmx-port/

@atomfrede

Real World Example

  • The effort took about 2 months (with a 21K LOC code base, mostly JavaScript)
  • No reduction in the application's user experience (UX)
  • They reduced the code base size by 67%
  • They reduced their total JS dependencies by 96%

@atomfrede

Real World Example

  • First load time-to-interactive was reduced by 50-60%
  • Much larger data sets were possible when using htmx
  • Web application memory usage was reduced by 46%

@atomfrede

More to read

  • htmx.org/essays
  • wimdeblauwe.com/blog/2021/09/20/todomvc-with-spring-boot-and-thymeleaf-part-1
  • wimdeblauwe.com/books/taming-thymeleaf
  • youtube.com/watch?v=3GObi93tjZI
  • alpinejs.dev
  • hotwired.dev

@atomfrede

Questions?

@atomfrede

#adessojobbuster

adesso.de/jobs

Made with Slides.com