The crucial flaw with htmx is that it’s an enhancement of html itself; if a fancy and interesting new UI pattern is invented somewhere, the htmx devs or contributors will have to add support for it into htmx itself!
And imagine if htmx became absorbed into the real html standard. It would take much longer for the standards body (and then browser makers) to respond and implement.
So the crucial flaw is that it will always be reacting instead of innovating. And more generally, this is likely why the “thick client” approach is more popular on the web these days. Nobody wanted to wait around for standards bodies and browser makers.
And imagine if htmx became absorbed into the real html standard. It would take much longer for the standards body (and then browser makers) to respond and implement.
So the crucial flaw is that it will always be reacting instead of innovating. And more generally, this is likely why the “thick client” approach is more popular on the web these days. Nobody wanted to wait around for standards bodies and browser makers.