Third Way Web Development with HTMX

When the world wide web launched in 1993, it presented a revolutionary new way to globally share information. The revolution didn't stop there. The web soon became a platform for building, hosting, and distributing entire applications. Today most applications are built as web applications yet the core capabilities of HTML remain mired in the Web 1.0 days. Ajax was the first of many “hacks” to build web applications that delivered the rich, responsive user experience that rivaled traditional fatclient applications. Early js libraries and frameworks overcame browser incompatibilities and provided the first abstractions to hide the hacks and today's frameworks are so powerful that conventional wisdom states they are the defacto best practice for building modern web applications. But at what cost?

We've gone fullcircle. Today's SPAs have more in common with the fat client applications of the 90s (albeit with simplified deployment) than they do with the web. The modern UX of today's frameworkdriven SPAs is what users demand, thus we follow the everchanging trends; but at what cost? Beyond the bloat, complexity, and ephemerality of the modern webdev toolchain; modern webdev practices have inadvertently abandoned the core ideas of the web that made the platform technologically, architecturally, and philosophically revolutionary.

Leading thinkers in the web development space have long proclaimed that “not everything should be a SPA” however the alternative of a web 1.0 vanilla html application has very limited utility in the year 2024. Are these our only options, or does a “third way” exist?

This session introduces that “third way” based on the revolutionary ideas that empowered the web. A meaningful, practical, and proven alternative to SPA frameworks providing a simpler and more lightweight approach to building applications on the Web and beyond without sacrificing the UX.

Web applications built following this “third way” boast more evolvability, longevity, and simplicity. SPAs will continue to have their place, but good software engineering is about using the right tool for the job. After attending this session, you will have more than just a hammer in your toolbox.

About Michael Carducci

Michael Carducci spent years learning to see things as they actually are; first as a magician, then as a software architect, now as both simultaneously. And somehow that’s not even the whole story.

He’s the author of Mastering Software Architecture (Apress, 2025) and is currently writing The Semantic Layer. He has spent over 25 years following interesting problems; through roles from individual contributor to CTO and back again, across industries and continents.

As a speaker, he applies the same toolkit he uses in close-up magic: attention, misdirection, timing, storytelling, and the instinct to take the long way around when that’s where the truth lives. Audiences at hundreds of conferences across four continents have described his talks as the kind that change how you think about a problem rather than just what you know about it.

He also makes YouTube videos about technology and curiosity with his wife Kate, because some ideas are too important (or too interesting!) to leave only in conference rooms.

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