i don't trust my code either, but I do trust my test suite:

https://htmx.org/test/

re: downstream users, I'm extremely concerned w/backwards compatibility (htmx 1.x is IE11 compatible and will be supported in perpetuity, as is intercooler.js, its predecessor), the library is dependency free, it works with any kind of back-end you'd like and doesn't demand any particular type of build system.

The library is BSD-0 licensed to maximize its usefulness and I do a deep dive on the implementation here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=javGxN-h9VQ

I've written a book on htmx and the broader ideas of hypermedia you can read for free here:

https://hypermedia.systems

and I have a series of essays on hypermedia and related topics here:

https://htmx.org/essays

I also wrote this:

https://grugbrain.dev

it is, unfortunately, silly

When any new tech gets hyped enough, some people instinctively drag it, if not for technical reasons then for aesthetic and social ones. If the worst thing people can say about HTMX is that its creator posts memes, the tech itself must be doing pretty well.

Professional - person who is paid to undertake a specialized set of tasks and to complete them for a fee.

Lets not be literal but also lets not ignore the clues.

How those wonderful technological babel towers coming from all those very serious professionals at FAANG and adjacent often with yearly marketing budgets bigger than your net worth have been treating you? Funny thing, many of those cool frameworks seem to get "deprecated" when the authors ( very professional and serious people ) get promoted or leave the company.

At least they tend "sunset" the libs and frameworks in a very professional and concern way.

On a less facetious note: Your "fears" are valid and common, but you are so focused on the package design you're missing the actual product.

How many ambitious projects have been started by young people and pushed to GitHub, but abandoned when a shinier thing comes by? Edge lording and meme posting on twitter makes me think this outcome is more likely.

It's a heuristic, but one that has served me well.

You should read past the cover page. Guy is legit, cs prof, and a fellow old guy. He’s been at this a long time and by all means should write a modern day marketing book too. Some of his other code is getting pretty wide distribution (in rails). Worth learning about imho even if you don’t use it.

I call confirmation bias.

> lack of professionalism

Professionalism is what you expect when you pay someone money. If we started calling things we don't like 'unprofessional', then the fact that you find fault with someone who is pouring their own time and money into giving away software to the world for free, could be called 'unprofessional'.