Framework · 2020–now · Platform Wars
Hypermedia / htmx
HTML as the engine of application state — a deliberate counter to SPA maximalism.
htmx stuck as a backlash against shipping megabytes to toggle a modal. It revives server-rendered ergonomics without surrendering interactivity. It will not kill React; it will shrink many apps that never needed it.
Context
Frameworks fought for the runtime
Front-end frameworks consolidated power; TypeScript became the floor; serverless and Jamstack rebranded old ideas with better CDNs. Blockchain-for-CRUD and big-bang rewrites collected the decade’s dumbest budgets. The winners were boring platforms with ecosystems. The losers were narratives that skipped product-market fit.
Compare with
Related
Practice · 2014–now
SPA for Every Page
Client-side apps as the only architecture. Great for apps; absurd for brochures.
$ Marketing sites and docs portals shipped multi-megabyte JS bundles for content that wanted HTML. SEO and performance teams spent years unwinding "modern" defaults.
Architecture · 2004–now
MVC web frameworks
Model-view-controller as the default web shape. Still how most server-rendered apps think.
Framework · 2005–now
Django
Batteries-included Python web. Still the adult choice when you want an admin, auth, and ORM that behave.