I don't disagree with any of that...? My argument was that as a frontender, the added complexity is worth it because the ecosystem is so huge that it enables a lot of code re-use. I don't see the same "easy to build on top"-ness in other frameworks, whether it's HTMX or even other JS frameworks.

For simpler projects, I absolutely don't think it's necessary to learn a JS framework or (or even just React). But for apps of medium complexity and up, it's been a super productive system to work in, full-time, with other React devs and open-source contributions. The reusable component model is SUPER important in my day-to-day work and outweighs a lot of other factors (like technical complexity). The complexity you have to learn once (or every year or two), whereas the code re-use/NPM drop-ins is like multiple times a day.

Edit: Really it comes down to this: https://survey.stackoverflow.co/2023/#section-most-popular-t... (under "Professional developers"). It's just a lot easier to use what everyone else is using. HTMX sadly doesn't even make the list, as far as I can tell :(