hx-pod Html is actually good and it's getting better with Tony Ennis
Oct 2, 2025
Tony Ennis, founder of Really Good Software, discusses his HTML-first philosophy aimed at creating polished web apps with modern web standards. He delves into exciting new native UI elements like modals and popovers in HTML, the collaboration with Chrome developers for better web standards, and introduces MiniJS, a tool for lightweight front-end state management. Ennis also touches on building mobile apps using React Native with webviews and emphasizes the practicality of HTML in today's development landscape.
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Design For Perceived Performance
- Prioritize perceived responsiveness: make interactions feel instant even if deeper widgets load later.
- Deliver quick feedback on clicks to satisfy user expectations, especially on mobile.
Use React For High-Ceiling Needs
- Tony uses React where its high ceiling matters, and HTML-first where simplicity suffices.
- He recommends teams pick the technology their developers know and use React for complex reactive needs.
Front-End State Is A Complexity Spectrum
- The front-end state spectrum ranges from tiny UI booleans to deeply nested object graphs.
- MiniJS targets lightweight UI state (booleans, counters, simple bindings) rather than full object iteration.