Last updated: 2025-08-23
Recently, I stumbled across a Hacker News post titled "Show HN: JavaScript-free (X)HTML Includes." As someone who's spent countless hours wrestling with bloated JavaScript frameworks and dealing with heavy client-side rendering, this title immediately piqued my interest. I clicked through and found myself immersed in a concept that promises to strip away unnecessary complexity while achieving modular design—something every web developer has likely fantasized about at some point.
In this post, I want to share my thoughts, dive into the technical details, and reflect on how this could redefine parts of my workflow. The journey from the initial discovery to a deeper understanding of what's possible sparked a sense of nostalgia for the simplicity I once experienced in web development.
To fully appreciate this concept, let's break down what the core idea entails. JavaScript-free (X)HTML includes offer a way to manage and incorporate HTML snippets directly within (X)HTML documents without any need for JavaScript. Typically, we’ve relied on various libraries and frameworks for component management—think React, Vue, or Angular. These often introduce a hefty payload of JavaScript, which can slow down performance and bloat your application.
Now, with HTML includes, we can create reusable components expressed purely in HTML, allowing for a lighter footprint and improved load times. As a practical example, imagine an e-commerce site where you have a product card component repeated across multiple pages. Instead of embedding multiple instances of the same HTML within each page, you could define it once and include it where necessary.
At the technical level, the approach essentially takes advantage of server-side includes (SSI) or templating engines. When the server processes the page, it stitches together the pieces before sending the complete HTML to the client. So, while it looks and acts like modularity at first glance, the beauty lies in the simplicity. It shifts a lot of the burden from the client side to the server side – something I can really get behind!
For instance, using PHP with the `include` function or SSI directives can achieve this easily. But a caveat arises here: what if you’re statically hosting your site or using a JAMstack approach? After all, the beauty of static sites is their speed and performance. That’s where modern build tools like Eleventy or Astro come into play, allowing you to compile your reusable components into static HTML builds at first deployment.
Here’s a quick example in Eleventy. You could have an `includes` folder for your reusable components, where each component is a separate Markdown or HTML file. When you create a template that renders a list of products, you would include that snippet as follows:
{% include 'includes/product-card.html' %}
This way, your main template remains clean, and you manage components more efficiently.
I've been experimenting with a personal project – a portfolio site that’s meant to showcase different freelance work. Initially, I dabbled in a JavaScript-heavy approach using React, running into hurdles like routing complexities and component state management. I stepped back, realizing I needed a simpler, more straightforward method.
Using JavaScript-free includes feels like coming home. The ability to serve up common components without the strain of a framework provides a fresh breath of air. By transitioning my portfolio site to use pure HTML includes, I reduced the amount of JavaScript needed drastically. Not only did it streamline my deployment process, but it also allowed for faster loading times, improving my Core Web Vitals significantly.
In web development, performance can sometimes feel like buzzword bingo – everyone talks about optimizing it, but few practices are straightforward. Certain frameworks prioritize developer experience through features like hot reloading and extensive component libraries, yet they often ignore the weight they add to the client.
On the contrary, JavaScript-free (X)HTML includes empower developers to focus on performance from the ground up. By reducing the size and number of requests made to the server, I noticed a tangible improvement in the user experience. Tools like WebPageTest helped me visualize these metrics with before-and-after comparisons, which was extremely gratifying. It's like having that clutter-free workspace as you code!
That said, I wouldn’t be honest if I didn’t address the challenges that come with this approach. For starters, you lose some of the dynamic capabilities that JavaScript frameworks provide out of the box. In scenarios where client-side interactivity is paramount—like dashboards or single-page applications—losing JavaScript introduces complications.
Moreover, maintaining state across multiple includes can be tricky. While using traditional JavaScript methods often feels seamless, managing the user interactions can devolve into messy workarounds. For example, replacing content within an included component based on user interaction requires careful thought since the lack of context might result in unexpected behaviors.
There's also the cross-browser compatibility angle to consider. While most modern browsers handle HTML inclusions fine, how does it perform on legacy systems? If the audience for a project includes users who may be on outdated browsers, reliance on these server-side includes might not deliver the same experience consistently.
As I dig deeper into the world of JavaScript-free (X)HTML includes, I'm filled with a mix of nostalgia and hope for the future of web development. For years, we have been seduced by the promise of dynamic and complex solutions while overlooking the beauty of simplicity. This approach reclaims that simplicity without sacrificing the modular architecture essential for clean code.
For developers exploring new avenues—or those feeling weighed down by complex frameworks—this could serve as a compass back to more fundamental web development practices. While the journey won't eliminate all challenges, I believe it could pave the way for a more lightweight and accessible approach to building web applications.
In closing, I encourage you to experiment with what you've learned here. Dive into your projects and start integrating these concepts. Who knows, you might rediscover the joy of web development as I have!