Since its introduction in the early 90s, the web has become the largest application platform available globally. HyperText Markup Language (HTML) has been an essential part of the web since the beginning, as it allows defining webpages in a tree-like manner, including semantics and content. Although the web was never meant to be an application platform, it evolved as such, especially since the early 2000s, as web application frameworks became available. While the emergence of frameworks made it easier than ever to develop complex applications, it also put HTML on the back burner. As web standards caught up, especially with milestones such as HTML5, the gap between the web platform and frameworks was reduced. HTML First development emphasizes this shift and puts focus on literally using HTML first when possible, while encouraging minimalism familiar from the early days of the web. It seems HTML-oriented web development can provide clear benefits to developers, especially when it is combined with comple- mentary approaches, such as embracing hypermedia and moving a large part of application logic to the server side. In the context of the htmx project, it was observed that moving towards HTML can reduce the size of a codebase greatly while leading to maintenance and development benefits due to the increased conceptual simplicity. Holotype-based comparisons for content-oriented websites show performance benefits, and the same observation was confirmed by a small case study where the Yle website was converted to follow HTML First principles. In short, the HTML First approach seems to have clear advantages for web developers, while there are open questions related to the magnitude of the benefits and the alignment with the recent trend of AI-driven web development.

翻译：自20世纪90年代初问世以来，Web已成为全球最大的应用程序平台。超文本标记语言（HTML）自始便是Web的重要组成部分，它允许以树状结构定义网页，包含语义与内容。尽管Web最初并非为应用程序平台设计，但其逐渐演化为该角色，特别是在2000年代初Web应用框架出现后。虽然框架的出现使得开发复杂应用变得前所未有的简单，但也使HTML退居次要地位。随着Web标准（特别是HTML5等里程碑）的完善，Web平台与框架之间的差距逐渐缩小。HTML优先开发强调这一转变，主张在可能的情况下优先直接使用HTML，同时倡导回归Web早期简洁至上的理念。以HTML为导向的Web开发能为开发者带来显著优势，尤其当与互补性方法结合时——例如采用超媒体架构或将大量应用逻辑转移至服务器端。在htmx项目的实践中发现，转向HTML可大幅缩减代码库规模，同时因概念复杂性的降低而获得维护与开发效益。基于原型的内容导向网站性能对比显示其性能优势，这一结论在Yle网站遵循HTML优先原则的小型案例改造中亦得到验证。简言之，HTML优先方法对Web开发者具有明显优势，但其效益的具体程度、以及与当前AI驱动Web开发趋势的契合度，仍有待进一步探讨。