I like the look of htmx at first but then when I want to do something where I would usually reach for JavaScript (vanilla or framework), such as a dropdown button, I inevitably consider hyperscript and then I see an example like "<div class="dropdown"
_="on mouseenter toggle .is-active on me until mouseleave">" and decide I don't like having sentences in code like that and I move on to something else.
Maybe I should give htmx a go without hyperscript or maybe I should give hyperscript more time. But on anything that I'm expecting to be maintaining for years it's just too unfamiliar and I don't want to be stuck with it if I wind up never using it again.
I am fully on board with htmx but hyperscript doesn't necessarily interest me. The htmx side doesn't care even one bit what client-side interactivity you use at all, so it's not really material to whether htmx can be useful for you. Personally, if I am trying to keep JS build tools and stuff out of the equation I'll go with htmx + Alpine.js.
Maybe I should give htmx a go without hyperscript or maybe I should give hyperscript more time. But on anything that I'm expecting to be maintaining for years it's just too unfamiliar and I don't want to be stuck with it if I wind up never using it again.