> I think a major reason for why we ended up here[2] is because browsers did not add these features to HTML and thus devs resorted to AJAX and small JS snippets

> I think a major reason for why we ended up here[2] is because browsers did not add these features to HTML and thus devs resorted to AJAX and small JS snippets at first and then kept expanding the use of JS. That's my hunch as well. If HTML had built-in features such as modals (maybe as an evolution of popups), or partial rendering of server side data (maybe as an evolution of frames/iframes), it would have taken more time to reach the current state. Btw, your list reminds me of Intercooler.js.