5 ms·

Why not?

whorleater 9y ago
1. Doesn't work without javascript enabled (it's text, why the hell do I need JS enabled to read it?) 2. Control + F doesn't work across pages, you'd need to first find the page you're looking for 3. Doesn't offer any tangible benefit beyond "being a SPA"
- mrvautin 9y ago
  1. Hardly any websites work without JavaScript these days. 2. That would imply you like your documentation entirely on one page. Anyway, that's why there is a search box... 3. Nonsense.
  - stephenr 9y ago
    > Hardly any websites work without JavaScript these days. [Citation required] > Nonsense That doesn't really refute the claim.
  - dictum 9y ago
    > 1. Hardly any websites work without JavaScript these days. Got to be that guy: that's a circular argument. Other websites are doing X, hence you should do X too. It's as much an argument for docs-as-SPA as it's for having a large Outbrain ad with a picture of some skin disease in your docs. (Disclaimer: I don't hate web apps that don't work without JS — I build them too. But a page of text shouldn't require JS. You can ship the JS-only version as a separate website, but don't force all users to use it)
  - detaro 9y ago
    > 3. Nonsense. What tangible benefits do you see?
detaro 9y ago
Because being an SPA adds tons of potential for bugs that normal sites don't have. Case in point, your demo: - required changing my adblocker settings to work - Breaks the back button on the first page by adding instead of replacing the start page on the history stack - changing pages doesn't reset the scroll position - you jump to somewhere in the middle of the new page if you switch pages while scrolled down All of these can be fixed, but a non-SPA wouldn't have any of them in the first place. More work for what benefit exactly? (While I'm listing bugs, the top of the content scrollbar is cut off/hidden behind the top bar, but that's not SPA specific)
- spilk 9y ago
  Plus it's (more) complicated to wget mirror it to reference while offline. Being in a public github repo makes it easy but I've run into issues trying to take older frames-based "SPA" documentation sites offline that aren't explicitly downloadable.
stephenr 9y ago
Individual pages aren't bookmark-able with this, and to add insult to injury, loading the page with a fragment actually requires you to click a different in-page link, before clicking the one you wanted, to load that page. That's why not.
- deburo 9y ago
  I don't understand this. I am able to bookmark the page (http://host#fragment http://host#fragment), and it serves me the right page, no? Ex: https://githubdocs.markmoffat.com/#Erant-ventorum-aliter-esse-pervenientia-mutua-numquam https://githubdocs.markmoffat.com/#Erant-ventorum-aliter-ess...
  - deleted 9y ago
    [deleted]
  - always_good 9y ago
    Yours works by accident. Try this one: https://githubdocs.markmoffat.com/#Suam-aera https://githubdocs.markmoffat.com/#Suam-aera Of course, this is just a bug. SPAs certainly can be bookmarked.
    - stephenr 9y ago
      They can if the feature is implemented by the SPA framework/library/whatever, and if the JS loads and if there aren't any bugs (e.g. imagine a bug that means a fragment with an unexpected character can't be loaded). Conversely, static HTML links (either links to id/name fragments in a large file, or links to specific pages if using separate files) almost can't fail, and it's incredibly unlikely a SPA would be even close to loading if regular static pages fail to load properly.
fenwick67 9y ago
"Why not" is a terrible reason to add complexity to anything.

Why not?

1. Doesn't work without javascript enabled (it's text, why the hell do I need JS enabled to read it?) 2. Control + F doesn't work across pages, you'd need to first find the page you're looking for 3. Doesn't offer any tangible benefit beyond "being a SPA"

mrvautin 9y ago
1. Hardly any websites work without JavaScript these days. 2. That would imply you like your documentation entirely on one page. Anyway, that's why there is a search box... 3. Nonsense.
- stephenr 9y ago
  > Hardly any websites work without JavaScript these days. [Citation required] > Nonsense That doesn't really refute the claim.
- dictum 9y ago
  > 1. Hardly any websites work without JavaScript these days. Got to be that guy: that's a circular argument. Other websites are doing X, hence you should do X too. It's as much an argument for docs-as-SPA as it's for having a large Outbrain ad with a picture of some skin disease in your docs. (Disclaimer: I don't hate web apps that don't work without JS — I build them too. But a page of text shouldn't require JS. You can ship the JS-only version as a separate website, but don't force all users to use it)
- detaro 9y ago
  > 3. Nonsense. What tangible benefits do you see?

detaro 9y ago

Because being an SPA adds tons of potential for bugs that normal sites don't have. Case in point, your demo: - required changing my adblocker settings to work - Breaks the back button on the first page by adding instead of replacing the start page on the history stack - changing pages doesn't reset the scroll position - you jump to somewhere in the middle of the new page if you switch pages while scrolled down All of these can be fixed, but a non-SPA wouldn't have any of them in the first place. More work for what benefit exactly? (While I'm listing bugs, the top of the content scrollbar is cut off/hidden behind the top bar, but that's not SPA specific)

spilk 9y ago
Plus it's (more) complicated to wget mirror it to reference while offline. Being in a public github repo makes it easy but I've run into issues trying to take older frames-based "SPA" documentation sites offline that aren't explicitly downloadable.

stephenr 9y ago

Individual pages aren't bookmark-able with this, and to add insult to injury, loading the page with a fragment actually requires you to click a different in-page link, before clicking the one you wanted, to load that page. That's why not.

deburo 9y ago
I don't understand this. I am able to bookmark the page (http://host#fragment http://host#fragment), and it serves me the right page, no? Ex: https://githubdocs.markmoffat.com/#Erant-ventorum-aliter-esse-pervenientia-mutua-numquam https://githubdocs.markmoffat.com/#Erant-ventorum-aliter-ess...
- deleted 9y ago
  [deleted]
- always_good 9y ago
  Yours works by accident. Try this one: https://githubdocs.markmoffat.com/#Suam-aera https://githubdocs.markmoffat.com/#Suam-aera Of course, this is just a bug. SPAs certainly can be bookmarked.
  - stephenr 9y ago
    They can if the feature is implemented by the SPA framework/library/whatever, and if the JS loads and if there aren't any bugs (e.g. imagine a bug that means a fragment with an unexpected character can't be loaded). Conversely, static HTML links (either links to id/name fragments in a large file, or links to specific pages if using separate files) almost can't fail, and it's incredibly unlikely a SPA would be even close to loading if regular static pages fail to load properly.

fenwick67 9y ago

"Why not" is a terrible reason to add complexity to anything.