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I agree with the sentiment but the web is so ridiculously inconsistent already that drawing the line to styling scrollbars feels pointless to me. This was your

by simias 7y ago

I agree with the sentiment but the web is so ridiculously inconsistent already that drawing the line to styling scrollbars feels pointless to me. This was your monthly "the web was a mistake, gopher should've won" propaganda message. You can now return to your 30MB React.js project.

jimktrains2 7y ago
If gopher had a way to send a request with a body it could have done better, I think. You can't build a BBS/Forum with just gopher.
dmix 7y ago
The question is about what’s consistent for the user not the application developer
- deleted 7y ago
  [deleted]
- tetraca 7y ago
  Gopher was arguably more consistent in both regards. But pretty vs functional wasn't even a tradeoff you could really consider.
  - dmix 7y ago
    The protocols certainly influence the designs but there’s always a level of flexibility in the clients (ie, browsers) which the app devs will still have to wrangle. Some devs value consistency across platforms so their app always looks and functions the same. But I personally think it’s best to default to the system’s UI. Sure I can make it look Mac-esque on desktop Firefox on Windows but I’d rather it look and function exactly like every other windowed application they use on the platform. There’s also nothing inherent in using JS heavy frontends like React which encourages non-standard browser behaviour. You can still present complex interactive elements while keeping scrolling and other usability stuff like back buttons, copy/pasting, form input behaviour (not breaking LastPass and browser autocomplete for ex), not losing form data on submit after validation errors, etc. You have to go out of your way to explicitly modify default browser behaviour, usually via 3rd party libraries added on to these frameworks. Personally I found it was far more common in the jQuery world, which is still rampant among those awful prebuilt themes people and companies always use for their websites.
peterkelly 7y ago
To be fair, if Gopher had won then the industry would surely have found a way to make it as shitty as the web is now.

by simias 7y ago

jimktrains2 7y ago

If gopher had a way to send a request with a body it could have done better, I think. You can't build a BBS/Forum with just gopher.

dmix 7y ago

The question is about what’s consistent for the user not the application developer

deleted 7y ago
[deleted]
tetraca 7y ago
Gopher was arguably more consistent in both regards. But pretty vs functional wasn't even a tradeoff you could really consider.
- dmix 7y ago
  The protocols certainly influence the designs but there’s always a level of flexibility in the clients (ie, browsers) which the app devs will still have to wrangle. Some devs value consistency across platforms so their app always looks and functions the same. But I personally think it’s best to default to the system’s UI. Sure I can make it look Mac-esque on desktop Firefox on Windows but I’d rather it look and function exactly like every other windowed application they use on the platform. There’s also nothing inherent in using JS heavy frontends like React which encourages non-standard browser behaviour. You can still present complex interactive elements while keeping scrolling and other usability stuff like back buttons, copy/pasting, form input behaviour (not breaking LastPass and browser autocomplete for ex), not losing form data on submit after validation errors, etc. You have to go out of your way to explicitly modify default browser behaviour, usually via 3rd party libraries added on to these frameworks. Personally I found it was far more common in the jQuery world, which is still rampant among those awful prebuilt themes people and companies always use for their websites.

peterkelly 7y ago

To be fair, if Gopher had won then the industry would surely have found a way to make it as shitty as the web is now.