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Trying to make the opposite transition, my quibble with web development is that much of the work seems so pointless. I hope that after this crisis we will care

Trying to make the opposite transition, my quibble with web development is that much of the work seems so pointless. I hope that after this crisis we will care less about making people click ads than about learning how stuff works in biology.

MattGaiser 7y ago
We still run into the problem of how to pay for content on the web. Do we really want everything to either be volunteer or sponsored by someone?
- Mati_Roy 7y ago
  it's a public good that will likely be underfunded if we stick with volunteers and sponsored except maybe if status is a sufficient payment? mayyybe good if altruistic ideas are more likely to propagate under those incentives?
LifeIsBio 7y ago
I heard there's a great new site that can help you learn about bio if you're interested... You know, if the site will let you login, that is. ;)
- TheOtherHobbes 7y ago
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Animats 7y ago
Trying to make the opposite transition, my quibble with web development is that much of the work seems so pointless. That's the problem with web development today. Something that not only should be straightforward, but used to be straightforward, is now very complex. Partly because it involves connecting a large number of complex and constantly changing packages. The last time I wanted to do something with an API, I coded up the API in Go and ran it from FCGI to get multiple copies. Easier than all those "frameworks". Probably faster, too, since Go is hard-compiled.
- realharo 7y ago
  >used to be straightforward As someone who remembers having to do weird CSS tricks for really basic layouts (negative margins? hidden extra elements that don't make any sense, but cause other elements to move?), manually modifying the UI made up of jQuery plugins that require a very specific prescribed HTML structure to even work, or doing significant adjustments for 3 or 4 different browsers, I definitely dispute that claim. Web development right now (at least the frontend for sure) feels like a breeze compared to about 10-15 years ago. Steps 1 and 2 of the whole process may have gotten more difficult, but steps 5 through 100 are a lot easier these days.

MattGaiser 7y ago

We still run into the problem of how to pay for content on the web. Do we really want everything to either be volunteer or sponsored by someone?

Mati_Roy 7y ago
it's a public good that will likely be underfunded if we stick with volunteers and sponsored except maybe if status is a sufficient payment? mayyybe good if altruistic ideas are more likely to propagate under those incentives?

LifeIsBio 7y ago

I heard there's a great new site that can help you learn about bio if you're interested... You know, if the site will let you login, that is. ;)

TheOtherHobbes 7y ago
[Looks like you've read 0.1% of this page! Enter your email into this popup to receive emails you don't want about things you're not interested in. Also turn off your ad blocker, because we're not a charity, you freeloader.]

Animats 7y ago

Trying to make the opposite transition, my quibble with web development is that much of the work seems so pointless. That's the problem with web development today. Something that not only should be straightforward, but used to be straightforward, is now very complex. Partly because it involves connecting a large number of complex and constantly changing packages. The last time I wanted to do something with an API, I coded up the API in Go and ran it from FCGI to get multiple copies. Easier than all those "frameworks". Probably faster, too, since Go is hard-compiled.

realharo 7y ago
>used to be straightforward As someone who remembers having to do weird CSS tricks for really basic layouts (negative margins? hidden extra elements that don't make any sense, but cause other elements to move?), manually modifying the UI made up of jQuery plugins that require a very specific prescribed HTML structure to even work, or doing significant adjustments for 3 or 4 different browsers, I definitely dispute that claim. Web development right now (at least the frontend for sure) feels like a breeze compared to about 10-15 years ago. Steps 1 and 2 of the whole process may have gotten more difficult, but steps 5 through 100 are a lot easier these days.