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I agree. The current stack is here to stay and we will need to support it. However, as a web developer, I spend insane amounts of time dealing with simple issue

I agree. The current stack is here to stay and we will need to support it. However, as a web developer, I spend insane amounts of time dealing with simple issues that stem from the fact that we are building complex applications on top of it. Modal window has a JS select element in it? Now the whole select list has to have an absolute position to make sure it flows out of the modal. Oh wait... now the thing won't reposition itself when the user starts scrolling. So much tech today is being built just to put a band-aid over this stuff, instead of addressing the core issue (the browser is no longer used to just deliver static documents). I can't be the only one that wishes for a new language/browser. WebAssembly might be a saviour, although I'm unsure how issues like accessibility will be addressed.

hombre_fatal 6y ago
Just sounds like grass-is-greener hopefulness to me. If it was just a matter of a fresh start with a new language/stack, then Android/iOS/macOS dev would be compelling experiences. But they're not. And they're changing just as much, bandaging over themselves so much that you end up credentializing in a whole lineage of idiosyncrasies worse than just putting a <select> in a modal, except unlike the web you're just building something that works on an iPhone. Clientdev is hard.
- corty 6y ago
  Try Delphi/Lazarus, Qt or maybe even VisualBasic. Client Dev has regressed since those days, now it's in a state where devs can't even imagine anything better, but we clearly had that...
c-smile 6y ago
> However, as a web developer, ... modal window has a JS select element in it? Try Sciter then, it was designed precisely for running desktop UI using HTML/CSS as UI declaration languages. I was native UI developer initially, then Web Frontend Architect who returned back to desktop development taking HTML/CSS with me to Sciter.
pmoriarty 6y ago
"So much tech today is being built just to put a band-aid over this stuff, instead of addressing the core issue (the browser is no longer used to just deliver static documents)" Am I the only one who thinks the sooner the web goes back to just delivering static documents, the better?
- Scarblac 6y ago
  For the Web that would probably be good, yes. But many of us are application programmers using the browser as a UI platform, and that doesn't have that much to do with the Web proper.
  - corty 6y ago
    The Web platform needs to be split again into a document and a clearly separate application platform. With the proper architecture for each of them. Right now it is a compromise between right and left shore, dropping you into the water...
- cageface 6y ago
  This is never going to happen so what’s the point arguing that it should? As a dev if have to choose between a flawed but still very capable open platform and proprietary walled gardens where corporations wield absolute and arbitrary control I’ll take the open option and so should you.

hombre_fatal 6y ago

Just sounds like grass-is-greener hopefulness to me. If it was just a matter of a fresh start with a new language/stack, then Android/iOS/macOS dev would be compelling experiences. But they're not. And they're changing just as much, bandaging over themselves so much that you end up credentializing in a whole lineage of idiosyncrasies worse than just putting a <select> in a modal, except unlike the web you're just building something that works on an iPhone. Clientdev is hard.

corty 6y ago
Try Delphi/Lazarus, Qt or maybe even VisualBasic. Client Dev has regressed since those days, now it's in a state where devs can't even imagine anything better, but we clearly had that...

c-smile 6y ago

> However, as a web developer, ... modal window has a JS select element in it? Try Sciter then, it was designed precisely for running desktop UI using HTML/CSS as UI declaration languages. I was native UI developer initially, then Web Frontend Architect who returned back to desktop development taking HTML/CSS with me to Sciter.

pmoriarty 6y ago

"So much tech today is being built just to put a band-aid over this stuff, instead of addressing the core issue (the browser is no longer used to just deliver static documents)" Am I the only one who thinks the sooner the web goes back to just delivering static documents, the better?

Scarblac 6y ago
For the Web that would probably be good, yes. But many of us are application programmers using the browser as a UI platform, and that doesn't have that much to do with the Web proper.
- corty 6y ago
  The Web platform needs to be split again into a document and a clearly separate application platform. With the proper architecture for each of them. Right now it is a compromise between right and left shore, dropping you into the water...
cageface 6y ago
This is never going to happen so what’s the point arguing that it should? As a dev if have to choose between a flawed but still very capable open platform and proprietary walled gardens where corporations wield absolute and arbitrary control I’ll take the open option and so should you.