4 ms·
(Copied) The Web itself remains, and so does the freedom to write compatible code. This wonderful, miraculous platform has remained stable enough over this ti
by forgotmypw17 6y ago
(Copied)
The Web itself remains, and so does the freedom to write compatible code.
This wonderful, miraculous platform has remained stable enough over this time for me to be able to plan ahead and not be caught off-guard by something like “we’re deprecating version 2.0, please use new version 3.0 syntax” or “your platform is now obsolete, please switch to the new HTML.NET”. The W3C gang tries, and they fail, because HTML is stronger and bigger than them. The Web is stronger and bigger than all of them combined.
Many have tried to contain it, to own it, to be the main one calling the shots, and HTML laughs in all their collective faces. All thanks to its basic concept of “be strict with yourself, and accepting with others.”
Mosaic was the first browser for which “best viewed with” buttons were used. They failed to own the Web. Then came Netscape, “Mosaic killa”, and they managed to kill Mosaic, but they failed to tame HTML, because HTML will not be owned. Netscape was destroyed by Microsoft-IE, who also wanted to tame and own HTML, and they also failed, because HTML is not ownable.
Then Firefox came and fucked up IE, and things were good for a while, Mozilla was a decent steward. Then Google came and took ownership of Mozilla, and together with Chrome they also tried to tame HTML. They will fail just like the others. HTML cannot be tamed or owned. The Web was built for freedom.
If you want composable, future-proof GUI, open up your notepad.exe and write this:
<html>
<head>
<title>Hello, World!</title>
</head>
<body>
<h1>Hello, World!</h1>
<p>
This is demonstration of
proper composable,
future-proof, accessible GUI.
</p>
<form action="/">
<input type=text
size=80 name=comment>
<br>
<input type=submit value=Go>
</form>
</body>
</html>
This GUI will work as expected and render in 25+ years worth of platform. And it could have been composed by a 10-year-old.
- dingaling 6y ago> This GUI will work as expected and render in 25+ years worth of platform It's not about syntax and language, it's about environment. Compile 10 lines of hello_world.c into an ARM executable and send it to a friend using a 'walled garden' phone. It'll be useless to them even though it's technically correct. Likewise the Web is being continually tightened and centralised. That HTML you wrote will soon require an HTTPS server, probably in a VPS because many ISPs block port 443. And the VPS provider has implemented a captcha in front to reduce botting, which links your visitor's data to another huge Internet corporation. Open web?
- forgotmypw17 6y agoBut not yet, and we can save it.
- aboringusername 6y agoYes yet and no we can't (and couldn't) save it. I'm not sure what www/http/https you're using today but the web is royally fucked. Source: Use VPN/TOR and try the "open internet", the first GOOGLE Recaptcha will break your will to live. Then you'll just open Chrome instead. "Open", indeed.
- zo1 6y agoYup - you now have to "pay" to access certain websites. And you do so by proving you're a human and/or giving them free CV training data.
- forgotmypw17 6y agoI agree, I face that all the time, and I consider that the AOL internet, closed to me, and just don't go there. I don't think I'm missing much.
- tim333 6y agoDunno. HTTPS is kind of a pain but you can stick the HTML up on github and serve it on your own domain for free with HTTPS in a few minutes. Or a digital ocean or a bunch of other services with letsencrypt. It seems quite easy really.
- deleted 6y ago[deleted]
- etripe 6y agoWhile I agree that it is backwards compatible, I don't agree it's a GUI. It's a document, and HTML is a document standard. The GUI comes from the browser, whose creator can choose which standard to adhere to, if any. For proof, all you need to do is look at caniuse.com or MDN. Come to think of it, can you say with utmost certainty that today's HTML5 standard will continue to be supported in 25 years' time? That's part of the problem with developing for the modern web - HTML isn't at all composable, because it has no concept of partial views, unless you count iframes. While improvements have been made, it still poorly supports an app model, leaving us to add warts through JavaScript. Although even it is improving, it has plenty of its own warts. In addition to not supporting an app model, the web wasn't built with online payments in mind, has no concept of online identity and no concept of data ownership. The result: dark patterns like tracking cookies, wild growth of payment providers (good and bad), data siphoning, erosion of privacy and the expectancy thereof, and so on.