But they're not just text and a few images. They're text, a few images, and megabytes of advertising (and often tracking) JS. The site creators will argue, wit

But they're not just text and a few images. They're text, a few images, and megabytes of advertising (and often tracking) JS. The site creators will argue, with some merit, that the crap is necessary to provide income in order for them to create and maintain the site. You can make the browsers lighter, but they wouldn't browse today's Web. Which is fine; I'm all for getting away from the shitshow that is today's Web, but simply making browsers lighter weight would not be a winning Jenga move.