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Me too. But this rant still resonates and speaks to a snobbery that's still occasionally alive. I am surprised that high quality web apps still seem just as r

Me too. But this rant still resonates and speaks to a snobbery that's still occasionally alive. I am surprised that high quality web apps still seem just as rare in 2021 as they did in 2009 despite the explosion of tools. i.e. apps that do something non-trivial, where the network usage disappears under "acceptable interaction time", where the UI toolkit is consistent & discoverable, where nothing is broken. But it's still true - if you want to program software that people use, it's using web technology or it's a video game or it's a tiny tiny niche.

mattgreenrocks 5y ago
Yeah. It almost feels like there's a ceiling on quality imposed by the platform. 60fps is still seen as an aspirational goal for webapps, and most apps we use everyday are just...okay. I've yet to use a webapp that I found truly inspiring in execution and design. I may just be a snob. It's possible, but most of the time it always feels like once you're starting to settle in and really use a webapp, the seams show themselves somehow: the browser hiccups, a server is slow, the React filler boxes linger for just too long. However, this doesn't really matter; the real goal of webapps is mostly to generate economic activity. In the past, this caused me some existential grief. I deal with it by simply avoiding any dev work related to the web. For my own projects, I stick to native apps. I think it says something when I choose putting up with Xcode vs developing for the web. :)
BeFlatXIII 5y ago
> if you want to program software that people use, it's using web technology or it's a video game or it's a tiny tiny niche. Or it’s a mobile app (though that can overlap with both video game and tiny niche if you want to make an app that covers all three bases at once).
- mattbee 5y ago
  That's true - though most apps I use on my phone respond like like webviews.

mattgreenrocks 5y ago

Yeah. It almost feels like there's a ceiling on quality imposed by the platform. 60fps is still seen as an aspirational goal for webapps, and most apps we use everyday are just...okay. I've yet to use a webapp that I found truly inspiring in execution and design. I may just be a snob. It's possible, but most of the time it always feels like once you're starting to settle in and really use a webapp, the seams show themselves somehow: the browser hiccups, a server is slow, the React filler boxes linger for just too long. However, this doesn't really matter; the real goal of webapps is mostly to generate economic activity. In the past, this caused me some existential grief. I deal with it by simply avoiding any dev work related to the web. For my own projects, I stick to native apps. I think it says something when I choose putting up with Xcode vs developing for the web. :)

BeFlatXIII 5y ago

> if you want to program software that people use, it's using web technology or it's a video game or it's a tiny tiny niche. Or it’s a mobile app (though that can overlap with both video game and tiny niche if you want to make an app that covers all three bases at once).

mattbee 5y ago
That's true - though most apps I use on my phone respond like like webviews.