3 ms·

I loved xHTML, but it failed for a very simple reason: people designing it were working on a DSL to structure a document. But the vast majority of users were ac

I loved xHTML, but it failed for a very simple reason: people designing it were working on a DSL to structure a document. But the vast majority of users were actually trying to make things look pretty. Most websites are currently blobs of div. Why ? Because the idea of a web page being mainly a document completely missed the part were artists fiddling with messy code would produce things that customers would like better. It's the same reason we currently see giant images on home pages and 10mo static assets to load. Because in the end, the best technical decision doesn't win. The one that gives the result the customers end up preferring wins. If you have 3 hours to get a design done, you have the choice between making it look great, or having a clean semantic and maintainable markup, you will have to drop one. And the market will select according to the result.

pjmlp 5y ago
Another reason for div blobs is that HTML is not a language to describe GUI applications rather documents. So one ends up with a soup of divs, made pretty with CSS and then replicate the behaviour of a beatiful dropdown fully in JavaScript, ignoring the browser builtin infrastructure. Naturally because this breaks down in every browser, it is then extended with hacks for every corner case.
Thiez 5y ago
> If you have 3 hours to get a design done, you have the choice between making it look great, or having a clean semantic and maintainable markup, you will have to drop one. And the market will select according to the result. Depends on whether accessibility is a priority. Depending on where you live it may be mandatory by law, for larger organizations.
- BiteCode_dev 5y ago
  Nah, what will happen is that accessibility will be dropped 9 times out of 10. And one day, many years from that decision, they will receive a notification from the state, stating the site is not accessible. And then the site will be made that way. Maybe. The situation were a website is made accessible from the start is such a tiny rare occasion it cannot be used to explain why xhtml failed.

pjmlp 5y ago

Another reason for div blobs is that HTML is not a language to describe GUI applications rather documents. So one ends up with a soup of divs, made pretty with CSS and then replicate the behaviour of a beatiful dropdown fully in JavaScript, ignoring the browser builtin infrastructure. Naturally because this breaks down in every browser, it is then extended with hacks for every corner case.

Thiez 5y ago

> If you have 3 hours to get a design done, you have the choice between making it look great, or having a clean semantic and maintainable markup, you will have to drop one. And the market will select according to the result. Depends on whether accessibility is a priority. Depending on where you live it may be mandatory by law, for larger organizations.

BiteCode_dev 5y ago
Nah, what will happen is that accessibility will be dropped 9 times out of 10. And one day, many years from that decision, they will receive a notification from the state, stating the site is not accessible. And then the site will be made that way. Maybe. The situation were a website is made accessible from the start is such a tiny rare occasion it cannot be used to explain why xhtml failed.