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Because it's the only ubiquitous, actual multi-platform delivery channel we have. Web browsers are available on pretty much any device in the hands of users rig

by 9dev 2y ago

Because it's the only ubiquitous, actual multi-platform delivery channel we have. Web browsers are available on pretty much any device in the hands of users right now. And while HTML doesn't map too well, it is certainly good enough—there are simply no viable alternatives anyway, so people are going to use what is available.

_heimdall 2y ago
Do you think it would be as good of a delivery channel if browsers focus more on features needed to build applications rather than to view documents? In my experience, application-specific features are really what made the modern web complex and bloated. Building applicstion frameworks and operating systems is insanely difficult, much more so than building a standard document format and rendering protocol. Can the web be used for applications? Absolutely. But my argument would be that it almost never should be. Native applications will always handle that better, and though there isn't a great cross platform solution for applications today we'd be better off building that than shoehorning that usecase into the web.
- 9dev 2y ago
  But that just doesn't match the way people use the web, like it or not. Building native applications just isn't worth it for many businesses: You need to adhere to compliance and security, different platforms and operating system versions, keep track of different system APIs, handle a giant matrix of build targets, prepare and maintain installation guides with possibly required client SDKs and dependencies, employ specialists for every platform... it's an extremely wide field. Compare to the web: A single platform to build for. A single API to keep track of. A sandboxed runtime environment with zero dependencies, available on virtually every client system. A way to communicate with your servers that works, even in tightly guarded networks. A giant amount of documentation, available developers, and resources. In an ideal world, I'd like to see native applications for everything. In the world we have, constraints prohibit that. So for better or worse, the web has to be mended into the universal application runtime environment we use it as.

by 9dev 2y ago

_heimdall 2y ago

Do you think it would be as good of a delivery channel if browsers focus more on features needed to build applications rather than to view documents? In my experience, application-specific features are really what made the modern web complex and bloated. Building applicstion frameworks and operating systems is insanely difficult, much more so than building a standard document format and rendering protocol. Can the web be used for applications? Absolutely. But my argument would be that it almost never should be. Native applications will always handle that better, and though there isn't a great cross platform solution for applications today we'd be better off building that than shoehorning that usecase into the web.

9dev 2y ago
But that just doesn't match the way people use the web, like it or not. Building native applications just isn't worth it for many businesses: You need to adhere to compliance and security, different platforms and operating system versions, keep track of different system APIs, handle a giant matrix of build targets, prepare and maintain installation guides with possibly required client SDKs and dependencies, employ specialists for every platform... it's an extremely wide field. Compare to the web: A single platform to build for. A single API to keep track of. A sandboxed runtime environment with zero dependencies, available on virtually every client system. A way to communicate with your servers that works, even in tightly guarded networks. A giant amount of documentation, available developers, and resources. In an ideal world, I'd like to see native applications for everything. In the world we have, constraints prohibit that. So for better or worse, the web has to be mended into the universal application runtime environment we use it as.