5 ms·

Maybe you're optimizing for the wrong thing? Let's imagine a world where a browser is just a secure place to execute code. You get vulkan, io, networking, inpu

Maybe you're optimizing for the wrong thing? Let's imagine a world where a browser is just a secure place to execute code. You get vulkan, io, networking, input, camera access in a cross platform way. So, how do search engines find any info? How do you share links to content? How do you support braille readers? Browser extensions? I'd argue those things are pretty essential to the web as we know it (well maybe not the extensions) and I might also argue that some of the inefficiencies of the web environment are a direct result of making the decisions that the most important part of the web is a common semi scannable and linkable format, HTML.

wtallis 12y ago
The web these days is very clearly diverging into two separate things: a portable application runtime/platform, and the document publishing system it started as. I don't see any way to accomplish a clean split between the two, but it looks increasingly necessary.
- kyllo 12y ago
  The split you speak of has already happened on mobile, that's why we have "apps."
  - wtallis 12y ago
    The new medium has been born, but the old one is still being abused, so the split isn't complete and won't be until this no longer happens: http://xkcd.com/1174/ http://xkcd.com/1174/
    - kyllo 12y ago
      The worst is LinkedIn, which will send you an e-mail with article links it it, and if you click the links it takes you to your browser, which does the thing that xkcd comic describes if you don't have the app installed, but if you do have the app it just launches the app and leaves you at the home screen, and the context of the link you clicked on is gone.
    - jodrellblank 12y ago
      I'm wondering about the "can't zoom" bit. I can't zoom on many websites - because Mobile Safari has sold out control to the web developers, instead of acting as my user agent.
      - shiven 12y ago
        Disabled zoom is one of my pet peeves too. I use this bookmarklet on my iPhone, you may find it useful... javascript:document.querySelector('meta%5Bname=viewport%5D').setAttribute('content','width=device-width,initial-scale=1.0,maximum-scale=10.0,user-scalable=1');
        jodrellblank 12y ago
        Thanks!
pjmlp 12y ago
> So, how do search engines find any info? Desktop integrated search. > How do you share links to content? Extensions, contracts and intents. > How do you support braille readers? OS Accessibility APIs > Browser extensions? Plugins

wtallis 12y ago

The web these days is very clearly diverging into two separate things: a portable application runtime/platform, and the document publishing system it started as. I don't see any way to accomplish a clean split between the two, but it looks increasingly necessary.

kyllo 12y ago
The split you speak of has already happened on mobile, that's why we have "apps."
- wtallis 12y ago
  The new medium has been born, but the old one is still being abused, so the split isn't complete and won't be until this no longer happens: http://xkcd.com/1174/ http://xkcd.com/1174/
  - kyllo 12y ago
    The worst is LinkedIn, which will send you an e-mail with article links it it, and if you click the links it takes you to your browser, which does the thing that xkcd comic describes if you don't have the app installed, but if you do have the app it just launches the app and leaves you at the home screen, and the context of the link you clicked on is gone.
  - jodrellblank 12y ago
    I'm wondering about the "can't zoom" bit. I can't zoom on many websites - because Mobile Safari has sold out control to the web developers, instead of acting as my user agent.
    - shiven 12y ago
      Disabled zoom is one of my pet peeves too. I use this bookmarklet on my iPhone, you may find it useful... javascript:document.querySelector('meta%5Bname=viewport%5D').setAttribute('content','width=device-width,initial-scale=1.0,maximum-scale=10.0,user-scalable=1');
      - jodrellblank 12y ago
        Thanks!

pjmlp 12y ago

> So, how do search engines find any info? Desktop integrated search. > How do you share links to content? Extensions, contracts and intents. > How do you support braille readers? OS Accessibility APIs > Browser extensions? Plugins