this post was submitted on 28 Jul 2023
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I only disagree with you in that for an application, the application designer should choose what an application looks like.
The argument of if applications should be deployed via web browser is an independent discussion.
That discussion begins with the question "Should applications be deployed via web browser?" and ends with the response "No"
I think that the argument here lies in where people draw the line on what is considered valid formatting and "too much".
I think, that since html has paragraph hints, there is little difference in also describing what paragraphs should look like. Which slippery-slopes our way to entire applications. If html is more than just a data format, but also a visual formatting language (paragraphs are visual formatting hints, don't try to argue otherwise) then additional visual formatting rules is the natural progression. The vast, vast, vast majority of people view html as a markup language for describing the visual layout of information. HTMLs creation is basically a declarative method by which visual representation of data can be made, while also including the data to be displayed.
I personally have been developing HTML since 93/94 and JavaScript since 96. Not once during the early years did anyone ever say "HTML" isn't a visual markup language. If you wanted a data markup language you used something else. XML was developed specifically for that purpose... To define the data markup without the visual aspect of it because HTML was for visual representation.
I get it. You are nostalgic for a bygone era... Or you don't like developing with JS... Or css is just too hard for you to understand. I get it. HTML was a dev language, that made dev quality UI and barely would scrape the grey box standards of today... And then designers got involved and things got hard.
Damn.
I'll argue that paragraphs are not just visual formatting hints. Like
<em>, they impart semantic meaning. Text within a paragraph is closely related and should not be scattered across the page or broken up by other elements. Just like<h1>is more than just "bigger and bolder!"There are other tags you could've chosen that would support your argument.
<div>for example is pure layout, so I'm not saying your argument holds no water, but you put the parenthetical there and it seems either poorly thought out or lacking in perspective.I think the key here is that there was initially no CSS and it was required to have a way to assist the readability of the content and so layout tags were added, but I'd argue that's an artifact of how the web evolved and not the purpose of HTML.
If appeal to age is an important factor, I've been using the internet since before there was a "world wide web."
I don't know why I can't make it stop inserting these close tags. Probably a client bug.
Lol. That's a good argument but I didn't say paragraph doesn't denote more than visual information. I said that it unequivocally denotes visual information.
I agree with the rest of your analysis though.
yeah, substance > style.
the content/facts/information is what should matter, make it accessible. share it.
let the audience access it however best suits them.
I would argue that json has become the data format method of choice for most applications.
What you want is mostly what json is, not html.
The format doesn't bother me too much.
json can be great for sure.
But I reckon some people could still bung a load of unnecessarily complex layout and aesthetic data in there, and potentially screw up the data structure and still make it harder to access than need be.
I accept that, if the json is structured logically, it should handle both substantive and layout data, and probably easiest to get to either the content or the formatting.
To be fair, the distinction should be pointed out that no sane individual would deploy their entire application to a browser right?
Like their whole stack?
Right? padmeface.jpg
Honestly... They are excellent targets.
How many multiplatform applications have you made that respected the designers/UX/UI choices well?
It's way harder outside of html/css/js...
electron lmao
Good thing web pages are supposed to be documents and not "applications," then!
If you want a goddamn application, go resurrect Java Web Start or something.
That was true 20 years ago. Things evolve. No one wants to download and install ten million individual apps for every single thing they do on the internet.
The irony of people posting on web applications they utilize for their own enjoyment, "applications don't belong on web browsers" is killing me here.
There is a portion of the tech industry with their head stuck firmly up their ass and it seems a lot of em hang out in the fediverse. These people would demand we go back to party lines and manual switchboards. Techno-hipsters who are just angry at the next generation who took their BBS internet and actually made the world use it.
Downvote me, that's fine. Use that interactivity application on your browser. Go be the very definition of irony. Please.