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   scy (scy@chaos.social)'s status on Monday, 07-Oct-2024 19:15:03 JST scy

   I haven't given this a lot of thought, but hear me out for a moment:

   When people say "the complexity of modern web technologies make it almost impossible to create a new web browser from scratch", what they really mean is "a new web browser that supports everything Chrome does".

   I wonder whether that's even necessary. After all, the web _should_ be built with progressive enhancement in mind.

   But who am I kidding, right? Most people only test their sites in Chrome these days.

   #web #webdev

   • Embed this notice
     scy (scy@chaos.social)'s status on Monday, 07-Oct-2024 19:14:59 JST scy

     in reply to

     So, if you care about the _content_, if you care about the web as a _publishing_ platform (and not something providing a streamlined, feature-rich, pixel-perfect "experience"), you should focus on making your site available for as many browsers and users as possible.

     I'm not talking about "Chrome & Firefox". I'm talking about Lynx & Ladybird & BeautifulSoup, and if you haven't heard of them, not only read up on them, but actually start _using_ them.

     Let's re-diversify interacting with the web.

   • Embed this notice
     scy (scy@chaos.social)'s status on Monday, 07-Oct-2024 19:15:01 JST scy

     in reply to

     There will be basically one software to access the web (Chrome and its derivatives), one entity to de-facto dictate the content (by choosing which standards to implement and which sites to add to blocklists "for safety reasons").

     We've been seeing efforts to remove the URL bar for years and years now. How long until we're back at AOL Keywords?

     We'll need a grassroots movement to either re-democratize the web (by building interoperable, semantic sites) or move to a new set of protocols & tools.

     GreenSkyOverMe (Monika) repeated this.
   • Embed this notice
     scy (scy@chaos.social)'s status on Monday, 07-Oct-2024 19:15:02 JST scy

     in reply to

     That being said, I feel like "the web" as in "open standards, and sites are being built with interoperability and semantic content in mind" is basically almost lost anyway. These days, we're building pixel-perfect web "applications".

     Back in the days, when CompuServe's and AOL's non-web services were still a thing, I considered their walled-gardenness inferior to the web. But now, Google is building a new, larger wall. The AOLification of the web is almost complete.