Re:In protest of the web{*} bulldozer, a response to websock...
by derefr on Wednesday May 20, 2020 @09:00PM
(#23253810)
> Battery status? It could be useful to know if the PC is connected to a power source and the level of the battery, even for a stupid scenario like watching a video, when I'm low on battery I usually reduce the resolution of a YouTube video because reproducing a 4k60p video uses a lot of resources, and drains the battery quickly. It would be useful if the webapp could just do that automatically, maybe on YouTube an option like reduce resolution when low on battery. Or for games, or whatever uses a lot of resources.
I don't think it's a wrong API, but it certainly is a backward one. I don't want a website to collect low-level information from my computer's ACPI sensors, and then build its own policy on top. (Will I, the user, get any control over that policy? Probably not.) Instead, I want my OS to implement an energy policy (and a control panel for that policy) and then to maybe expose the information about the current energy policy to websites.
E.g., I'd be fine with iOS telling websites that I currently have Low Power mode enabled. If I don't have it enabled, then I don't care if the website thinks 10% is an emergency—I left it disabled for a reason. (And, contrariwise, if I turned on Low Power mode at 100% battery, then I'd like the website to cooperate.)
For a similar idea, I don't want websites to try figuring out that my IP translates to a cellular data connection. But I do want the state of my OS's "Metered Data mode" setting to be passed on to websites, so that they can help me to use less data, when I've decided I want to do so.
I don't think it's a wrong API, but it certainly is a backward one. I don't want a website to collect low-level information from my computer's ACPI sensors, and then build its own policy on top. (Will I, the user, get any control over that policy? Probably not.) Instead, I want my OS to implement an energy policy (and a control panel for that policy) and then to maybe expose the information about the current energy policy to websites.
E.g., I'd be fine with iOS telling websites that I currently have Low Power mode enabled. If I don't have it enabled, then I don't care if the website thinks 10% is an emergency—I left it disabled for a reason. (And, contrariwise, if I turned on Low Power mode at 100% battery, then I'd like the website to cooperate.)
For a similar idea, I don't want websites to try figuring out that my IP translates to a cellular data connection. But I do want the state of my OS's "Metered Data mode" setting to be passed on to websites, so that they can help me to use less data, when I've decided I want to do so.