Re:Web Browsers Need to Stop
by tabtab on Thursday August 13, 2020 @03:56PM
(#24147841)
I generally tend to agree. The browser is becoming a terribly fat client, and the complexity and version/brand variations create a testing nightmare and moving targets that make the DLL Hell of the 90's almost look good in comparison.
To better manage the mess, perhaps break up the standards into 3 groups: 1) Art/games/entertainment, 2) Documents, and 3) CRUD/GUI for "productivity" work. We don't have a decent GUI-over-HTTP standard yet.
There also needs to be more coordinate-based options in the standard(s) so that the server can optionally control the layout flow instead of the client. Letting the client do it leads to the browser/brand combinatorial mess mentioned. If you can let the server do it, then you are dealing with only ONE layout engine instead of the many micro-variations we face with fat browsers. (Current HTML has some coordinate based ability, but it's too inconsistent, especially for text.)
To better manage the mess, perhaps break up the standards into 3 groups: 1) Art/games/entertainment, 2) Documents, and 3) CRUD/GUI for "productivity" work. We don't have a decent GUI-over-HTTP standard yet.
There also needs to be more coordinate-based options in the standard(s) so that the server can optionally control the layout flow instead of the client. Letting the client do it leads to the browser/brand combinatorial mess mentioned. If you can let the server do it, then you are dealing with only ONE layout engine instead of the many micro-variations we face with fat browsers. (Current HTML has some coordinate based ability, but it's too inconsistent, especially for text.)