HTML/CSS is pretty good!
SwiftUI's HStack and VStack are solid, though they suffer from ambient API complexity & Conway's law.[0]
Figma's autolayout is a strong reference, but it's not a tool for creating software.
> Maybe instead of coming up with a new thing, we just need a clear way to solve the pain points and put the solutions into CSS4 and HTML6
Why not both? Innovate freely and independently (the prerogative of any builder) and adopt as spec any innovations that pass committee.
[0] arguably same diagnosis, different course of disease vs. HTML/CSS
None of these is a perfect technology, but I believe the most practical answer to the question driving this thread[0] is to study/understand the landscape, then build towards a better future.[1]
[0] > Care to point us to a better combination than HTML/CSS when it comes to layouting flexible interfaces?
[1] www.pax.dev
For interactive interfaces, I think it's not very good.
This page speaks to a different approach (I'm the author) https://skinnyjames.codeberg.page/hokusai/concepts/layouting...
Don't get me wrong, I also could imagine better markup languages for that purpose. But everything I have seen in the wild was worse in multiple, show-stopping ways.
Maybe instead of coming up with a new thing, we just need a clear way to solve the pain points and put the solutions into CSS4 and HTML6