andrew-dc

My experience with Svelte has been similar. Svelte struck the right DX balance for me between helpful framework tools and features, but not far removed from vanilla JS, HTML, and CSS.

And sure, there is a build step. I have never felt like this was a problem with Svelte, but then I don't have experience working on a colossal Svelte app. Does it become one?

I love these ideas, though feel I would prefer designs that (may) sacrifice some utility for aesthetics. That isn't a knock on the magnificent effort here, but just my own preference. It's likely the emojis that I'm not thrilled about, but I can also appreciate the reason for using them.

I hate these and hope they are heading out also. Our hands and fingers are built to receive touch feedback, and these specific kind of buttons negate all of that.

Audio found? https://youtu.be/sAoiwGjBmZs

Yes, this. I was skeptical and disgusted at a lot of what was being done or promised by using LLMs, but this was because I initially saw a lot of wholesale: "Make thing for me," being hyped or discussed. In practice, I have found them to be good tools for getting going or un-stuck, and use them more like an inspiration engine, or brain kick-starter.

Same experience here. Preview, if anything, always felt like the simplest true to Apple: 'it just works' kind of PDF/file viewer. I am not sure what new features it needs, other than some general improvement to the markup tools.

So I guess we're talking about ... now? sorryNotSorry

There is another important angle to all of this that I have discovered: I began writing/journaling several years ago by hand and have off and on kept up the habit. For me personally, the experience is enjoyable and therapeutic, given my day job is 100% on a computer. (I'm also an illustrator (focus on traditional, rather than digital) so I naturally nerd out on pens, paints, ink, paper, etc. Illustrating with analog tools also has a similar effect as writing.) I have found that I very easily enter flow state writing, for whatever reason.

More importantly, I recently felt inspired (HT to the late Humphrey Carpenter's excellent biography of Tolkien, who wrote to his kids a ton) not just to write for myself, but to write to my sons. This has given my writing even a greater purpose, as I want to give my thoughts (I'm not some profound thinker or such rubbish) and encouragement to my boys when I may not be around (not just in death, but even not near them). I want them to hear and remember the goofiness, and some of the things that went unsaid, or may have been missed, to apologize for my own failings, to really know how much I love and am proud of them. And I want them to not feel alone and discouraged in this world. That sort of stuff. I don't believer there would be anything wrong with typing things to them, however It feels like actually holding a thing that my dad held, and seeing his lines, scribbles, ramblings, bad spelling and stuff...but meant for me...would be really meaningful.

Merely responding to the headline, but I've always held that if I reach the point I am no longer learning/challenged (here, maybe that means literally everything is easy), then it's time to consider moving on to something else.

Goodlord, or you could just stand relaxed and undefended while a prize boxer sends pile drivers into your gut.

Absolutely opened the comments for the jokes....

Just wanted to say how much thinking I get done as soon as I lie down in bed with the lights out. Of course, Sometimes, this goes off the rails, and I can't sleep. But generally it is a testament to having little to no sensory input, (in the dark, lying in bed) to be free to think clearly. ;)

Honestly, the move to soft keys and touchscreen UIs for basic vehicle operations was one of the worst trade-off decisions. Touch UI makes sense for complicated device interactions, such as a navigation systems. But these are typically supplemental features to driving. Replacing basic functions like climate, or volume controls, etc was insanely foolish in my view.

Imagine if you had to look at the steering wheel or gas pedal to confirm you interacted with them...

We are gifted with highly precise and sensitive devices (hands) for manipulating objects which can detect even the slightest interaction by feeling alone, and to replace that with something that requires visual or auditory feedback..in a car...was a reckless move.

Yeah, I know the format might not be everybody's cup of tea, but they have some pretty decent breakdowns and a lot of great information that would be great tools in any product or designers toolbox.

Because of this kind of practice, I act as a content curator for my kids. I do my best not to shelter (challenging, but doable), but to educate and train them to spot these kind of subtle (and not-so-subtle) schemes. Are you playing the game, or is the game playing you?

It's half an inside joke and half serious in our house, but I quote WOPR in War Games to the kids every so often:

"A strange game. The only winning move is not to play."

The good news is that there are loads of great alternatives to these casino-like experiences, and it's just a matter of avoiding this stuff, and choosing the good.

This is exactly the problem. The shift to online always, and "free to play" casino-style micro-transaction hell-holes is still a garbage experience. And this is multiplied when you have kids, and you want to just buy them a good game.

Thankfully, a lot of other studios have rejected this. Even though Cities: Skylines has its long list of paid DLC (some great, some meh), at least you don't have to buy them, or have internet to build a city by yourself.

Lastly, and this is anecdotal but, if you make a good game, and respect me as a player, I am more than happy to shell over money for it. I'll pay for quality. Penalize me, nag me, treat me like a child or a criminal, and my money is going to a competitor who doesn't. (I've always felt it was absurdly insulting to plaster anti-piracy rubbish on DVD's...that someone just paid money for. It's the same with games.) Forcing paying customers to suffer because some people steal things, is a losing strategy.

Clearly, the author hasn't tried Svelte... ;P

Oh, bonus annoyance for Parents:

Let's say you have kids and you want to use any of the family settings (e.g. Screen Time) Apple, Google, etc provide for an iPad or Chromebook: All app based.

I happen to use an old iPad just as an admin panel for these cases, but the almost complete lack of any desktop or web interface is stupidly depressing.

I was kinda using 'luxury item' rhetorically more than specifically, but it seems to have derailed the main point. (Whoops. Live and learn.)

With that said, expecting anyone to shell out x dollars/month, so they can pay to park, or scan a QR code - rather than tapping a plastic card, or handing them a piece of paper - doesn't really feel like technological advancement.

For clarity, I believe there are many other things that Smartphones do, which definitively make life simpler. (I believe technology should make life easier, or better - or at least be useful.) And, I even think it makes sense to have certain utilities combined that don't really provide an advantage alone, such as: If you can pay with a phone and not need to carry another payment method, sure - why not just pay with a phone?

Again, the point I was trying to make originally was if you choose not to use a smartphone, you will run into situations where a stupidly simple process has been not supplemented (or improved), but totally replaced with 'you need a phone and data plan'.

< Disappointed Muhammad Sarim Akhtar Meme >

This is a real frustration point that anyone considering living without a smartphone will run into.

Having not used a smart phone for ~5 years now, I can say that it is totally a workable solution - however, there are, of course trade-offs, and several persistent annoyances. Rather than get into a list, I will present the one thing that I find the most frustrating:

Our society expects you to have and use a smart phone for nearly everything.

This might be less annoying if it meant only new functions or supplemented old things, but in my experience it's the opposite. It's often the most simple low-fi things we have been doing for ages, that have been overhauled to require a smartphone, app, and data plan. It's hard to be looked at as 'the person complicating things', when everybody else expects you to carry a luxury item (and an expensive monthly service bill), just to perform a basic task, like paying a bill, or reading a menu.

I'm not one to wander around expecting society to cater to my own needs, but I openly admit that I find this Twilight Zone-like first-world problem (What do you mean, you can't use our app?) the most infuriating.

With that said, you can still get by in most situations, but I don't see the above getting better on into the future, unless there is some cultural revolution about how view and use technology.

Oh man, I have been wondering about this experience myself - though if it would all work with no smartphone at all (I have been rolling with the LightPhone II for a few years now).

It had seemed like stand-alone watches were nearly there, but not quite the last time I dug into it. But it works for you?

Somewhat related (pardon my jumbled transcription):

"Sciences generally are divided up into two types: Pure, or Applied sciences. Applied sciences obviously undertake things that improve society. Pure science exists pretty much to satisfy human's curiosity.

Astronomy is perhaps the purest of sciences; like music, you could live without it. You don't need it for your daily life. And for that reason it is important that the results of astronomy, this pure science, be put before the public. I feel that very strongly.

Frequently we are asked, 'So, in a world where there is hunger, why study astronomy? Why devote funds to astronomy when those funds could be used to improve mankind?'

My answer is that if you define an ideal society in which everyone has food, clothing, shelter (a roof over your head), basic medical care -- in fact such societies exist: your local prison, or jail. Each inmate has food, clothing, shelter, and medical care (not the greatest).

When the doors are opened, do people rush to get into that ideal society or do they rush to get out? (chuckling) We know what the answer is: they rush to get out. Why? Because as important as these necessities are, the fact that you are not free to follow your desire (so to speak) is even more important than having food on the table. And astronomy is that [following your desire].

There is an inborn curiosity, I think, in all of us to address these questions of what's our relationship with the global environment? How did we get here? To what extent has the universe evolved in such a way that life has sprung forward? And I think that is something that is fundamental - so I think that public outreach for astronomy is something that is really crucial."

-Dr. Robert Williams, Astronomer, Director of the Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI) from 1993 to 1998. Father of the Hubble Deep Field project.

source: (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z2Vka_9VzEw)

+1 for Svelte/SvelteKit. Svelte's DX feels like you are just using JS, CSS, and HTML - but you get all the new hottness of the other framework packages as you need it.

Ever attempted to hold your breath for as long as some characters are shown to be submerged doing this or that in a movie? Similarly disappointing. ;P

Great Title. Saved me a click. Thanks.

But seriously, if I was asked a multiple choice question of where Starlink would fall, this probably would have been my guess.

As others point out, it's really the cost/benefit trade-off that will matter.

I think photo-realism in games is not merely a black and white, positive or negative. There are trade-offs, and I think it has to do with perception around aesthetics.

(also, this is simply one guy's opinion, but I am curious if anyone else feels the same)

For instance, in my view, I tend to prefer a stylized less hyper-realism in games. I think this is because the enhanced color, light, and brilliance is more aesthetically pleasant to look at, even though it is certainly more uncommon in the real world.

I don't believe this is because saturated color, and brilliant light doesn't exist in reality, but these occurrences happen more rarely and in specific, often planned, situations and settings. And some people (trained or gifted photographers, for instance), have learned how to capture this look, or to take something rather ordinary, and capture it to appear extraordinary, much like the difference between your average person snapping a photo with a disposable camera, and Ansel Adams. The former will produce a photo that is far more common in appearance, and thus...boring, or uninteresting. So when it comes to games, if you simulate the "average look of reality" the game certainly appears more photo-realistic, but may also be less aesthetically interesting (to me, at least).

This says absolutely nothing about the technology developed here, which is incredibly impressive. Nor do I think there is a right or wrong way create game visuals. I think that misses the point.

However, I feel I'm not the only person who can be blown away with how realistic something can be made to look, yet ...also find it more aesthetically drab and boring to look at. And in the case of games, as I mentioned above, I tend to prefer to see things that are rare, interesting, and extra-ordinary, and thus less "realistic".

Anyone else feel the same?

I feel the pain here. Most the people I know who have been in the game for a good while every so-often remark: what was so bad about js, html, and css? ;)

Of course, the reality is far more nuanced than that.

All this said, I would strongly recommend anyone who's running into this front-end burnout phase to give Svelte a serious look. And no, I'm not on the take here, it's just my personal experience.

Now, Svelte won't solve all of the OP's woes, cause yeah, you still need some tooling, and to get up to speed with some new hotness. But Svelte is about the closest 'framework' I have messed with that feels like simple js, html, and css - without loosing all of the hard fought advances in front-end. All of the new-skool tech without the feeling of over-engineered BS.

For context, our ui team (just 3 people) have built a component library for our entire org, which includes many teams and deliver ui modules seamlessly across vast legacy applications. I can't imagine pulling this off with any of the other stuff I have used.

I (glasses on) see what you did there. YEEAAAAAAH!!!