Path: csiph.com!eternal-september.org!feeder.eternal-september.org!nntp.eternal-september.org!.POSTED!not-for-mail From: Lars Poulsen Newsgroups: comp.os.linux.advocacy,comp.os.linux.misc,alt.unix.geeks Subject: Re: The Web (HTML) Sux Followup-To: comp.os.linux.misc Date: Sat, 20 Dec 2025 17:20:30 -0000 (UTC) Organization: A noiseless patient Spider Lines: 50 Message-ID: References: Injection-Date: Sat, 20 Dec 2025 17:20:31 +0000 (UTC) Injection-Info: dont-email.me; posting-host="acace870efe4762d85ec3076b31a97e1"; logging-data="2248625"; mail-complaints-to="abuse@eternal-september.org"; posting-account="U2FsdGVkX187AYUbbjog6TQ/tO222Bee7gPX5Kc1XgA=" User-Agent: slrn/1.0.3 (Linux) Cancel-Lock: sha1:zNY68MW4FZr0JP2GyIWdNB5ioxg= Xref: csiph.com comp.os.linux.advocacy:703128 comp.os.linux.misc:79591 alt.unix.geeks:11 ["Followup-To:" header set to comp.os.linux.misc.] >>> On Sat, 20 Dec 2025 14:42:07 -0000 (UTC), Lars Poulsen wrote: >> That page is written in HTML+CSS. I don't think it is hand written, >> though. So it is almost a counter-proof to your theorem that HTML sucks. On 2025-12-20, Diego Garcia wrote: > That page is only a "container" that presents links for PDF documents. > It has to be written in HTML because that is the protocol for web servers. > > But the actual content is delivered in the PDF format and that is the > significant aspect. > > Read his "style" page to discover his reasons: > > I would agree. Indeed, the majority of academic material is already > distributed as PDF documents, using only an HTML "front page" to deliver > the links. > > With PDF, or other open formats, there is no need for an author > to concern himself with the ridiculous task of accommodating > every possible viewport. This I have already stated. > > For serious purposes, HTML *is* junk. It was spawned at a time when > PCs were very limited and could not present sophisticated audio/visual > content in a sophisticated manner. In many ways that is still very true, > and that's why javascript and WebAssembly have been introduced. But > these tools are mere "shoehorns" that never should have happened and > would be totally unnecessary if Web content were distributed as open > source file formats. > > But it seems that you are some sort of web developer and thus you > may may feel that your livelihood is threatened by such suggestions. > > However, I must always maintain an objectivity and it is my assessment > that the Web would be much improved if information would be distributed > as open formats that could be downloaded and displayed on a users machine > using local software rather than relying on HTML through a browser. On the contrary, I am NOT a web developer, and I when I put up things on the web, I do not care about formatting: I make it as simple as I can, in the same kind of "wall of text with a few embedded images" that was the norm in 1995. No JavaScript, no PHP; if I need backend code, it is a simple Perl script that generates simple, primitive HTML. I do not even use CSS. -- Lars Poulsen - an old geek in Santa Barbara, California