Diane BruceJul 2
counternotions

“This isn’t accidental. It’s cultural. We’ve created an industry where complexity is celebrated. Where cleverness is rewarded. Where engineering sophistication is valued more than clarity, usability, or commercial effectiveness.”

https://www.jonoalderson.com/conjecture/javascript-broke-the-web-and-called-it-progress/

JavaScript broke the web (and called it progress)

We replaced simple websites with complex apps nobody asked for. Now it takes a complex build pipeline just to change a headline.

Jono Alderson
Jul 2 at 6:32pmElk
Show threadJeff AtwoodJul 2
@counternotions We have constantly been surrounded by complex apps nobody asked for all around us. Just about the time the iOS app store opened, in fact.
Show threadcounternotionsJul 2

@codinghorror We don’t need to ask earlier enterprise goliaths IBM/Oracle/HP/MS/etc: complexity sells, fills open layout seats.

The JavaScript centered bloat is the most recent, ‘retail’ engineering level variant, I suppose.

Show threadJeff AtwoodJul 2
@counternotions it's less "JavaScript bloat" and more "ad network bloat", in my experience. https://blog.codinghorror.com/an-exercise-program-for-the-fat-web/
An Exercise Program for the Fat Web

When I wrote about App-pocalypse Now in 2014, I implied the future still belonged to the web. And it does. But it’s also true that the web has changed a lot in the last 10 years, much less the last 20 or 30. Websites have gotten a lot… fatter.

Coding Horror
Show threadcounternotionsJul 2
@codinghorror Yes, ads (profit) → browser (playground) → JavaScript (currency), wherein back & front end are coupled.
Show threadJeff AtwoodJul 3
@counternotions thus maybe don't conflate "you'll never build photoshop in a browser" with "perhaps treating users as resources to exploit while underwriting 'free' is not a great system" and, by the way, I am right about this.