It feels like every week someone discovers that code closer to the metal is faster, and ignores the fact that it’s easier to write higher-level code, and that this is the specific tradeoff everyone is making. Why do these articles keep getting posted? Who is this a revelation to?

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sudobash1 2 days ago | parent [-]

I don't think of HTML as low level, and I don't think that writing "high-level" web (whatever that is? React?) would be any faster to develop or produce better results for his example.

If you looked at the gov.uk page [1] that he linked, it is clean and readable. It doesn't look hard to me to make, and I don't think it is lacking functionality.

I'll grant that writing web-apps without a framework is going to be harder for many people (especially with all the fancy features that are expected now days), but that is not the point of this writing. This is an argument that the web (especially government services) should be usable on limited devices too.

1 https://www.gov.uk/housing-benefit

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kulahan 2 days ago | parent [-]

The article and commenters are both complaining about JS in favor of HTML - I'm really just talking about it in this context.

Anyways, I disagree with the idea that we should make something simple enough for PSPs and car browsers. Just go to a library.

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dwb a day ago | parent | next [-]

What a depressingly elitist and exclusionary view. The modern web browser contains all the technology right there to make fast, maximally-accessible websites and even some “app”-like things, but nah you can’t be bothered, screw the less-fortunate. Would you want to “just go to a library” instead of use the device you already have? I strongly doubt it.

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kulahan a day ago | parent [-]

“Go to a public library” is elitist? I am on my hands and knees begging you to reconsider this position. I cannot imagine a worse take.

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dwb a day ago | parent [-]

Public libraries are great and there should be a lot more of them and everyone should enjoy them, but they should absolutely not be a substitute for respectful, accessible web design and engineering. The elitism is that only people with the shiniest new devices should get to use your website on their terms.

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kulahan 16 hours ago | parent [-]

I guarantee libraries do not have the shiniest new devices. So trying so hard to be offended.

	▲	dwb 9 hours ago \| parent [-]
		You are either refusing to address the central point or your reading comprehension needs a lot of work. A premise of your original post was that libraries have newer devices than some users. I maintain that libraries should not have to be a fallback for your crappy website.

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grebc 2 days ago | parent | prev [-]

You clearly took the lesson on board didn’t you.