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Against an Increasingly User-Hostile Web

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Re: Against an Increasingly User-Hostile Web

#81

Post by jjawssd »

tomc1985 wrote: post #66
hasenj wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Which I think is a big mistake, because even if it ends up being used in a low traffic site, it ends up complicating the installation process. Where as a compiled language not only would run fast but also have a very simple setup: just copy over the exe and run it. Nothing to configure. No dependencies to install.

Only if they provide a statically linked binary, which is rare -- especially in open source, where such a thing generally has consequences with your license(s).

I think Golang has made significant inroads in this regard. For instance with IPFS and Minio. Very easy to just get started with minimal fuss.

Re: Against an Increasingly User-Hostile Web

#82

Post by ducttape12 »

I've actually become a bit put off on a lot of "modern" technologies lately. Every website tries to keep you on as long as possible with click bait, every advertiser tries to track your habits, video games just try to upsell you to the season pass, and every webapp is just an upsell to the paid pro version. Heck, even our operating systems are nothing more than data collection points.

In many ways, I feel like technology doesn't work for us anymore, we work to serve technology.

Re: Against an Increasingly User-Hostile Web

#84

Post by jjawssd »

Santosh83 wrote: post #52
ashark wrote: post #7

The Web was doomed the moment we let Javascript initiate connections and (less significantly) modify form content.

Not really. It was doomed the moment it stopped being a place for mere exchange of information and messages and turned into a marketplace. It is the profit motive that has given rise, directly or indirectly, to every good and bad thing about the modern web. Unfortunately profit motive is completely amoral. And it isn't going away. So what we need are more restrictions and regulations. And a paradigm shift back to doi…

> So what we need are more restrictions and regulations.

Fully disagree. You cannot legislate this problem away.

Re: Against an Increasingly User-Hostile Web

#85

Post by DerfNet »

pmoriarty wrote: post #49
amorphid wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I never got into the pre-web stuff, so I don't know exactly what the differences are. Don't those things still exist? Isn't the comment section of this HN post a form of async, text-only communication?

It's still centralized, and owned and run by a commercial entity that uses it to further their own interests, with a record of its users' interests and opinions. The capabilities and features of web forums are also really dumbed-down and limited compared to what you could get with the mail clients and news clients of even 20 or 30 years ago.

Could you expand on that second line a bit? I'm curious what features we're currently missing out on compared to decades past.

Re: Against an Increasingly User-Hostile Web

#87

Post by ntoe845noe »

kuschku wrote: post #46
chrisseaton wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> It seems increasingly that web content is being delivered in video form. That itself is hostile to some people. Some of us want the freedom to read (or scan quickly). And what if some of us want the freedom to watch? Maybe I'm illiterate? Just like you, I could say that putting something in writing instead of a video is 'hostile' if it doesn't meet my preferences. Talking about 'hostile' is hysterical.

You can always use a screen reader to automatically have it read the text to you, and it works well enough. I can’t have an OCR system automatically translate a video into text.

While you make a good point about screen readers, there actually are tools that automatically translate a video into text. In fact, doesn't YouTube's "CC" button do that? The translation isn't great, but it's usually good enough and will probably get better over time.

Re: Against an Increasingly User-Hostile Web

#89

Post by hasenj »

tomc1985 wrote: post #66
hasenj wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Which I think is a big mistake, because even if it ends up being used in a low traffic site, it ends up complicating the installation process. Where as a compiled language not only would run fast but also have a very simple setup: just copy over the exe and run it. Nothing to configure. No dependencies to install.

Only if they provide a statically linked binary, which is rare -- especially in open source, where such a thing generally has consequences with your license(s).

The only problematic licenses here are the GNU family of licenses. This is very unfortunate but there's no way around it.

Luckily there are many many useful libraries available with very liberal licenses.

Re: Against an Increasingly User-Hostile Web

#90

Post by patja »

blunte wrote: post #8

This is a good an informative essay. However, there's another element of "user-hostile" that I didn't see addressed (maybe I missed it in my haste?) -- that is the websites trying to control exactly how the content is consumed by the user. It seems increasingly that web content is being delivered in video form. That itself is hostile to some people. Some of us want the freedom to read (or scan quickly). But many of t…

I hate the trend to video as well (I can read and comprehend faster than any video can speak), but I wonder if it is just the inevitable result of the continued expansion of who is on the web. Many people in the world are not nearly as literate as HN readers.
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