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Things you can do with a browser in 2020

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Re: Things you can do with a browser in 2020

#71

Post by ironmagma »

modeless wrote: post #54
Arcsech wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's almost like we shouldn't have tortured a document transfer system until it was able to run full-on applications.

If operating systems had ever provided security strong enough to run untrusted code, we wouldn't have needed to. It's really a failing of operating system security. Even today no operating system provides an application sandbox as strong and versatile as the browser. Platforms have fallen back on walled gardens (app stores) with centralized control of all code execution to compensate for the deficiencies of their sec…

But people still download and run apps every day. Some even prefer it. I doubt that the cause of this migration was due to security concerns -- since when are app developers particularly concerned about the quality of the security controls imposed on them? I suspect the shift was more due to ease of access, both by the user and for the developer, helped along by easier compatibility.

Re: Things you can do with a browser in 2020

#72

Post by worble »

_bxg1 wrote: post #6

Worth noting is that "prefers-color-scheme" works in all major OSes at this point, mobile and desktop. If your site already has a dark theme, there is no reason at all not to be integrating it this way. Even if you don't have a dark theme already, it's a huge value-add..... (@dang?)

I'm sure someone will call me a slowpoke on this, but one really cool thing that I didn't know about until recently was that you can also use this in images with srcset's, to display a darker image. For example, if you want to put the "Made with Bulma"[0] tag on your website, they offer a light and dark version, which you could use like this:
This will automatically replace with the image src when the srcset criteria is met, but keep all the other tags!

[0]https://bulma.io/made-with-bulma/

Re: Things you can do with a browser in 2020

#73

Post by CraneWorm »

deadmutex wrote: post #53
fenwick67 wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Seems legit, although that should probably be the OSes job to overlay that

That has its own set of challenges -- now you have to design your game so that the battery indicator doesn't cover up an important part of the game. Also, what if the OS allows it to be configurable location/size, etc.

> now you have to design your game so that the battery indicator doesn't cover up an important part of the game

You should not be able to do that; It's a feature that you cannot do that.

Re: Things you can do with a browser in 2020

#74

Post by xrd »

drivingmenuts wrote: post #4
raygull wrote: post #3

I had no idea the Web Coffee API was so mature.

Why is this even an API? Seems like a joke API rather than something actually useful.

Seems like this snowballed:

https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/HTTP/Status/418

"418 I'm a teapot"

Re: Things you can do with a browser in 2020

#75

Post by dredmorbius »

AnIdiotOnTheNet wrote: post #70
_bxg1 wrote: post #6

Worth noting is that "prefers-color-scheme" works in all major OSes at this point, mobile and desktop. If your site already has a dark theme, there is no reason at all not to be integrating it this way. Even if you don't have a dark theme already, it's a huge value-add..... (@dang?)

Fascinating, they're still Win95's ability to customize color schemes.

I think you a word.

Re: Things you can do with a browser in 2020

#78

Post by rolltiide »

dstaley wrote: post #40
rolltiide wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

except you have to opt out of them all before you can consume that 1 website's content hm I wonder if there is a chrome extension for that

> except you have to opt out of them all before you can consume that 1 website's content This is an issue with that particular website's implementation, not something inherent to the browser or the API.

> This is an issue with that particular website's implementation

because the product manager thought my user session was engaging with the site for 2 seconds longer so it must be good.

I never said it was the browser or the API just acknowledging that it is a predictable gripe and not a feature, and yes enabled by the browser and APIs

Re: Things you can do with a browser in 2020

#79

Post by untog »

rkagerer wrote: post #28

As a user, so many of these I wish did NOT exist. E.g: Push Notifications, Banners, Web Share, Contacts, Page Visibility, Badging. Uncertain about USB, Bluetooth, Locks, Keyboard Lock, and Native File System. I don't want my browser doing those things.

Then you're out of step with what users want these days.

Nothing wrong with that! But to take an example, when I hit a share button on a page I want to see the native share box, not some hideous iframed monstrosity that only works with Facebook. So I want Web Share. And I don't want to download an entire native app just so that I can receive a push alert when my food order is on the way, a web site works much better for that. So I'm happy that Web Push exists.

I get the nostalgia for the "simpler days", but web browers are essentially a universal OS these days. As both a user and a developer I'm quite happy with this.

Re: Things you can do with a browser in 2020

#80

Post by jonfw »

zozbot234 wrote: post #27
stronglikedan wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's funny to me that dark themes seem to be the preferred theme type in online discussions, because in practice, most people I know prefer a light theme on a monitor set to high contrast and relatively low brightness in a well lit setting. I too prefer that, as it seems to reduce (eliminate?) my eyestrain after hours on the computer.

The problem with bright themes used like that is that "high" contrast is still not very high at all, unless you go for OLED technology - but then you'd want to use green-on-black anyway to minimize wear on the display elements.

Or just use whatever colors you like and replace displays when necessary.

I spend way too many hours using a monitor to let it's lifecycle determine what color-scheme I'll spend those hours looking at.

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