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Using Claude Code: The unreasonable effectiveness of HTML

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Re: Using Claude Code: The unreasonable effectiveness of HTML

#221
post #21

My concern here is that by gravitating to HTML you lose the ability for a human (you!) to easily co-author the document with the LLM. If it’s just an explainer for your consumption, that’s not a concern - but if it’s a spec sheet for something more complex, I deeply value being able to dive in and edit what is produced for me. With a HTML doc it is much harder to do that than with MD. Now of course you could just rep…

Not sure what you mean. HTML is designed to be authored and edited by humans

Re: Using Claude Code: The unreasonable effectiveness of HTML

#223
post #21

My concern here is that by gravitating to HTML you lose the ability for a human (you!) to easily co-author the document with the LLM. If it’s just an explainer for your consumption, that’s not a concern - but if it’s a spec sheet for something more complex, I deeply value being able to dive in and edit what is produced for me. With a HTML doc it is much harder to do that than with MD. Now of course you could just rep…

It's possible that use of `contenteditable` and ability to save the file could help but that has a lot of limitations/gotchas, so I'm inclined to agree.

Re: Using Claude Code: The unreasonable effectiveness of HTML

#225
post #34
post #21

My concern here is that by gravitating to HTML you lose the ability for a human (you!) to easily co-author the document with the LLM. If it’s just an explainer for your consumption, that’s not a concern - but if it’s a spec sheet for something more complex, I deeply value being able to dive in and edit what is produced for me. With a HTML doc it is much harder to do that than with MD. Now of course you could just rep…

We have been authoring HTML by hand for decades with ease. Text editors are very good at it, and many have commands to auto-wrap, auto-close etc. Reading and writing is simple.

Why not just use XML at this point? It has "stricter typing" and can make the spec better.

Re: Using Claude Code: The unreasonable effectiveness of HTML

#226
When building new features, I use a skill that generates 5+ variants based on various companies' design language and patterns, in plain html/css/js - quick throwaway prototypes, gives me an idea of different ways the thing could look or behave. It's very very useful and I usually end up combining a couple of the best aspects. For side projects with no designer, it's been great.

I don't have any issue with markdown though - but terminal isn't a place to review it and leave useful feedback. Use one of the many tools that are popping up or build your own (like I did) to leave comments and iterate.

Re: Using Claude Code: The unreasonable effectiveness of HTML

#227
post #21

My concern here is that by gravitating to HTML you lose the ability for a human (you!) to easily co-author the document with the LLM. If it’s just an explainer for your consumption, that’s not a concern - but if it’s a spec sheet for something more complex, I deeply value being able to dive in and edit what is produced for me. With a HTML doc it is much harder to do that than with MD. Now of course you could just rep…

seems like it'd be fairly straightforward to get things setup where text blocks are double click to edit, have drag handles, delete buttons etc, and then you can also use surfingkeys to get vim style navigation.

overall i'm seeing a potential here for more human authoring, as you can really multiply the surface of your inputs with deterministic widgets rather than just delegating.

Re: Using Claude Code: The unreasonable effectiveness of HTML

#229
HTML is a structured document format designed for publishing content online. It gives precise control over elements such as headings, links, images, sections, forms, styling hooks, and layout behaviour in the browser. But the cost is complexity.

Markdown is a lightweight document format that leans toward easy writing, reading, and sharing. It is much simpler than HTML, easier to edit by hand, and works well for notes, documentation, drafts, README files, and content that may later be converted into HTML, PDF, or other formats.

That's why I'll continue to use Markdown for most of my notes and documentation, while I'll only use HTML for "public facing" documents.

Re: Using Claude Code: The unreasonable effectiveness of HTML

#230
I use Markdown + plugins and one of the Git providers to maintain software contracts with other teams that I can’t trust to do the right thing. It has the benefits of having readable diffs and being maintainable by a human, if needed. HTML as the author acknowledges does not make readable diffs.

Markdown remains great because the other side is just going to use Claude to do their work anyway, and I can use Claude to verify their work meets my specifications.

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