Replacing JavaScript with Just HTML • Hacker News Board

Re: Replacing JavaScript with Just HTML

#291

Post by port11 » Fri, Jan 02, 2026, 4:17 PM UTC

jakelazaroff wrote: post #189

port11 wrote: post #178

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The major issue with this is that modern CSS is almost its own job, to the point we used to have Interface Developers at some place I’ve worked (HTML+CSS specialists). I did frontend for over a decade and eventually lost the train on CSS changes, I don’t even know what’s going on there anymore. It’s still awesome, but it’s becoming increasingly silly to ask someone to know modern HTML, CSS, JavaScript, Typescript, so…

When I started dabbling in web development, writing HTML and CSS was already its own job, and professional JavaScript developers basically did not exist. This was before TypeScript, before Node, before Ajax, before React or even jQuery. If anything has exploded in complexity in the intervening years, it's the JavaScript part of the equation. I agree that it's increasingly silly to ask someone to be an expert in all o…

These are fair points. And developers themselves thought “hey, what if I also write Node?”, thus making things worse. Businesses accepted that all too willingly.

Re: Replacing JavaScript with Just HTML

#292

Post by scrame » Fri, Jan 02, 2026, 4:47 PM UTC

iammrpayments wrote: post #64

scrame wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

like what?

Tabs, accordion, combobox. There is a whole lot more, these are just the ones I can remember now.

thanks. I was honestly asking, because I'm trying to catch up on CSS progress and am kind of surprised at stuff it can do now.

Re: Replacing JavaScript with Just HTML

#293

Post by scrame » Fri, Jan 02, 2026, 4:52 PM UTC

rebane2001 wrote: post #278

iammrpayments wrote: post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Tabs, accordion, combobox. There is a whole lot more, these are just the ones I can remember now.

For tabs, see: https://lyra.horse/blog/2025/08/you-dont-need-js/#lyres-and-... As far as I can tell, my implementation there fits the guidelines.

this article is quite good. Thanks!

Re: Replacing JavaScript with Just HTML

#294

Post by scrame » Fri, Jan 02, 2026, 5:28 PM UTC

65 wrote: post #38

It feels like some variation of this post gets submitted here every week.

yes, because most everyone dreads working with javascript, which is why there is so much tech built around not dealing with it.

Re: Replacing JavaScript with Just HTML

#295

Post by chiefalchemist » Sat, Jan 03, 2026, 2:13 AM UTC

extra88 wrote: post #221

chiefalchemist wrote: post #142

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Last I checked that without JavaScript details / summary has accessibility issues. That is, you need JS to add aria-open or similar. It’s odd and frustrating that such an essential tag is not defined to be accessible, afaik.

That's not correct. There is no aria-open attribute and the summary implicitly has the correct ARIA state, aria-expanded, indicating that its details element is either expanded or collapsed. There have been bugs in its implementation, particularly in Safari and differing between mobile and desktop Safari.

Perhaps you’re right. What I mentioned might have been an issue that has since fade due to browser and AT updates.

Thanks for correcting me.

Re: Replacing JavaScript with Just HTML

#296

Post by spartanatreyu » Mon, Jan 05, 2026, 3:10 AM UTC

econ wrote: post #290

yurishimo wrote: post #103

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Because you need 20x the JS to do the same thing and it’s still not hardware accelerated. These new CSS properties are well supported and will only get better.

click loris

That's a poor example since it isn't accessible and doesn't work if a pending JS or CSS network request is preventing it from functioning.

This is the HTML version, it's not susceptible to halted execution, and it is accessible.

  Click

  loris