Live data from Hacker News

It's 2020 and I'm using image maps

videoinu.com

81–90 of 109 posts

Re: It's 2020 and I'm using image maps

#81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why would you use browser-based video editing over desktop-based free software, where you can read the source (or listen to someone you trust who has read the source) to make sure it's not doing anything malicious? Besides the fact that it might be easier/simpler for very small projects.

Because then it wouldn't be "cool". So many of the projects I see mentioned here are neat hacks, but that's really about it. People writing a complete operating system for an 8 bit micro made of discrete chips? That's neat, but not really useful, and most people won't ever take the time to boot it once. An FPGA that runs web assembly code? That's nifty, but if we want high performance we probably won't use web assemb…

You write as if these are bad things, but they're wonderful things. They're also the bread and butter of this site, so it's good that you see them here. Something would be wrong if you didn't.

Pure interest and sublime pointlessness are, of course, two of the classic hacker motivations.

Edit: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23246221 is happily near the top of the front page as we speak.

Re: It's 2020 and I'm using image maps

#82
post #61

It's funny this came up. I've been doing webstuff and getting paid for it since about 1996 or 1997; imagemaps were a pretty big deal back then. Recently, I found myself thinking, "How do they do that these days?" I have gotten out of the webbish stuff and even before that, I tended to stick to the tried and true. I don't think the need for something very much like imagemaps will ever go away. The lure of arbitrary po…

the modern web just doesn’t do that, though. I don’t think I’ve seen a clickable polygon in the last 15 years

the most obvious modern use case that comes to mind is maps or more generally geospatial visualization tools

Re: It's 2020 and I'm using image maps

#83
post #81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Because then it wouldn't be "cool". So many of the projects I see mentioned here are neat hacks, but that's really about it. People writing a complete operating system for an 8 bit micro made of discrete chips? That's neat, but not really useful, and most people won't ever take the time to boot it once. An FPGA that runs web assembly code? That's nifty, but if we want high performance we probably won't use web assemb…

You write as if these are bad things, but they're wonderful things. They're also the bread and butter of this site, so it's good that you see them here. Something would be wrong if you didn't. Pure interest and sublime pointlessness are, of course, two of the classic hacker motivations. Edit: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23246221 is happily near the top of the front page as we speak.

Pure interest, maybe. Pointlessness, no.

Re: It's 2020 and I'm using image maps

#85
post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Modern browsers are pretty secure nowadays. By comparison, you have pretty much zero guarantees about an app you install onto your computer. The only concern is that these browser apps are quietly sending your files elsewhere, but this is easily inspectable via the dev tools.

To be fair, modern OSes are quickly catching up in this regard. WASM is also increasingly available for use as a native sandbox. Examples: ( https://github.com/WAVM/WAVM ) ( https://github.com/bytecodealliance/lucet )

Or you just run the installer in a sandbox/container, as has been possible for at least a decade in all major OSs

Sandboxee was released in 2004, and there have been various bits of registry journaing/snapshot software since the late 1990's which combined with NT ACLs could provide at least as much security as your getting out of a browser sandbox.

Browsers have an absolutely huge sandbox surface and lack even the most basic of fine-grained security controls out of the box. Enabling even basic restrictions to avoid fingerprinting has turned out to be difficult. How you do you know (particularly with firefox) that one tab isn't actively picking out data from another tab open to your banking site. Much less the problem with malicious javascript being injected via the ad frameworks.

Browser security is pretty much a joke.

Re: It's 2020 and I'm using image maps

#86
post #81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Because then it wouldn't be "cool". So many of the projects I see mentioned here are neat hacks, but that's really about it. People writing a complete operating system for an 8 bit micro made of discrete chips? That's neat, but not really useful, and most people won't ever take the time to boot it once. An FPGA that runs web assembly code? That's nifty, but if we want high performance we probably won't use web assemb…

You write as if these are bad things, but they're wonderful things. They're also the bread and butter of this site, so it's good that you see them here. Something would be wrong if you didn't. Pure interest and sublime pointlessness are, of course, two of the classic hacker motivations. Edit: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23246221 is happily near the top of the front page as we speak.

It’s not pointless if you are entertained by your own perhaps useless creation.

Re: It's 2020 and I'm using image maps

#87

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why would you use browser-based video editing over desktop-based free software, where you can read the source (or listen to someone you trust who has read the source) to make sure it's not doing anything malicious? Besides the fact that it might be easier/simpler for very small projects.

Because then it wouldn't be "cool". So many of the projects I see mentioned here are neat hacks, but that's really about it. People writing a complete operating system for an 8 bit micro made of discrete chips? That's neat, but not really useful, and most people won't ever take the time to boot it once. An FPGA that runs web assembly code? That's nifty, but if we want high performance we probably won't use web assemb…

I see such "not really useful" projects much as I do fine art. There's not much measurable use to the world in most painting, sculpture, or music in and of itself - but done well, it brings enjoyment to both the creator and appreciative observers. Count me as an appreciative observer in many such cases.

Re: It's 2020 and I'm using image maps

#89
post #61

It's funny this came up. I've been doing webstuff and getting paid for it since about 1996 or 1997; imagemaps were a pretty big deal back then. Recently, I found myself thinking, "How do they do that these days?" I have gotten out of the webbish stuff and even before that, I tended to stick to the tried and true. I don't think the need for something very much like imagemaps will ever go away. The lure of arbitrary po…

the modern web just doesn’t do that, though. I don’t think I’ve seen a clickable polygon in the last 15 years

My city's COVID-19 map breaks it down by clickable zip code regions.

Re: It's 2020 and I'm using image maps

#90

It's funny this came up. I've been doing webstuff and getting paid for it since about 1996 or 1997; imagemaps were a pretty big deal back then. Recently, I found myself thinking, "How do they do that these days?" I have gotten out of the webbish stuff and even before that, I tended to stick to the tried and true. I don't think the need for something very much like imagemaps will ever go away. The lure of arbitrary po…

The answer is usually to use SVG. You see this in most maps and charts with clickable or interactive areas. For cases where you need a raster image to have clickable regions, like showing plots of land or property boundaries on a real estate website, you might see a mix of a raster image below a semitransparent SVG overlay or just a element instead, which would have to manually reimplement handling clicks and hover events on the various regions.
Post reply on HN