licentious radio

Friday, January 31, 2003
[9:21:23 AM]

HTML's Time is Over. Let's Move On [boxesandarrows.com].

Hmm. I would say html has been a disaster in its implementation and evolution. Multiple organizations making horrible decisions repeatedly have cost us dearly.

But we're actually within reach of usefulness, especially for the browser as front-end to applications. With Cascading Style Sheets and the Document Object Model (for Javascript, etc.) you can make exotic user interfaces that work on a common subset of browsers.

Mozilla-based browsers need to support levels of security (like Internet Explorer, only without the security *holes*), and all browsers should support onBeforeUnload -- Microsoft's Javascript event that lets you warn a user *before* data loss.

The huge flaw in the overall implementation of html and related technologies is that one "page" won't work in all browsers. We handle this by putting some intelligence on the *server*, and delivering the right version of the page to the client.

Then you use Java applets -- new Java runtimes work pretty well, and the court has just ordered Microsoft to stop breaking Java -- for fancier stuff. And for applications that are used repeatedly, but aren't as complex as "desktop" applications, let people install the Java code locally.

*Everyone* has always *hated* html. *Nobody* appreciates cross-platform accessibility. They all want *one* platform -- and *screw* anybody who doesn't have the *right* software. Macromedia even had a whole ad campaign that only *scary* people didn't have Flash. "Scary" people like the poor, the homeless, the Third World, etc. Basically, the message of the ad campaign was to stop supporting anyone who can't afford the latest hardware, software, and bandwidth.

But the difference in the size of the display in handheld computers will require great flexibility in application design, and that flexibility will handle most of the problems that are outstanding.