@nachtfunke But it's not cheaper!

@muan And, as a reminder, you can buy the shirt as a fundraiser for our friends at @owa here:https://www.bonfire.com/anti-javascript-javascript-club/

@andy

A brief work interlude: we're hiring a lead Web Platform PM! A chance to work closely with Edge's platform (and Chromium) team in a strategic role, working closely with me and other PM leads:https://jobs.careers.microsoft.com/global/en/job/1779414/Group-Product-Manager%2c-Microsoft-Edge-Web-Platform

*All* of this is JS-optional, progressively enhanced HTML. All of it.https://hachyderm.io/@joelanman/113426368169223915

This post by @pluralistic shakes loose a thought I was talking over with a friend the other day: modern webdevs have made themselves marks for SaaS-adjacent, infantalising abstractions in large part because they assume themselves immune to marketing.https://pluralistic.net/2024/11/02/ulysses-pact/

@escarpment @nickchomey Here's some context:https://infrequently.org/2023/02/the-market-for-lemons/https://infrequently.org/2024/10/platforms-are-competitions/

@ericmikkelsen @cwilcox808 @nickchomey First, shouldn't need them. Second, a real pain to style. Third, as a general matter, extra elements aren't great for performance. Won't matter here, but it adds up.

@jon_nunan I recently saw a similar effect in California's (React-based) public benefits SPA; took a while to diagnose that the parade of loading screens was confusing the LCP algorithm:https://infrequently.org/2024/08/object-lesson/#:~:text=On%20low%2Dend,the%20complete%20page.

@nickchomey Yeah, I thought about the links, then thought about going to bed. Good suggestion on the footnote placement.

@wirepair It's much faster than React, but that's not the comparison I was running here; the closer 1:1 would be Next vs. SvelteKit, and there isn't a showcase site for SvelteKit to look at. Last I looked, it doesn't sequester JS to the server by default, though, which is an architectural point in Astro's favour.

The JavaScript community doesn't need new tools and architectures so much as remedial courses in statistics, epistemology, and the theory of science.

@Olliew Yes

Via @brucelawson, this post highlights why the weak sauce that a lot of tech companies (particularly Apple) are selling regarding privacy is a mirage. The only thing that will fix the problem is for data at rest to be regulated like the toxic sludge that it is:https://krebsonsecurity.com/2024/10/the-global-surveillance-free-for-all-in-mobile-ad-data/As I wrote back in July, browsers are better for security and privacy than native apps, but that's not enough. Technical measures can't fix what policy broke:https://infrequently.org/2024/07/misfire/

Hey JS framework vendors: you know the "showcase" part of your website is for things you're *proud* of, right?

Shorter version of my competitive analysis of why web performance matters [1]:Platforms are competitions. Pick a side.[1]: https://toot.cafe/@slightlyoff/113346554454603327

It's interesting how thin a skin the React crowd has. They think I'm being deeply antagonistic when, in fact, I've been holding my fire (and the confidences of consulting counterparties) for ~8 years. This has only served to make things look *better* than they really are.The damage I'm seeing isn't just in the public sector, or limited to exceptionally bad cases. It's now ecosystem-wide, and JS-first culture is very much to blame.But why do I care? A short thread.

As I see it, the web is the only generational software platform that has a reasonable shot at delivering a particularly potent set of software benefits to users. It is: - fresh - frictionless - safe by default - portable and interoperable - gatekeeper free (no prior restraint on publication) - standards-based, and therefore... - user-mediated (think extensions, browser settings, etc.) - open source compatibleNo other plausibly successful platform provides all of these today.

Other platforms (Android, Flutter, etc.) provide slivers of these properties, but most capitulate either to capture by the host OS agenda (through app store taxation or through native API lock-in) or treat user mediation like a bug to be fixed.Even on the web, these are all contingently valuable attributes, but together they have created an ecosystem that is unique in the history of software; both in scope and resilience.

@tmnc I'm working on a version of this thread as blog post now