| > The browser should be ... for viewing and retrieving data, not executing that data. i'm genuinely interested in what a modern version of that would look like. recently i watched a 1992 interview [0] with brewster kahle in which he described WAIS (wide area information server) [1]. aside: i've not used WAIS, nor do i feel it is the way forward. my understanding is that WAIS provided a client-side interface to a directory of servers. it also seems the presentation of content was simple: mostly text, but some images and video, too. this appeals to me because after more than 20 years on the web i struggle to remember what it was like when (or even if) the majority of pages i visited were focused on delivering pure content. don't get me wrong -- i'm fortunate to have access to the web and a way to search for information -- but i'm becoming increasingly frustrated with the quality of today's content. i'll concede SERP SPAM is a hard nut to crack, but that doesn't stop me from cringing every time i click on a dodgy question/answer aggregation site or some wholesale ripoff of another site [2]. and less dodgy but arguably more frustrating are legitimate publishers who modify their content presentation strategy based on google algorithm updates. for example, i can't tell you how many times i've searched for a simple recipe but the top SERP was a slideshow instead of a simple recipe i could print out and place on my counter top. lastly, over the past 20 years it seems like primary content has become a secondary citizen on the web. when i visit SERPs today it feels like i'm less likely to be presented with what i actually searched for. instead, i'm increasingly bombarded with "SIGN UP NOW!" mortars .. erm modals .. and the presentation of the content i searched for feels more like Dahala Khagrabari [3] than the main reason for my page visit. one might read the above and conclude i'm a bitter luddite. quite the contrary, i feel blessed to be alive and am optimistic (mostly ;) WRT the future of IT. however, i am concerned with (what seems like) this generation's tendency to favor presentation over information. the older i get the less patience i have for popups/modals, slideshows, and pictures-because-google-likes-pictures; just gimme my goddamned information already. so. i'd really like to see a dumb client-side app that gives me only what i want to see. i've tried lynx/w3m-emacs/etc. but JavaScript ruined that effort. keen for alternative suggestions :) [0] https://archive.org/details/brewster_kahle_interview_1992 [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wide_area_information_server [2] http://stuccy.com/ is a wholesale ripoff of stackoverflow. (note: i don't recommend visiting this site; who knows what they're up to.) i've emailed SO, whose response was essentially this: > Please note, bringing these sites into compliance (or getting them to no longer serve our content) is often a long and arduous process. You may not see immediate results. However, rest assured that we're working on it. [3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dahala_Khagrabari |