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by emptyparadise 2140 days ago
In a better world, JS used to implement convenient web page features like rendering LaTeX or syntax highlighting would be implemented inside the web browser, while JS used to implement web apps would not exist and web apps would just be apps.
1 comments
JoshTriplett 2140 days ago
I like my apps to run in a sandbox, and the web is the best sandbox we have. My standard reaction to "would you like to download our app" is "no, stay in your box".
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emptyparadise 2140 days ago
Let's sandbox the apps!
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JoshTriplett 2140 days ago
We have. They run on the web, in tabs. Or, with PWAs, they look a lot more like native applications, and still run in a safe sandbox. (There are also Android and iOS apps, which are less ideal and less portable.) Why reinvent it in a less portable, less sandboxed, historically insecure manner? People have tried, and the result never ends up as useful, functional, or secure as the existing web sandbox.

When I browse the web, I know the browser puts me in control, and keeps applications contained. The only kind of app that I know will have comparable sandboxing is a PWA. Anything with a comparable amount of control will look like a web browser, and we already have the web.

If you want the world to change, you have to offer something better.

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emptyparadise 2140 days ago
There is great technology out there for app sandboxing. Recent Windows versions let you instantly spin up a virtual machine to run unknown apps in - I'd say that's safer than a browser and there is no reason why it can't be as convenient.

You speak of the web as an app platform - I'm not opposed to some platform like that existing (and they do exist, just look at your OS), I just think that we made a mistake when we turned the browser into one. Now we mix together hypertext and code and have so much weird legacy to maintain, not to mention the performance issues.

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simion314 2140 days ago
I think the point you are missing is that we should have 2 distinct things: applications and web pages. I should not have to run untrusted code to read a blog post, a news page or the latest PR release. I run with JS off by default and there are basic web pages that don't work with JS for example https://www.bbc.com/news not sure why without JS the layout gets messedup but the content loads.

Sure if you have a nice application that is interactive, fine use a PWA, Electron or whatever you want but for showing plain text and iamges a subset of html and css is enough

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