There are a couple of exceptions for interfaces that are genuinely unconventional, or that deal with multiple spacial dimensions, or that are primarily representing graphs and visual/audio data. But most interfaces should be representable in pure text.
This argument that "the web is only for documents" is missing the point that most applications are just interactive documents when you really break down their UI. A labeled tree is a fine way to represent user-facing state for most apps, and most apps would benefit from exposing a more semantic interface to users that was easier for them to manipulate and read programmatically.
Nothing, because web applications are by definition html css js. Though canvas-based solutions can circumvent the layouting problem, but at the price of reinventing everything in a non-standard way.
There are a couple of exceptions for interfaces that are genuinely unconventional, or that deal with multiple spacial dimensions, or that are primarily representing graphs and visual/audio data. But most interfaces should be representable in pure text.
This argument that "the web is only for documents" is missing the point that most applications are just interactive documents when you really break down their UI. A labeled tree is a fine way to represent user-facing state for most apps, and most apps would benefit from exposing a more semantic interface to users that was easier for them to manipulate and read programmatically.