[linguae]

I don’t have much experience with web development, but lately I’ve been wondering, though, if those using browsers as application runtime environments should go all the way and eschew the DOM in favor of presenting a GUI in a WebGL canvas? Theoretically, the combination of WebGL and Webassembly may be an attractive platform for developing cross-platform applications. We already have Electron apps, but instead of using HTML+CSS+JavaScript, we use tools inspired by desktop GUI development tools that render to a WebGL canvas and compile to Webassembly?

[kaba0]

That already exists, but it would also mean the end of end-user customizations. As mentioned by sibling poster, accessibility would be nonexistent, but one also could not use adblockers, copy text, etc.

[tekromancr]

Sure, one /could/ do that. And most web based games do that but then you have to re-invent a whole bunch of stuff. Scrolling, text layout, accessibility hooks, etc.

[pjmlp]

Or have a Google team size, https://workspaceupdates.googleblog.com/2021/05/Google-Docs-...