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by the_unknown 1571 days ago
Putting aside the linked content I'd just like to marvel at the speed of the site - near plain text, minimal markup, basic JS. And even a dead link to a guestbook in the source.

A few modern enhancements would be a nice addition to fix the overly wide width and font selection but they certainly aren't required.

Ah, 1999. A simpler web. Transporting the build of those simpler times to the world of today would deliver instant gratification.
2 comments
ephaeton 1571 days ago
Well, the overly wide width can easily be mitigated by resizing your viewport; this is truly responsive web. Your font (size) preference is also easily applied, and nothing breaks when you scale the information to your preference.

Both are very rare nowadays, and have been for quite a while, where "responsive" means "one of X configurations, and _we_ choose which" and scaling text often has the effect of breaking the visual appearance, and thus, in a visual-first mindset, the UX, and more often than not also the functionality in general.

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dotancohen 1571 days ago 

  > Well, the overly wide width can easily be mitigated by resizing
  > your viewport; this is truly responsive web.
I've been arguing this for years. "The web" is device agnostic - the agent of the user sets the width, text size, font, and other properties as needed.

All these websites that work on X*Y screen size of J, K, and L devices are the result of "web developers" who have a J, K, or L device with an X*Y screen trying to make a flyer. And I work in the industry, albeit on the server side.

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pferde 1571 days ago
I mentioned this point on HN once or twice in the past, and the response has been pretty much "nobody's going to do that, learn to live with our fixed width articles, you outdated dinosaur!" :)
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jerezzprime 1571 days ago
I read your comment and I found myself having an annoyed feeling in response.

I tried to dig into my own emotions to figure out why, and I realized that I am annoyed by the fact that the second-most comment (at my time of viewing) was completely unrelated to the content, and drew attention towards some details of the presentation that do not really have a lot of value.

I worry that this opinion will not be broadly accepted here at HN, but I am annoyed by the upwelling of opinion that a web experience is only valuable if it is presented in an experience that meets the observers definition of "performant" or "fast" or "JavaScript-free".

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