[_heimdall]

That might be true, but if that's where we've found ourselves it seems like the best course of action is to start over with a fresh web spec focused on staying as simple as possible.

Browsers have never had a sustainable revenue model. If we're at a point where building one is so complex that it requires a massive resource investment we're setup to eventually be left with only one or two highly centralized and controlled browsers. That defeats the whole purpose of the web.

[asadotzler]

maybe, but it absolutely won't happen, so why bother suggesting it?

[_heimdall]

Why won't it happen? If everyone agrees that what we have isn't right and will only get worse, are we supposed to march down that path anyway?

[persolb]

I think it’s mostly the ‘everybody agree’ part. There are millions worth of years of effort pit into today’s webpages.

A more likely successful path is to standardize markdown links, and just let browsers start showing markdown natively. Throw in a simple optional style sheet for good measure.