| > Of course PWAs aren't popular on platforms that deliberately go out of their way Strange how we went from "The web is absolutely more than good enough for the vast majority of apps" to "majority of mobile gaming apps." > I've seen you repeat this phrase over and over again like a mantra on HN, but without examples I mean, almost every single web "app" out there suffers from this. The DOM isn't built for highly dynamic interactive applications. It's a system to deliver static text and images. > What are some examples of popular apps that you think require the full brunt of a modern chip? Now you're pretending I said something I didn't. However, it's funny how the amazing fast web sites that are more than enough for the majority of apps struggle with even the most basic tasks even on maxed out machines. I mean, Slack's app needs up to 20% of CPU even on an M* Mac (last I tried it was M1 Max IIRC) to render a few animated emojis. It's a single example, but it's quite representative of the state of the Web. |
You've got your signals crossed. That was another commenter who wrote that statement [1].
> Strange how we went from "The web is absolutely more than good enough for the vast majority of apps" to "majority of mobile gaming apps."
We didn't go from one thing to another. I addressed a subset of the app market: gaming apps. Just like your Slack example addressed a subset of the app market: chat apps.
> I mean, almost every single web "app" out there suffers from this. The DOM isn't built for highly dynamic interactive applications. It's a system to deliver static text and images.
This is not a technical argument, it's a philosophical one. The council of browser elders never convened to proclaim that web browsers are only meant to deliver "static text and images", that's just your philosophical viewpoint. In fact, Apple is currently pushing WebXR to support the new Vision Pro, so apparently they didn't get the memo about "static text and images" [2].
> Now you're pretending I said something I didn't.
You said that the web is not performant enough. CPU speed is a pretty big component of performance.
> I mean, Slack's app needs up to 20% of CPU even on an M* Mac (last I tried it was M1 Max IIRC) to render a few animated emojis.
Slack's desktop app or Slack's web app? If you're talking about the Electron app, well then yeah bundling Chrome is never going to win efficiency awards, but now you're pretending I said something that I didn't. I'm not defending Electron apps. Everytime I discuss the web on HN someone does a bait and switch and starts talking about Electron. Don't conflate Electron with the World Wide Web.
If we're talking about chat apps, then I've watched high definition streams on Kick, Twitch, and YouTube where the chat is streaming in over Websockets faster than I can read it. The human brain at that point becomes the actual performance bottleneck. But tell me more about how the web can only handle a few lines of text (by commenting on a website).
[1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40891602
[2] https://webkit.org/blog/15443/news-from-wwdc24-webkit-in-saf...