[quantadev]

The whole entire internet is broken.

Specifically what I mean is HTML is flawed. It should never have been a presentation format. It should've always been a DATA format, like JSON, or XML, from day one. The browser itself would then be able to display information (pages) in whatever style, colors, and format it wants.

Probably 99.999% of developers agree with this, but we're stuck in a RUT it seems. I know what I'm sort of talking about is the "Semantic Web", and I'm probably preaching to the choir to bring it up on Hacker News.

But I'm wondering if it's possible to change? What would it take? We'd need some major movement, almost like Web3, or Blockchains, that got everyone to wake up and realize there's an easier way. We're stuck because there's no real incentive for change. It's a chicken and egg problem. No one is gonna be first to design something, unless everyone else is already using it. :( Thanks for listening. That was step one I guess.

[crazygringo]

Almost nobody wants that though.

Content providers want control over presentation.

Users want pretty sites.

None of this is unique to the web. It's the same reason every magazine has its own attractive layout and formatting, instead of just being a long manuscript in Courier.

I like the fact that different sites have different typography. It's an identity that tells me where I am.

I understand the appeal of "pure information" without any visual variation ever, but I think that for most people, variety is the spice of life, no?

I wouldn't want every site to look the same, for the same reason I wouldn't want everyone to dress like clones. Visual self-expression is part of what it is to be alive.

[quantadev]

I think part of the data format could be visual related tho. Enough to make sites able to look distinctive, but not enough to allow the chaos we have today. For example, background image for a page, font for a page, whether something should be in a left panel, center panel, or right panel. They would be hints and very limited, and all in one place, in the data format. Unlike HTML where you have anything, anywhere, and total chaos.

I think you underestimate the value the world would place on the gains we could get from this kind of design, not to mention that AI would be able to reason about the pages much better. Just the AI angle along is enough to convince society to go along with the change.

But there will need to be some "Killer App" that does this, which everyone else copies.

[mrweasel]

> I like the fact that different sites have different typography. It's an identity that tells me where I am.

While I do get that and to some extend agree, what we get is light grey on white, skinny fonts and illegible pages. It's one of those things that are awesome when they work, but it's so hard to get right and very few people/teams are able to do it.

[quantadev]

DrudgeReport is boring as hell looking and was successful for years. Even HackerNews is about as boring as it gets, and we use it because it works. I think the world is ready to move on from the whole entire internet being a massive "MySpace Page" of garbage.

[crazygringo]

That's a good point.

Professionally produced content is generally fine, as long as you've got an adblocker.

The design decisions some personal blogs make can occasionally be horrific though.

Still, I'd rather let people express themselves and make mistakes and learn from the experience, I think.

[carlosjobim]

It's already been solved and it's called reader view.