It doesn't sound like this is what redwall_hp meant; it sounds like what they meant was that pixels are the wrong level of abstraction.
If so, I agree: the web is about marked-up text.
When you break it down to the very basics, what you get is a teletype, not raster.
I'd say that is more like a terminal than a browser. Regardless, what I really mean is some data is needed for the pixels (or whatever abstraction you want above that). You don't need data for anything other than the current viewport and whatever is likely needed next. No less, no more. No over or under fetching. This would be much better imo.