[jordanroher]

Because going to all this trouble has distinct advantages.

- With media queries in CSS my page can be responsive, scaling its size and content from 320px smartphones to multi-monitor desktops. I don't have to build and maintain multiple pages or specifically target individual devices. - Using semantic tags makes it simpler for search engines to index your content and for visually impaired people to use screen readers and understand it. - With advanced JavaScript I can reduce the friction of multi-page forms. AJAX lets us do instant checks on data against a remote database without loading the rest of the layout. Google helpfully suggests the rest of your query as you type.

Of course, it's not hard to go overboard with modern web tech, and these features can introduce bugs and alienate users running old hardware and software. But such is the price of progress.

[graycat]

> - With media queries in CSS my page can be responsive, scaling its size and content from 320px smartphones to multi-monitor desktops.

I guess I just don't want my pages to change, just want them to look the same. On a big screen on a desktop computer, one of my pages is still just 800 pixels wide -- that's all I need for what I'm trying to display to the user. I'm not trying to take up his whole screen.

I see what from the user side Google has done with AJAX -- it's nice. But Google has nearly infinite money and wants the most polished UI/UX they can get. But there's some irony here: In most respects, the Google screens are quite simple, and nothing "jumps around" either during loading or usage. And the loading is fast.

For sending one of my screens, I need send only 400,000 bits; so, my screens should send and load quickly.

I'll consider semantic tags. Thanks.

Yes, multi-page forms could be a bummer; each of my forms fits easily on just one page. But my UI is just dirt simple for the user.

For

> old hardware and software

I'm not sure what I'm running is too old to matter. But if there are such users, then maybe they will like my pages because I suspect that the pages will look fine in any browser up to date as of 5, maybe 10, years ago.

> It's not hard to go overboard with modern web tech

That's an impression I got.

I've had a related point: Let's compare, say, the Microsoft Word UI and Web page UIs of, say, 10 years ago. Then, the Word UI can take weeks to master, for just that one program, more for Excel, more for Outlook (I finally found how to increase the font sizes, etc. in Outlook), while there were tens of million of Web sites 1+ billion people could use right away. Why? Because all the sites were simple and similar. Lesson: If Web programming offers as much opportunity for unique UIs, then we could lose the big advantage of the Web that anyone can use any page quickly. If that happens, then I want to vote with the majority and let others have unique UIs.