"Front-end" developer, Pete Lambert, writes about why front-end "web" developers should start to learn HTML. More and more developers are using only pre-made frameworks and quite unfamiliar with the fundmentals of the technology they are using, such as semantic markup. He notes that the continued failure to pay attention to the basics of semantics is slowly breaking what's left of the World Wide Web and suggests reasons to correct that and has some pointers to learning resources.
I’m a ‘frontend of the frontend’ kind of guy. My expertise is in HTML and CSS, so it’s easy for me to wax lyrical about why everybody should learn what I already know (for the record, I don’t know it all - we still have heated debates in the office about what the best way to mark up a certain component might be). This isn’t about ‘my job’s more important than yours. If you’re writing code that renders things in a browser, this is your job.
It’s about usability and accessibility. If you don’t think the semantic structure of your Web page or app is important then you’re essentially saying “Well, it works for me in my browser, ship it”. I don’t think you’d do that with your Javascript and you certainly shouldn’t be doing it with your CSS. Search engines need to read your content, not enjoy your swoopy animations or fancy gradients. Screen reader software needs to read your content. Keyboard users need to read your content. Who knows what technology will come next and how it will consume your app but I’ll bet my bottom Bitcoin it’ll work better if it can easily read, parse and traverse your content. The way these things read your content is that they know it’s actually content and not just strings of text wrapped in meaningless tags. They know what’s a table and how to present it, they know what’s a list and how to present it, they know what’s a button and what’s a checkbox. Make everything from divs and they’re going to have to work bloody hard to figure that out.
Earlier on SN:
How to Build and Host an Energy Efficient Web Site (2018)
Conservative Web Development (2018)
Dodgy Survey Shows 1 in 10 Believe HTML is an STD? (2014)
(Score: 3, Insightful) by takyon on Tuesday July 02 2019, @04:54PM (9 children)
For now. VR world wide wank is next.
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 2) by Thexalon on Tuesday July 02 2019, @05:29PM (1 child)
I thought that was Second Life.
The only thing that stops a bad guy with a compiler is a good guy with a compiler.
(Score: 2) by takyon on Tuesday July 02 2019, @05:44PM
Just a beta version :)
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Tuesday July 02 2019, @06:48PM (4 children)
HTTPS is just a way to move content more securely than HTTP, and knowing that the source is who it claims to be. That content can be of many MIME types including HTML markup, graphics, video, sound, scripts, style sheets, and many other types of content.
Because I build apps, my view of the web browser is something like a "smart terminal" from back in the daze.
To transfer files: right-click on file, pick Copy. Unplug mouse, plug mouse into other computer. Right-click, paste.
(Score: 2) by takyon on Tuesday July 02 2019, @07:18PM (3 children)
I write HTTPS instead because it is the majority now (in every sense [bleepingcomputer.com]).
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Tuesday July 02 2019, @08:17PM (2 children)
Broken link. Not quite sure what you're getting at.
HTTPS is widely used for sure. Is there a reason this is not a good thing?
To transfer files: right-click on file, pick Copy. Unplug mouse, plug mouse into other computer. Right-click, paste.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by takyon on Tuesday July 02 2019, @08:26PM (1 child)
https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/phishing-websites-increase-adoption-of-https/ [bleepingcomputer.com]
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 3, Interesting) by DannyB on Tuesday July 02 2019, @08:39PM
So basically two points I take away:
1. HTTPS makes it look legit when it displays a nice safe green padlock that users are conditioned to trust.
2. It becomes extremely difficult to build mechanisms to filter or detect malware and phishing when the traffic is encrypted.
To transfer files: right-click on file, pick Copy. Unplug mouse, plug mouse into other computer. Right-click, paste.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by fyngyrz on Tuesday July 02 2019, @08:49PM
From TFS:
FTFTFS. Also:
Companies are hiring such shallow, unskilled individuals because the companies themselves are not in it to do a good job; they in it to make money and the quality of the work is of no concern at all as long as it looks fancy and any problems can be pushed off until next quarter, when someone else is managing the project, and then they get to figure out how to make it go away with yet another newer, shinier, and yet somehow crappier implementation.
Oh, don't worry. The script kiddies won't know how that works, either. 😊
--
I want to grow my own food, but I can't find pizza seeds.
(Score: 1) by fustakrakich on Wednesday July 03 2019, @01:02AM
HTTPS is the systemd of the web. It is the devil, and is already broken. Based on trust, it is broken by default. And it's just such a pain in the ass when the smallest glitch pops up. But for ID purposes and tracking, I'm sure it's a winner.
A better solution would target DNS as the real culprit in most security issues.
La politica e i criminali sono la stessa cosa..