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Moonchild, the lead developer of the Pale Moon browser writes:
"Dear Web Developer(s),
While, as a software developer ourselves, we understand very well that new features are exciting to use and integrate into your work, we ask that you please consider not adopting Google WebComponents in your designs. This is especially important if you are a web developer creating frameworks for websites to use.
With Google WebComponents here we mean the use of CustomElements and Shadow DOM, especially when used in combination, and in dynamically created document structures (e.g. using module loading/unloading and/or slotted elements).Why is this important?
For several reasons, but primarily because it completely goes against the traditional structure of the web being an open and accessible place that isn't inherently locked down to opaque structures or a single client. WebComponents used "in full" (i.e. dynamically) inherently creates complex web page structures that cannot be saved, archived or even displayed outside of the designated targeted browsers (primarily Google Chrome).
One could even say that this is setting the web up for becoming fully content-controlled."
https://about.google/: "Our mission is to organize the world's information and make it universally accessible and useful"
Useful to... whom?
(Score: 5, Interesting) by Mojibake Tengu on Friday March 20 2020, @09:53PM (12 children)
We need to get back to Gopher[70]. Now.
Only necessary changes to original protocol are:
1. Support for UTF-8. Make it a standard mode. No graphics, just Unicode.
2. Support for ipv6. Maybe, ipv6 only this time. Allow only single source of all information for one page.
3. Support for encryption model not bound to authorities. End to end encryption. Use public certificates only when absolutely necessary.
4. Client fully controllable by full spectrum of modern input devices, (keyboard, evdev, HID controller events, gaming controllers, headsets, MIDI/MIDI2, ...)
5. Open standard, open code, defend minimality furiously from extending attacks.
Rationale:
Current web technology is at the final bloatware stage of cancer. It is perpetually dangerous to its users at both server and client sides.
Unlike HTTP stuff, simple Gopher could be usable in VR/AR devices because of it's reduced visual complexity. That's a critical factor.
You cannot afford to clutter VR/AR visor device by common web shit or advertising. Doing that could kill you.
Make it right, this time. Do not repeat old lapses of http.
Rust programming language offends both my Intelligence and my Spirit.
(Score: 4, Interesting) by barbara hudson on Friday March 20 2020, @09:59PM (3 children)
SoylentNews is social media. Says so right in the slogan. Soylentnews is people, not tech.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday March 20 2020, @10:15PM (2 children)
I loved reading usenet especially when google made a web front end for it (google groups). Unfortunately that eventually turned it into an utter spam shite fest that killed it. I've not gone there for years. If someone knows how to get usenet through a web portal please tell!
(Score: 2) by barbara hudson on Saturday March 21 2020, @12:36AM
I used to access it through my ISPs Usenet feed using the KDE news reader. It was so easy to just download the latest posts in a bunch of groups at once, then read them without having to hit the server again.
And you could set your cache to not expire, so you'd have everything offline.
But once it became accessible via web browsers it was only a matter of time ...
SoylentNews is social media. Says so right in the slogan. Soylentnews is people, not tech.
(Score: 4, Touché) by shortscreen on Saturday March 21 2020, @04:54AM
Asking for a web portal to read USENET is like asking for an automobile that shits in the street.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Arik on Saturday March 21 2020, @12:02PM (4 children)
If laughter is the best medicine, who are the best doctors?
(Score: 2) by Mojibake Tengu on Saturday March 21 2020, @12:39PM (1 child)
No. Because, those silly freaks now adopted UTF-8 a standard in
MinixFreaxLinux, filesystems and terminals included, instead of better options that were on the table.I hate UTF-8, but I am also a cynical realist. It's UTF-8 then.
If me did a new encoding for this millenium, it would be 64 bits per character, nearly compatible with all previous encodings by a couple of high bit markers.
Because, I am well aware of 64bit register loads are the same total time complexity as funny 8bit loads on modern CPUs...
Rust programming language offends both my Intelligence and my Spirit.
(Score: 2) by maxwell demon on Saturday March 21 2020, @03:05PM
Well, I'm glad you aren't. Because 8 bytes per character in text files would be a terrible waste.
The Tao of math: The numbers you can count are not the real numbers.
(Score: 2) by maxwell demon on Saturday March 21 2020, @02:55PM
There's nothing wrong with UTF-8. It's just an encoding for code points in variable-length byte sequences. A very good one, actually.
If I were to make a replacement for Unicode, UTF-8 would be one of the things I'd keep.
The Tao of math: The numbers you can count are not the real numbers.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday March 21 2020, @04:44PM
Easy for you "English-first" people to say.
(Score: 2) by Pino P on Monday March 23 2020, @04:17PM (2 children)
DNS is also "bound to authorities." With what would you propose to replace DNS as a means of looking up the IPv6 address of a Gopher site?
(Score: 2) by Mojibake Tengu on Monday March 23 2020, @11:57PM (1 child)
That's a good question. We have a plan to use nodelist mechanics for building up new logical networks upon new protocols.
And nodelists for gopher enclaves could be served well by a gopher itself.
Fragmentation of logical namespace to independent enclaves (zones), aggregated by mutual trust is good for users, bad for tracking.
Nodelist maintenance fits to git well these days.
Rust programming language offends both my Intelligence and my Spirit.
(Score: 2) by Pino P on Tuesday March 24 2020, @03:27AM
I'm interested, but all results from Google Search for nodelist refer to the HTML DOM as exposed to JavaScript, and gopher nodelist produced nothing relevant on the first page. What should I search for to understand your proposal?
Would this be analogous to the webring model [wikipedia.org] for discovery of personal websites?