From 5237f620587f0df60c87e8761fd755225b2f5998 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Adrian Cochrane Date: Mon, 13 Apr 2020 16:08:37 +1200 Subject: [PATCH] Docs: Expand on why this project exists! --- docs/Why?.md | 69 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++----- 1 file changed, 63 insertions(+), 6 deletions(-) diff --git a/docs/Why?.md b/docs/Why?.md index 3cbe9ea..a5de409 100644 --- a/docs/Why?.md +++ b/docs/Why?.md @@ -1,10 +1,67 @@ -I wish to show that The Web can be more private, secure, accessable, and easier -to author if it limited it's scope and drastically simplified. I do not aim to -support highly-interactive "webapps", but rather keep the I/O model abstract -enough that it can work pretty much anywhere. +# Why am I creating Rhapsode? +I started creating my first browser because I wanted to explore new ways to +(re)discover useful/interesting/entertaining/etc webpages without relying on +central services. I am still actively exploring that, but in the process I +got fed up with the state of browser engines and wanted to push The Web to be +better! -As such I'm implementing my own browser engines, and making them modular enough -that you can reuse it's components in other browser engines or other projects. +## Privacy & Security +The world is waking up to the privacy problems of The Web, and mainstream +browsers are tackling them in ways that are inherantly whack-a-mole. Because +they cannot afford to break popular webpages, for which I cannot begrudge +them. + +I'd argue that the only true way a web browser can properly protect a user's +privacy, especially in the age of Meltdown & Spectre, is by having websites +describe their communication ends, rather than the means to achieve it. +JavaScript, or any Turing Complete language, should be considered a threat +and eventually deprecated from The Web standards! + +Because even without escaping it's sandbox, it regularly does great harm to +users' bandwidth, battery, and privacy. + +## Accessibility & Coolness +The Web's foundations in "hypertext" has an incredible advantage that has by +now been lost due to extensive use of JavaScript event handlers: it can work +practically anywhere! + +Text can be read through visuals, audio, or (e.g. Braille) touch. And any input +device with at least two or three buttons (in some vague sense of the word) can +select a link within that text to navigate to. + +I'm exploring these possibilities not just because it lends some current hype to +my cause, but also because e.g. blind people deserve to have a first-class Web +experience like the rest of us. They shouldn't be an afterthought! + +And if I can create them an interface that anyone enjoy would using, I'd think I +had succeeded. + +## Feature/Code Bloat +As [Drew DeVault found](https://drewdevault.com/2020/03/18/Reckless-limitless-scope.html), +the combined word count of all 1,217 W3C specifications (which nominally +defines The Web) at the time of his writing is greater than that of C11, C++17, +UEFI, USB 3.2, and POSIX specifications, all 8,754 published RFCs, everything +on Wikipedia's list of longest novels, and 6 copies of the Intel x86 manual +**combined**! + +The only people who can possibly implement enough of The Web to compete are +those who already have, and even that's no guarantee. Furthermore these efforts, +despite being open source, cannot be effectively audited nor (unless you're the +size of Google) forked. I've tried auditting Apple's "WebKit"! + +The Web cannot continue adding backwards JavaScript API after backwards API to +better emulate native apps. For so much valuable writing to continue surviving +we *need* to deprecate the vast majority of those W3C specifications, and let +The Web feel comfortable in it's own skin. + +For the reasons discussed above, deprecating JavaScript is a great starting point! + +## The Web's Potential +As much as I complain about the state of The Web, the truth is I think there's +a lot of beauty there. I like HTML & CSS as declarative programming languages, +and I love the vast breadth of knowledge and entertainment published there! + +If I didn't I wouldn't care so much about saving it. ## Bibliography * https://invidio.us/watch?v=fPFdV-Z69Lo -- 2.30.2