I might still be using vSTA ..  By now we would have a basic render engine for a (nonclient) browser.

Tue Sep 26 2023 17:36:00 EDT from msgrhys

If client side processing never became a thing, I would be able to throw something like NetBSD on a 30 year old machine and get by just fine.

I think we still could have app delivery and have it mostly server side, not pushing so much of the work onto the client.

Would it be quite the same? No.  But i think it would have worked.

Consolation with web apps is that at least in theory, your front end does not even have to know the platform ... 

Fri Sep 29 2023 08:53:09 EDT from zelgomer

I would. I hate my browser, and I hate having to use it for anything. Any application implented in the browser is several times heavier and slower and more buggy than the same app implemented as an .exe.

To me, WHATWG seems like a cartel. Do you think that's an accurate characterization?

Now YT is scanning for ad blockers and will refuse to work unless you disable them or buy a subscription. ( at least for me, YMMV )  just started this afternoon. 

Guess i'm done with YT. 

as long as youtube-dl works, nothing else matters

Not sure i can use it now, if this continues.    

1 - i cant see the video at all to see if i want it ( i know, "DL and see"... but extra hassle )

2 - Not sure i can copy a URL out when the popup happens since it loaded at launch, on top of the "tiles".  Ill try it next time.  After a few repetitions of it not letting me past the 'tile screen' at all as it kept popping up, it did finally let me close the popup. i was able to see 2 videos, then it popped back up, but i could close the warning that time.  ( had not got around to posting yet, as it just happened )

Thu Oct 12 2023 17:09:13 EDT from nonservator

as long as youtube-dl works, nothing else matters

Oh and im using yt-dlp since still being actively worked on. 

Thu Oct 12 2023 17:09:13 EDT from nonservator

as long as youtube-dl works, nothing else matters

As well as yewtube which replaced mps-youtube and doesn't rely on an API.

This time it was as i started the first video.  Debian 12, x86, updated. Latest Chrome. ( yes yes i know. )  Ublock origin installed. ( since the other YT blockers are gone now, per another rant thread  )

I was able to hit the X and it played this time. Yesterday it just kept popping up at first.

Now its every time i open a video, and now there is a timer before it lets me close. Sort of an increasing nag, in effect.  I expect in a few days the timer will be gone again, and ill be done with their interface. The tiles still work, so i can get urls for YT-dlp. But if that quits too....

To effectively block the command line downloaders, they wouldn't just have to break Youtube, they'd have to break what's left of the web. Go on, faggots. Do it. No skin off my ass. It'll be premium entertainment.

I know we will all adapt, and get by. I am just not looking forward to the hassle. 

Mon Oct 16 2023 07:14:19 EDT from nonservator

To effectively block the command line downloaders, they wouldn't just have to break Youtube, they'd have to break what's left of the web. Go on, faggots. Do it. No skin off my ass. It'll be premium entertainment.

Sad thing is i would be ok with the occasional ad. Even the embedded placements that some channels do.  I understand everyone has to pay the bills. But just dont smother me in the crap and feed me more ad than content.

I still remember timing airwave TV back in the old days before i stopped watching.  You get 30 seconds of show, for 3 minutes of ad.  Radio is just as bad. "Hi we are back, and we are going to talk about how such and such sucks, but now lets have a word from our sponsor" "oh, and buy my book!"

HTML bloat, CSS bloat, JS bloat, so a page that should be 57K is now 7MB, and then there's about 250MB of ads on top of that.  Oh, and you can't even fucking tell what's an ad versus what's content.

Then websites wonder why nobody goes to them.

Mon Oct 16 2023 08:12:53 EDT from Nurb432

Sad thing is i would be ok with the occasional ad. Even the embedded placements that some channels do.  I understand everyone has to pay the bills. But just dont smother me in the crap and feed me more ad than content.

I still remember timing airwave TV back in the old days before i stopped watching.  You get 30 seconds of show, for 3 minutes of ad.  Radio is just as bad. "Hi we are back, and we are going to talk about how such and such sucks, but now lets have a word from our sponsor" "oh, and buy my book!"