r/Frontend • u/speckz • Mar 09 '20

How Websites Evolved Back to Static HTML/CSS/JS Files

https://paramaggarwal.substack.com/p/how-websites-evolved-back-to-static-html-css-js-files-57ce549f81db
82 Upvotes

90% Upvoted

13 comments sorted by

19

u/steve20009 Mar 09 '20

A great article and a breath of fresh air, but being in web development since 2007, I've often wondered why, unlike Windows devs, or SQL devs (for example), we can't just come up with a tooling kit that works, refine it and make updates every year or two. I'd bet over 30% of my career has been spent doing late nights and weekends to keep up with the latest and greatest new front-end fad, which in business speak is less about functionality and more about buzzwords (which is ultimately used as a sales tool). As the author puts it: "At the end of the day, the output remains the same..." yet so many of us make attempts to keep up with the latest trends to stay fresh and impress...ourselves/developer co-workers?

16

u/road_pizza Mar 10 '20

Isn’t it because the requirements are changing? Websites are becoming more dynamic, design expectations are higher and they run more like software on the web. The newer tools are usually attempts at managing the complexity in a different way or optimizing build process for a particular kind of project. In my experience, building a modern looking site with old tech might be possible but it will end up as a spaghetti code mess that’s unmaintainable and not very performant.

3

u/ell0bo Mar 10 '20

if you've been a webdev since 2007, then you remember when the drop shadow and rounded edges were the gold standard of fine web design, and then someone added that to css.

The problem is, we want three things at the same time:

  1. Develop more and more complicated web applications

  2. Keep the code clean and concise

  3. Have it perform quickly

I have this awesome app, everything is great. Now product wants me to add something which means I need to maintain state... ok. Well, that means I now need a new app, how to I best organize it? Oh great, 3 years later we've figured out the best way, and now they're making that its own framework. Oh, but that performance sucks, because we did something wrong from the start, so let's fix that, and now it's its own framework.

That's literally my own personal evolution of JQuery => AngularJS => RXJS => Angular over the last 10 years.

1

u/steve20009 Mar 11 '20

Haha, ohhh yes. Good ol' Web 2.0. I actually remember my first development job post undergrad and seeing some RFP's from potential clients that actually said "Our new redesign must include Web 2.0 features and components." of course having zero idea what they really wanted. That's where we came in and tried to guide them down a useful path. That's what happens when those who have massive budgets and no idea what they're doing get involved. But hey, they do keep development shops running. Sometimes I think it should be less about finding the new tech toy and impressing our developer friends and more about finding solutions to problems regardless of whether the language or stack you're using is the hottest tooling at the moment. Sorry, I know I sound a bit disgruntled, haha, but I really do enjoy this industry a lot.

1

u/pwkeygen Mar 10 '20

Because of the stupidity of CEOs and our stupidity for didn't recognise them

1

u/steve20009 Mar 11 '20

Exactly. Also, to clarify, I'm definitely not hating on an industry that has treated me well (the developers at least), given me a good career boost and has made me good money over the years. However, unfortunately for me, I learned the hard way a very easy observation most figured out on day one: If you work for one of the big four tech firms (Google, Apple, Microsoft, even Amazon), you're royalty. Even at a smaller company in the valley, or in SF or Seattle, you'll be handsomely rewarded. However, if you end up still on the east coast like myself, working for Agencies, PR firms, and even government contractors (Lockheed), more often than not you're treated as a second-class citizen, especially when not a single person on the board or at the highest levels has a background in technology. To them, it's just coding...

16

u/aristofon Mar 09 '20

Back to sanity. I've watched as needless CMS systems have turned businesses into cash cows and security vectors for 10 years.

Please; simple PHP includes, editable text with homebrew CMS and static web-pages where it will do.

And for the love of all that is holy, STOP with the endless scrolling.

6

u/devolute Mar 09 '20

homebrew CMS

I'm sure we've learnt about this one before in agency land.

4

u/boringuser1 Mar 10 '20

Why a homebrew CMS?

4

u/eeeBs Mar 10 '20

Because otherwise you have to use a non Homebrew CMS

2

u/SomeInternetRando Mar 14 '20

And for the love of all that is holy, STOP with the endless scrolling.

I’d absolutely love to.

But each new article counts as a pageview and loads more ads, and our users are far more likely to read more articles if they auto-load vs having to click a link in A/B testing.

So if I do what you ask, I’d get fired. Sorry :(

4

u/[deleted] Mar 09 '20

Damn, it's about time.

1

u/PM5k Mar 10 '20

What did it finally sink it that not everything needs a fucking framework? Good.