Link tags: nails

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The Industrial Hammer Complex

Coincidentally, I was just talking about hammers and nails in another context.

Progressive enhancement used to be a standard approach. Then React came along and didn’t support that approach. So, folks stopped talking about that and focused entirely on JS-centric client solutions. A few years later and now folks are talking about progressive enhancement again, under the new name of “islands”.

What is going on here?

It turns out, it’s the same old thing. Vendors peddling their wares. When Facebook introduced React, that act transformed the font-end space into a hype-driven, cult-of-personality disaster zone where folks could profit from creating the right image and narrative. I observed that it particularly preyed on the massive influx of young web developers. Facebook had finally found the silver bullet of Web Development, or so they claimed! Just adopt our tech, no questions asked, and you too can be a rock star making six figures! We’ve been living through this mess for ten years now.

The cosmic ballet goes on.

Building a CSS-only image gallery (with fallbacks)

A great step-by-step walkthrough of building a really nice image gallery without any JavaScript.

The end result is really impressive but there’s still the drawback that the browser history will be updated every time you click on an image thumbnail (because the functionality relies on ID attributes referenced via :target). Depending on your use-case, that may or may not be desirable.

Google, Microsoft, Apple sued over preview icons | Business Tech - CNET News

Further proof, as if any were needed, that the patent system turns into a steaming pile of shit as soon as it has dealings with software.

Secret Websites, Coded Messages: The New World of Immersive Games

Reznor had stepped into a new kind of interactive fiction, one where players don't just passively consume the story.