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I don't want to sound like I have an axe to grind (but I do), but this is the kind of feature/wart that shows the age of the HTML/CSS/JS stack.

The whole thing is ripe for a redo. I know they get a lot of hate, but of all the big players in this space I think FB is the best equipped to do this in a way that doesn't ruin everything. I just wonder if they have an incentive (maybe trying to break the Google/MS hegemony on search?).



The best equipped to do this are Google/MS/Apple because they actually control the source code of relevant contemporary browsers.


I think that this is the case (right now) because of Apple's stranglehold on the browser on iOS and the complex relationship between Google/Apple.

If FB could launch a browser on iOS that was in their walled garden, not only would it quickly receive wide adoption but it might become people's primary browser.

Not that I necessarily think that's a good thing, mind you.


Why would it quickly receive any adoption? Of all of the behemoths, I would trust FB the least here. Not that I trust any of the other big players enough not to use Firefox everywhere I can.


The word "trust" doesn't factor into ~90% of users' decisions.

If FB says "hey install this app," they will install it.


> The whole thing is ripe for a redo

Web developers have worked around quirks for as long as I can remember. The stack has many warts, but we learn to adapt to them. Like 90% of a web developer's job is working around gotchas, and will continue that way. A 'redo' might not be needed. Developers need something to moan about and need something to keep them employed :)


I find it pretty funny that we humans have invented all these transpilers and bundlers, invested probably billions of dollars in JITs, just to keep writing JS


Could you explain how rewriting one of the worlds most complex and critical specifications would break of the Google/MS hegemony on search?


Sorry, what I meant was:

"If FB decided to try and break into search, then they might decide to attack the HTML/CSS/JS stack."

Not the other way around.


There’s always WASM, and I think Zuck is more interested in VR than trying to push a new web standard.




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