2005 He pointed to Gmail and Flickr as examples of websites already relying on AJAX techniques.
It’s interesting to me to point out that because big names, big websites, were doing big things so should we all. That is so strange. It’s like saying Walmart sells stuff and has a big parking lot so you should probably build one next to where you live. Because sometimes you sell things too. Programmers are weird. It gets weirder.
XML is the most fully-developed means of getting data in and out of an AJAX client, but there’s no reason you couldn’t accomplish the same effects using a technology like JavaScript Object Notation or any similar means of structuring data.
So the dude says that some extensive work has been done so that one format (XML) allows developers to share data and also, fuck that. Let’s re-invent again. That’s very efficient, inclusive and not selfish at all.
XML has never been widely loved. Even Winer has said that he does not love XML. But XML was designed to be a system that could be used by everyone for almost anything imaginable.
What the fuck does it even mean to “love” a data format? No one “loves” HTML. A system designed for everyone for almost anything imaginable, is a fucking great idea. But you’d rather screw that for your daily comfort? That is not selfish at all.
Imagine a world in which HTML documents and API responses had the exact same structure.
That was the whole goal! Empowering folks for generations with technical foundations that stand the test of time. Conventions and guidelines that we can lean on. But no, early 2000 programmers had to fuck it up and make themselves look smarter because they found a way to do something that seemed simpler but deter 99% of the population from doing it. An entirely different paradigm would have happened.
Instead programmers circumvented browsers’ security with JSON just so that they can run Javascript code off any website. Websites should have stayed about displaying stuff. They should have been made to have awesome fonts and an easy way to play with them. Websites should have stayed about reading more than watching videos or scroll algorithmically-curated timelines. Having the possibility to play games in the browser without Flash is great I guess but also kind of super useless.
The web was supposed to be for people, not a programmer’s playground.