* <<H9M.0779>> Web linking and stupid browsers
One of the most maddening things about the Web is that every document
must be its own user interface. Every document has to visibly link
itself to the various indices on which it is listed; it has to
provide its own context.
Now, this is not technically true, although it is practically so.
Links and metadata can be specified in a document's <head>, or in the
HTTP headers that the server sends with the document. A <head> link
can point to parent documents, sibling documents in a collection or
series, documents that describe or are described-by the current
document, documents about the author, etc.. But, these links are
NEVER PRESENTED TO THE READER. Web browsers have not in a quarter
century ever made any effort to display <head> links of a document or
HTTP header links (to my knowledge).
The consequence of this is that we don't have standalone documents on
the Web. We have content management systems that generate user
interfaces around document content. Nearly every document you see on
the Web has user interface elements IN THE PAGE, because the browser
makes no attempt to provide interface elements for/about the
metadata/link content of a page. Every site/page is an app.
--
Excerpted from:
PUBLIC NOTES (H)
http://alph.laemeur.com/txt/PUBNOTES-H
©2017 Adam C. Moore (LÆMEUR) <
[email protected]>
