> Forget about the web, it’s a lost cause. Let’s move on.
Drew drops that bomb and walks off stage. Okay, so what comes after the web?
Drew drops that bomb and walks off stage. Okay, so what comes after the web?
I mean, we fucked the thing up once already by sparking WebKit and Blink through KHTML, but ...
gemini is a new internet protocol which:
- is heavier than gopher
- is lighter than the web
- will not replace either
I'm pretty much in Gemini's exact target market: my websites are simple and almost entirely text, with no tracking, minimal JavaScript, and a hefty CSP. I like implementing simple network protocols and I'm annoyed with the ever-increasing complexity of the Web. And I write command-line software, so Gemini is right up my alley. So when I first heard of it, about a year ago, I was really excited for there to be a new way to convert my sites to this new, simpler hypertext–
But when I tried it, it didn't let me build the sort of site that I, personally, would want to read.
• The documentation sites for my software (https://specsheet.software, https://dns.lookup.dog, https://the.exa.website) all feature inline code samples, complete with the colours you'll see in your terminal. Being able to see an example command and then see its exact output really helps me learn a tool, and I wish more programs were documented in this way. When I re-wrote the documentation as man pages, it was like going from colour to black-and-white, and when I Gemini-ified the documentation, it felt like I was reading man pages.
• My personal home page has blog posts that use styles to sound like the way I talk. I emote. I emphasise. I bold important sentences, and shove side-notes to the side. If I'm writing technically, I'll include charts and side-tables of data. And, again, I like to include syntax-highlighted code snippets and images where appropriate.
I'm not a marketer. I abhor advertising. I'm not trying to usurp the world's communications channel for my own gain. I'm just trying to publish content I want to see more of, and my attempts at offering a Gemini version resulted in exactly zero pages.
This is why it disappoints me when you say this:
> The rest of the web is either (1) best served some other way or (2) not worth keeping.
Do you really think I belong with "the rest of the web"? Or do you think my sites are not worth keeping?
Supported
>complete with the colours
I don't want your colors in my terminal. Gemini is a user-agent, and this time we actually mean it. It's not a developer-agent or vendor-agent. You provide the content and the client provides the presentation, by design, and if you don't like it, then you are missing the point. I looked at your HTML pages and I find the colors uncomfortable to read.
>My personal home page has blog posts that use styles to sound like the way I talk. I emote. I emphasise. I bold important sentences.
Use asterisks and underscores and slashes then, like we've all managed to do just fine since the dawn of the internet.
>Do you really think I belong with "the rest of the web"? Or do you think my sites are not worth keeping?
No. I think your websites are suited to Gemini, but you don't understand what Gemini is trying to do. Your tools seem to be bizzarely obsessed with colors, though, so I can understand why you would recoil at the idea that a document format might not invite you to its party.
Y'know, for some reason, I get that a lot.
The point you seem to have missed, though, is that I'm a user too. I want a user-agent to view the things that I, a user, want to see, and those things are colours and bold and italics. I don't want to have the flashiest site around to wow everyone; I want to see more sites like mine. My content has colours and formatting and images, where they're a part of the content, not merely its presentation; and one of my tools is doing very well, so even if you don't agree with it, there are enough people that do to make it worth my while.
And if Gemini ever gains the requisite capabilities, I won't be offended if you turn the colours off. It's your right as a user, too.
I know that one of the goals of Gemini is not just to have a protocol with no tracking, but to have a protocol where no tracking can sneak in. Looking at the state of the Web right now, that's a laudable goal. The same goes for having a simple easy-to-implement protocol, which formatting would throw a wrench right in the middle of.
But if that's the case — if not being able to have my preferred Gemini experience is considered "collateral damage" because Gemini prioritises other features than my favourite ones — then please just say that, rather than insinuating that I don't count, or don't understand. I'm trying to engage with you as a "netizen" (I haven't used that word for a decade), and you reply with "this time we actually mean it", as though there are sides in a fight. I don't want to be stuck with the Web any more than you do.
The web has limitations, too. You work within them.
So as somebody who also works on very minimalistic, static sites, I don't see your philosophy working out, based on history.
Your aversion to even typography is also not user friendly. You claim it is, but in the end it's just all about you. You do not consider what most people consider a "document".
You always work within your limitations, no matter what the platform is.
Ah, there it is. The "you don't need that feature" attitude that made desktop Linux the roaring success it is today.