We need a proper rich UI application execution environment, and if HTML, being a primarily document oriented platform can’t be retrofitted to provide that, then we need a new one
[0] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=34612696
[1] https://docs.google.com/document/d/1peUSMsvFGvqD5yKh3GprskLC... (actual doc to read)
I notice though that he is proposing to address the problem from the opposite direction to mine, though I think his approach is also viable. I dream of an HTML-like platform built to support rich UI apps, with much higher-level configurable primitives that eliminate the need for massive amounts of scripting and dependencies. He talks about providing properly configurable low-level primitives.
Both approaches can work if built properly to support what developers actually want to do. One thing that put me off WASM was the dependence on JS to bootstrap it. I just did not want to have JS in pipeline again whatsoever if I was taking that approach. The advantage of high-lvel primitives is that there will be much more of what developers want to build that is already built into the platform.
IMO, the web platform needs a retained mode UI model like Qt Widgets, AppKit, or UIKit. Then desktop-like applications like Figma wouldn't need to compile to WASM and render WebGL for their UI. They could just treat <divs> as views or layers.
We've learned a lot about security, DX, and UX since those times. A new platform can apply all those.