1+++
  2title = "Modern web bloat"
  3date = 2021-04-09T15:00:00Z
  4updated = 2021-04-14T22:00:00Z
  5[taxonomies]
  6category = ["tech"]
  7tags = ["tips", "vent"]
  8+++
  9
 10This is it. My first blog post; I guess I just became a boomer.
 11
 12Inspiration
 13-----------
 14Some time ago I stumbled upon [this video](https://odysee.com/@Luke:7/a-demonstration-of-modern-web-bloat:f),
 15where the popular Linux influencer [Luke Smith](https://lukesmith.xyz)
 16talked about the effort of looking up a Chicken Parmesan recipe in 2021
 17without having any adblock or privacy extensions enabled.
 18
 19That's because most modern websites take a lot of time to load framework
 20files, ads and trackers. While that's kinda functional, I think we
 21should change our habits and start making simple websites again.
 22
 23In fact, I thought about creating this blog (and article) when I saw
 24[Lonami](https://lonami.dev/)'s minimal website and immediately noticed
 25how fast and clean it feels.
 26
 27Yeah, this looks like a first world problem and it probably is, but it's
 28not as subtle as you think. I'm actually convinced that the internet
 29**could** actually benefit from this way of thinking, and that's what I'm
 30going to talk about. 
 31
 32The problem
 33-----------
 34In the early days of the internet, it was common for webpages to be
 35written using only HTML, so we had very ugly but functional websites.
 36
 37As technology went on, sites needed to get more modern-looking and
 38_interactive_; that's why CSS and JavaScript were introduced into the
 39mix, allowing for dynamic websites that could actually change based
 40on user input.
 41
 42As of nowadays, a lot more stuff went into the mix, to the point where
 43the browser is now the most common program we use in our OS: you can, in
 44fact, use it for doing things that 15+ years ago required external
 45programs, like:
 46
 47* playing music and video,
 48* reading PDF files,
 49* doing office work,
 50* checking e-mail,
 51* cloud storage,
 52* etc...
 53
 54I guess people just find it more comfortable if they can do everything
 55with a single program, and they're not to blame for that. This _is_
 56the easiest approach for unexperienced people: just have a program that
 57does everything, instead of having to learn how to use a bunch of
 58different software.
 59
 60This plethora of uses is possible today because of the existence of
 61various libraries and frameworks that simplify JavaScript and CSS and
 62make them easier to develop complicated websites with.
 63This is good for basic web users who just want functional websites, and
 64great for developers since they can easily code advanced functions
 65inside the browser, which makes them work in every OS.
 66
 67Sadly, this brings us to the problem: any modern website has become a
 68burden for any browser to load, since our browser needs to download and
 69parse through each library and often fill the page content as you
 70scroll through.
 71In his video, Luke Smith found that a simple Chicken Parmesan recipe
 72would take up to _5-10 megabytes_, which doesn't sound like a lot, but it
 73actually is.
 74
 75It's easier to understand it if you think about it with video-games;
 76any game on 16-bit[^gaming-storage] consoles and earlier, including
 77full-fledged 30+ hour adventures like _Final Fantasy 6_ and _Chrono
 78Trigger_, weighs less than one single recipe page.
 79
 80The solution
 81------------
 82Well, I don't think this "problem" is getting solved soon, as new
 83frameworks for web development are constantly being introduced. Sadly,
 84it's a one-way train, but if you're a web-dev you could actually make a
 85difference yourself!
 86
 87I mean, this can not apply to all websites. Some of them just _NEED_ to
 88be as responsive and interactive as they are; most of them actually just
 89became bloated at a certain time period (probably mid-2000s) when having
 90a flashy website was cool and different from what everyone else had.
 91
 92Nowadays you can be different than other websites by using plain HTML
 93and CSS for your website: this ensures your pages will load instantly
 94and be compatible even with the oldest of browsers!
 95
 96If you like this philosophy, you can check out other projects that aim
 97for a simpler and faster web, like these ones:
 98* [gemini://](https://gemini.circumlunar.space/), a new, purposefully limited, internet protocol.
 99* [zola](https://www.getzola.org/), a simple and modern static site
100engine;
101* [based.cooking](https://based.cooking/), a modern recipe website based
102 on user collaboration via GitHub;
103* [wiby.me](https://wiby.me/), a search engine that aims to only index
104classic style webpages.
105
106Footnotes
107---------
108[^gaming-storage]: As stated in [this article](https://blogs.umass.edu/Techbytes/2014/02/10/history-of-gaming-storage/#attachment_2827).