2020-05-01

Happy Beltane to those that celebrate the turning of the wheel. Remember the workers while you stand at the fire tonight.

Simple Websites are Pretty Complex

So yesterday I decided to create a simple website management application using a Spring Boot back-end and an HTML/CSS with minimal JavaScript front-end. I am trying to work out a good IndieWeb approach that I can teach the kids this summer. I looks like we are going to be spending a lot of time together and they are not interested in gardening.

When I saw the RFC for HTML in 1995 I thought, this is incredibly simple. Anybody with a text editor can do this. I was still with CompuServe then, and I was trying to figure out how to get something set up on the Internet. I thought I had a pretty good life with a UUCP feed, but here was a text based publishing format that could do so much more. I few years later I found some hosts that could provide a full-time connection.

Maybe the reliance on DNS and full-time web service is a point of failure for the Internet. I have been following the Inter-Planetary File System (IPFS) for a couple of years. The main flaw is that they are trying to solve too many problems at once. Content addressing is great on the surface. A universal naming system would make finding content easier, and can be solved. The whole system relies on a crypto-currency based storage network. Which limits the network to the privileged.

Have to Start Somewhere

I remember when I could just crate HTML files on a server and the Apache HTTP application would return the page to requester. Web 2.0 added another level of abstraction to the process. Interaction with the server allowed us to begin to ask questions of the server.

Try exercise for anxiety and depression. Then try the drugs. Both work for me.