Les Orchard is a software developer who writes about the web, AI-assisted coding, developer tools, and hobby hardware like keyboard controllers.
HN links his 2015 post on The Verge's slow website, and more recently his writing on the AI coding divide, which commenters list as further reading.
Disclaimer: I'm a mobile dev, almost exclusively native apps.
I think the motivation of users doesn't align with the idea of web-apps, or at least not their current incarnation.
There are a few variables here:
- Frequency of use: you won't install an app for something you use once a week, you will install an app for something you use every day.
- Performance of webapps: hint, extremely poor, though largely as a result of bad decisions rather than bad tech.
- Pain-in-ass-ness of installing native apps: extremely high, but we know this already.
The problem here is that modern websites perform extremely poorly because of a bloated reliance on JS and a completely un-contained explosion of HTTP requests to load something simple. Multiple people have complained about it[1], and the complainers themselves are part of the problem[2]. Even with a warm cache modern webapps still require a ridiculous number of requests before rendering/becoming interactive.
The problem is exacerbated in the mobile context where the OS is throttling the number of simultaneous requests, this is why apps that are little slow on desktop become unbearable on mobile. Users, once they have the app installed, largely prefer native because native apps are so much faster in general.
This isn't a limitation in the tech - well optimized pages not filled to the brim with extraneous JS imports and bullshit tracking pixels render quite fast, and there's no reason they can't work well on mobile (as an app or…
Maybe not "daily", but very frequently: here is a small selection of some of the small sites on my newsblur newsfeed list: [0]
http://www.jamesaltucher.com : Much self-pity, but also sometimes quite funny.
http://www.astrobio.net/latestnews_rss/news.xml : Is there life on other planets?
http://kaygun.tumblr.com/
http://www.friday.com/bbum : Coding, hardware projects, generally interesting.
http://bestyoucanbe.blogspot.com/ : Insights into the education system in regard to the raising of his neurologically non-typical son.
http://blog.lmorchard.com
http://ex-muslim.org.uk : Oppression of atheists in the Muslim world.
http://clojurefun.wordpress.com : Clojure!
http://scientopia.org/blogs/goodmath : Bad science, denialism.
http://blog.willbenton.com : Music, logic, programming, etc.
http://www.groklaw.net : Maybe not "small"; detailed analysis of important legal cases.
http://hicksdesign.co.uk/journal : Web design.
http://www.holovaty.com/ : "I'm co-creator and co-Benevolent Dictator For Life of the open-source Django Web framework"
http://prometheus.med.utah.edu/~bwjones : Combines talented photography, photoessays, and study of the retina.
http://lee-phillips.org : I regularly check my site to see if it's still working.
http://chronicle.com/blogs/linguafranca : Language issues; can be amusing or stupid.
http://freethoughtblogs.com/maryamnamazie : Freedom for women in the Muslim world.
http://math-blog.com : Infrequently updated, but often…
I have two Model M keyboards, the main one (using it right now) and a spare one; needless to say that the spare one is still unused since the main one doesn't want to break after 28 years!
Another possible mod for the keyboard, although purists would possibly not like it, is upgrading the controller board so that it speaks directly USB. Here are some pages I found on the subject:
https://github.com/mschwingen/hardware/tree/master/modelm-usb
https://blog.lmorchard.com/2016/02/21/modelm-controller/
https://www.crackedthecode.co/how-to-supercharge-your-ibm-model-m-with-qmk/
But they should. Most mal-ads are from third party connections. Layers and layers of junk javascript all come from third party connections.
Web developers have been shown to be incapable of acting maturely (see http://blog.lmorchard.com/2015/07/22/the-verge-web-sucks/). They should be locked down until they can grow up.
Good Write up.
A great list for further reading for anyone interested:
https://blog.lmorchard.com/2026/03/11/grief-and-the-ai-split/
https://nolanlawson.com/2026/02/07/we-mourn-our-craft/
https://www.jamesdrandall.com/posts/the_thing_i_loved_has_changed/
The solution is not to load awfully slow webpages like Verge (see [1]), not to mention their content has been sub-par for a long time.
[1] http://blog.lmorchard.com/2015/07/22/the-verge-web-sucks/