
Ask HN: The new “back to HTML” trend - warpech
This year, we can see a renaissance of (mostly) JavaScript-less websites and web apps, as an answer to the &quot;Website obesity crisis&quot; [1].<p>A recent prominent example is that &quot;Hey.com UI is 100% HTML&quot; [2]. Other compelling examples that I&#x27;ve seen are: &quot;It’s perceivably faster to load 8.5 megabytes of HTML than it is to load a single tweet with a client-side React app.&quot; [3] or LOW←TECH MAGAZINE, a &quot;solar-powered website&quot; [4].<p>The numerous examples show that this is a trend now. I am looking for other compelling examples and explorations of this trend.<p>Do you think it is an important trend to copy, or mostly irrelevant gimmick (similar to code golf excercises)?<p>[1] https:&#x2F;&#x2F;idlewords.com&#x2F;talks&#x2F;website_obesity.htm
[2] https:&#x2F;&#x2F;news.ycombinator.com&#x2F;item?id=23536517
[3] https:&#x2F;&#x2F;twitter.com&#x2F;zachleat&#x2F;status&#x2F;1169998370041208832
[4] https:&#x2F;&#x2F;solar.lowtechmagazine.com&#x2F;about.html
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open-source-ux
UK government websites and associated services have been designed to work
without JavaScript ([https://www.gov.uk/](https://www.gov.uk/)).

They have blogged about this a few times:

 _Building a resilient frontend using progressive enhancement_ (Dec 2019)

[https://www.gov.uk/service-manual/technology/using-
progressi...](https://www.gov.uk/service-manual/technology/using-progressive-
enhancement)

Here is a much earlier (2013) blog article but still relevant

 _How many people are missing out on JavaScript enhancement?_ (Oct 2013)

[https://gds.blog.gov.uk/2013/10/21/how-many-people-are-
missi...](https://gds.blog.gov.uk/2013/10/21/how-many-people-are-missing-out-
on-javascript-enhancement/)

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runawaybottle
It’s tough to say. Many teams are going on a Graphql adventure, and I’m not
sure how we’re going to avoid things like React when Apollo is being seen as
the default client framework.

These things are not set in motion based out of need from the average
developer, we have to examine the trends in conference talks to pinpoint who
is controlling the zeitgeist here.

The JavaScript Illuminati is real.

~~~
warpech
While having a GraphQL API, it is totally doable to render a React app on an
edge node and send SSR web pages to the client. But such setup rarely seems to
be a goal for businesses.

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cell9840179419
Wow.. any resources for this type of architecture?

