I think that you are correct. There are alternatives though, but they don't like to use it much. Also would be alternative that the web browser could be designed better; interpret them differently and more efficiently for the user to have more control and don't waste too much energy.
For different applications, you can have:
- NNTP
- Gopher
- IRC
- Telnet and SSH
- etc.
(I have a NNTP server set up. If you want to set up discussion forums, this is a good idea, I think. I also have Gopher and QOTD (TCP only, no UDP) services set up too.)
There can also be the better uses of HTTP too (it is capable of some things but that they don't commonly use properly), and the uses of different file formats (you do not have to be limited to only HTML; you can also have plain text format, httpdirlist format, etc).
I already replied to the parent, but Gemini is a modern protocol that significantly improves conceptually upon Gopher. It's lighter than HTTP/HTML and with just enough features to serve the small web and not much more. It's worth checking out if you haven't already.
For different applications, you can have:
- NNTP
- Gopher
- IRC
- Telnet and SSH
- etc.
(I have a NNTP server set up. If you want to set up discussion forums, this is a good idea, I think. I also have Gopher and QOTD (TCP only, no UDP) services set up too.)
There can also be the better uses of HTTP too (it is capable of some things but that they don't commonly use properly), and the uses of different file formats (you do not have to be limited to only HTML; you can also have plain text format, httpdirlist format, etc).