[vlttnv]

I think I understand what the author is trying to say. For me the feeling that you are browsing a "web of documents" is that you know that you are clicking around for information. It is very basic. You look at and read a page with some links. You find something interesting and click on a lick. This produces a deterministic action: another page loads with some links. That's it. It might look slightly different but it doesn't move around when components are loading dynamically, no pop-ups, no red "1" badges that try to grab your attention. It will either load slowly or it will load fast, it won't alternate between the two while loading.

The main focus is the content of the document and the other content it leads to. Not the style, the features, the tech that it uses to load the content. I compare it to books. Most books are the same, predictable. They will have text and some images on pages. When turning a page it will show another page. It wont suddenly ask you to log in or go buy another book in the middle of this one. The covers of the books are slightly different but the basic function is the same. That's it.

[atoav]

It is weird, but there is some quite utopian potential within that simplicity. I can really recommend to anybody: try to browse the web for an hour using a command line text-only browser like lynx. This is a totally different experience.

[onion2k]

it doesn't move around when components are loading dynamically

Images that don't have width and height attributes always did that. Not adding those attributes to an img tag was considered a sign of a poorly made website in the very early 2000s. I think it might have been the origin of the term "layout thrashing".

[joshspankit]

Sidetrack: I really miss when designers added h*w. Even mobile apps do it now causing the button under your finger to jump as you’re tapping...

Feels like such a step backward

[thulecitizen]

> you are clicking around for information

Kind of like when I go for a walk in a forest that I haven't been to. A forest with many possible paths.

Whenever I hit a fork or a junction, I go to the places that seem most interesting. I say to myself: "Oooh it looks like there's a cozy lake over there", or "over there, there's a little river that I can jump over, or play with creating a temporary dam".

If I get lost I can walk back (click the back button) and change my choices, or decide to just walk the same way back/go home (stop reading).

[okla]

It was called web-surfing back in the day. Sadly, we don't surf anymore.