"Changed: Introducing a non-native implementation of web form controls, which delivers a new modern design and some improvements to page load performance. Watch for layout bugs in web pages that make assumptions about the dimensions or styling of form controls."
A very visible change is the default styling of the form elements (input, button): more rounded, with a strong double blue outline when focused. I wonder if this is supposed to reflect the style changes of the UI itself.
I just signed up. I'll have to overcome a negative first impression caused by the label of the submit button - "TOOT!". Actually, the effect is even worse in French, which was my default: "POUET!", a choice with clearly grotesque undertones. Not a clever pick if the project aims to become mainstream. (But Mastodon is not an easy name either.)
Ten years ago, I loved XML mainly because of what I could do with XSLT, and I wrote many websites where the data were XML (static files) and the XSLT scripts acted as the views to output HTML. All that was server-side (ASP or PHP). The equivalent for me today is JSON for then data and the Lodash library to transform them. The environment has switched to JavaScript (Node.js + browser), which was a tremendous improvement. For me, Lodash is the new XSLT - all about data transformation - although they're conceptually unrelated.
Strangely enough, the two gadgets I can think of are from the same year 1979:
- A Sharp MZ-80K computer (my first computer). Granted, I don't use it every day but as long as the original Basic SP-5025 cassette can be read, I know I can write some funny programs full of INPUT A$ and GOTO and GOSUB.
- An Olympia Express Maximatic espresso machine (serial no. from 1979) I bought two years ago and had repaired. The spare parts are easy to find because the current version of that machine is almost the same as the original design from the mid-70s. I use it everyday.
My comment didn't exactly imply that designers and programmers are the same, simply that web designers should be able to use the tools (and fully understand the constraints) of what constitutes the final output of their job, that is HTML and CSS. Writing CSS and server-side code are obviously two very different things. A designer could be a guy who types CSS in a text editor, among other things.
I've never understood why web design doesn't take place in a text editor and browser (with other tools, like Photoshop or Illustrator, for secondary tasks).
The output of web design is, ultimately, HTML and CSS, so what reason could a professional have to work with tools that can only yield an approximation of what they are paid to do? In my view, a designer without full mastery of at least HTML and CSS doesn't really deserve his title.
Going a little farther: with some knowledge of JavaScript, JSON and how to transform it (map, reduce, filter, sort), a designer can ask for some sample data and come up with a functioning prototype that offers truly important insights into the problems his design is supposed to solve. Client-side frameworks like Svelte.js are making all this very easy.
Nothing is more maddening, and a waste of time and money, than a Photoshop mockup using rudimentary, and generally too self-complacent, content.