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Ask HN: If you could change one thing on the Web, what would it be?

20 points by smashing_mag ↗ HN
We often find ourselves in a situation where we notice that things just aren't right. For instance, we believe that CAPTCHAs should not exist on the Web. HTML Newsletters are nasty and ugly, but at the moment we just have to work with them because of the popular email clients out there. What would you change on the Web if you could make a difference?

What would it be and how would you change it?

47 comments

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renegademaniac
Only one, Webkit powered browser by Google.
stephenr
I'm sorry, did you not see what happened when Microsoft effectively "owned" the browser market?

And even if you had to pick a single company to make a browser - why would you pick the one browser maker whose major source of income is whoring out your details?

canistr
Make all buttons, particularly "next" buttons in photo albums or forums, much much bigger. Every forum, photo album, multi-page news article, and website has a habit of making tiny links/buttons to get to the next page. This makes it incredibly difficult to click on anything but a mouse. Trackpads aren't accurate and trying to press these tiny buttons on a touchscreen is futile.

To UI Designers: MAKE YOUR BUTTONS BIGGER!

pagekalisedown
Same thing for mobile app designers.

10 pixel high text on a Retina display? Really? Can I borrow your bionic eyes?

athst
I would kill all mailto: links. In the age of gmail, how many people does this actually apply to? I always accidentally click these links, and it opens up some default email program that came with my OS that I've never touched before.
stephenr
Webmail is a poor replacement for a real email client, and the usage stats back this up: http://www.campaignmonitor.com/stats/email-clients/

More people used the Mail app on iOS devices than Hotmail, Yahoo Mail or Gmail.

A better solution to your problem would be for the browser/OS to allow the user to specify a web app to handle mailto: links

cstefanovici
I'd make data with a meaning like on listered.com, structured data,searchable and sortable not static text
mhd
No more JavaScript. I don't think some transparent bytecode would ever make it, but a simple lisp- or stack-based programming language would be sufficient for a lot of normal tasks and a better target for more advanced systems to compile to.

(That's the "one thing" approach. In an ideal world, I'd replace the whole arcane HTML/CSS/JS/SVG/etc shebang with an improved version/variation of DPS)

don_m
I envision a world where all browsers have the same CSS capabilities.
melling
How about a realistic one that developers could actually do? Take the Google approach and remind/nag everyone to upgrade their browser if it's more than 2 versions old.
dfrankow
For people who don't have admin on their own machines (i.e. many large organizations), that would suck.
frou_dh
There would be a (mostly) standard keyboard scheme to efficiently navigate and use all sites.
jam
Try Vimium: http://vimium.github.com/
frou_dh
That is cool. I tried it when I used Chrome (and got a feature request added IIRC).

But what I meant would be built in and more structurally aware than a top-level link-clicker / scroller.

kamakazizuru
1. Set standards for HTML CSS etc that EVERYONE uses, so things look the same across browsers, screens and geographies.

2. Get rid of http:// from all URLs - we dont need it - its pointless, even Tim-Berners Lee says so.

3. Make it easier for everyone to mark websites as spam and have them taken off easily (im talking about the ones that show up whenever you search anything health related and promise you magical immediate cures).

phyllotaxis
The day my mother can log on and do what she wants without instruction will be the next generation of the internet. We're nowhere close to that today.

I want Star Trek for Baby Boomer moms : "Computer: send email to Gladys." "Computer: turn the channel to Polyanna" "Computer: calculate 2011 taxes paid to date and print results on the den" "Computer: show me favorite restaurant list with realtime estimated wait. Make reservation for two at 8:10. Charge bill to home account:"

I want "the internet" to be that simple. I want it to stop being called "the internet". I want it to be so ubiquitous that it's just the way you get things done. Not just a way to do things. When it finally is, we'll watch the world kick into a future we've been wastefully squirreling away in fantasy novels.

*Oh, and forced audio on any webpage for any damned reason whatever is more inappropriate than farting at the dinner table.

orangecat
This is isomorphic to artificial general intelligence, which will have implications way beyond making the Internet easier to use.
pagekalisedown
I would deprecate all clear text protocols in favor or their secure counterparts. For example, HTTPS vs HTTP.
noonespecial
As long as I'm completely absolved from proving feasibility of implementation... A reputation system for domains that are held for a long time and don't piss off users.

Videolan.org should show a green dot by it's name. Getvlcforfree.com should have a blinking red one. You earn your domain's credibility over time. Browsers and search engines can be set just not to bother with karmas below 0 (or any given value).

Don't put your password or cc number into a red-dot Internet site is advice my mom could handle.

raldi
Reverse the order of domain name components. Most significant should be on the left: com.ycombinator.news/blah/file
lkrubner
That is, of course, one of the regrets that Sir Tim Berners Lee has:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1220286/Sir-T...

"In the past, Sir Tim has also said that he would reverse the order of domain names, in order of size.

This would mean that the web address for the bird guide on the RSPCA’s website, for example, would read: http:uk/org/rspca/wildlife/birdguide.

"

mvzink
Couldn't this be accomplished on the level of web browsers (and lower), just by rearranging the domain name before asking the DNS? It does seem very abritrary convention-y, you know.
ehutch79
teach everyone how to speel
enomar
The document.cookie API has to be the worst API ever invented. I'd fix that and resolve the differences between JS and HTTP cookies.
jcmhn
Browser error messages and warning dialogs about POST data and mixed encrypted and un-encrypted data are worse than useless.

Browsers need to be silent by default regarding things that users are not equipped to make decisions about.

salsakran
The DOM + Javascript manipulations of it. Specifically the zillion ways.

Replaced with something else. Just about anything else, so long as it's a single clear standard.

karthikm
No more ads
matts10
sounds like a good way to ruin the web..
hollerith
I'd like to be able to browse my favorite sites with a browser as secure, stable and responsive as Emacs or Vim

-- even if this stable/responsive browser is unable to run 3-D immersive games and other desktop-like software

-- and even if this browser does not run Javascript very well. (Of course this last part would work only if my favorite sites do not rely heavily on Javascript, which is currently the case.)

dgallagher
When you visit a webpage to consume some content, such as a written article, a picture, or a video, that should be the main focal-point of whatever you're doing, and nothing else should be allowed to interrupt or delay you from consuming it. This includes pop-up/hover dialog boxes, advertisements which waist your time, webpages animating their skeleton while you're trying to read now-moving text, grouped-content unnecessarily split across multiple pages, etc...

All of these things annoy users, and introduce inefficiency to the entire internet race. How many trillions of seconds are lost every year because of this? Do you think in 2050 people will put up with 30 second commercials before watching a 1 minute Hulu clip?

Obviously a lot of these things exist to fund websites, and getting rid of them would destroy business models. There needs to be a way to de-annoy the internet, and compensate content providers for lost revenue.

The number of solutions are plenty, but finding the best one will be tricky. It would have to be adopted by most of the internet to succeed, after-all.

One idea might be to bill at the ISP-level. Each client pays ~$100/mo (made up number), where $50 of that goes to the ISP, and the other $50 goes into a bucket. Pending on what websites you visit online, and for how long, they earn a certain percentage of that bucket and get paid at the end of the month. Users who only want to pay $50/mo get the annoying internet.

How would you do it?

Zumzoa
Large, reputable company which people already pay a monthly/annual fee to (such as an antivirus service) offers free no-script and ad-block install to customers; something continually updated and intelligently moderated to remove adverts except on sites the user green-lights. Animated and flash-based adverts are the primary targets, while text and static images are left alone. This encourages websites to use these forms of advertising. If a video requires an unskippable video longer than 5 seconds to play before the feature video, a pop-up box with a list of alternate links to the video is generated; again, to push advertisers into short or static advertising.

The average user knows they need an antivirus program, and one brand in particular is recommended above all others because it helps keep the internet 'clean', in a sense.

ujjvala
URL as only one word(alphabets) no use of dots, slashes and other funky characters, like while you want to go to google you simply type google
pradeek
Web Development. HTML and CSS weren't meant to do the things they are being used to now..
noonespecial
Turn off all of that domain parking and domain sampling nonsense. If you're going to grab a domain and keep it from everyone else on the net who could use it from doing so, you should bloody well pay full price for it every year.