www/philosophy javascript-trap.html

[Richard M. Stallman]

CVSROOT:        /web/www
Module name:    www
Changes by:     Richard M. Stallman <rms>       16/01/17 13:58:49

Modified files:
        philosophy     : javascript-trap.html 

Log message:
        Minor cleanups.
        Mention the HTML/CSS programming issue.

CVSWeb URLs:
http://web.cvs.savannah.gnu.org/viewcvs/www/philosophy/javascript-trap.html?cvsroot=www&r1=1.51&r2=1.52

Patches:
Index: javascript-trap.html
===================================================================
RCS file: /web/www/www/philosophy/javascript-trap.html,v
retrieving revision 1.51
retrieving revision 1.52
diff -u -b -r1.51 -r1.52
--- javascript-trap.html        7 Jan 2016 20:50:38 -0000       1.51
+++ javascript-trap.html        17 Jan 2016 13:58:48 -0000      1.52
@@ -30,7 +30,7 @@
 did not constitute a significant issue.</p>
 
 <p>Many sites still use JavaScript that way, but some use it for major
-programs that do large jobs.  For instance, Google Docs downloads into
+programs that do large jobs.  For instance, Google Docs tries to download into
 your machine a JavaScript program which measures half a megabyte, in a
 compacted form that we could call Obfuscript because it has no
 comments and hardly any whitespace, and the method names are one
@@ -60,19 +60,25 @@
 is comparable to tivoization, although in principle not quite so hard
 to overcome.</p>
 
-<p>JavaScript is not the only language web sites use for programs sent to
-the user.  Flash supports programming through an extended variant of
-JavaScript.  We will need to study the issue of Flash to make suitable
-recommendations.  Silverlight seems likely to create a problem similar
-to Flash, except worse, since Microsoft uses it as a platform for
-nonfree codecs.  A free replacement for Silverlight does not do the job
-for the free world unless it normally comes with free replacement codecs.</p>
+<p>JavaScript is not the only language web sites use for programs sent
+to the user.  Flash supports programming through an extended variant
+of JavaScript; if we ever have a sufficiently complete free Flash
+player, we will need to deal with the issue of nonfree Flash programs.
+Silverlight seems likely to create a problem similar to Flash, except
+worse, since Microsoft uses it as a platform for nonfree codecs.  A
+free replacement for Silverlight does not do the job for the free
+world unless it normally comes with free replacement codecs.</p>
 
 <p>Java applets also run in the browser, and raise similar issues.  In
 general, any sort of applet system poses this sort of problem.  Having
 a free execution environment for an applet only brings us far enough
 to encounter the problem.</p>
 
+<p>It is theoretically possible to program in HTML and CSS, but in
+practice this capability is limited and inconvenient; merely to make
+it do something is an impressive hack.  Such programs ought to be
+free, but this is not a real problem for users' freedom today.</p>
+
 <p>A strong movement has developed that calls for web sites to
 communicate only through formats and protocols that are free (some say
 &quot;open&quot;); that is to say, whose documentation is published and which
@@ -90,7 +96,7 @@
 issues raised by &quot;web applications&quot;.  The term &quot;web
 application&quot; was designed to disregard the fundamental
 distinction between software delivered to users and software running
-on the server.  It can refer to a specialized client program running
+on a server.  It can refer to a specialized client program running
 in a browser; it can refer to specialized server software; it can
 refer to a specialized client program that works hand in hand with
 specialized server software.  The client and server sides raise
@@ -304,7 +310,7 @@
 
 <p class="unprintable">Updated:
 <!-- timestamp start -->
-$Date: 2016/01/07 20:50:38 $
+$Date: 2016/01/17 13:58:48 $
 <!-- timestamp end -->
 </p>
 </div>