Comment by troupo
3 months ago
> Of course someone would have to make that change.
Of course. And yet none of the people from Google even seem to be aware of
> The congress one appears to be the first legit example i have seen.
There are more. E.g. podcast RSS feeds are often presented on the web with XSLT: https://feeds.buzzsprout.com/231452.rss
Again, none of the people from Google even seem to be aware of these use cases, and just power through regardless of any concerns.
> Of course. And yet none of the people from Google even seem to be aware of
I don't see any reason to assume that. I don't think anyone from google is claiming the literal number of sites is 0, just that it is insignificant.
I am very sure the people at google are aware of the rss feed usage.
Don't confuse people disagreeing with you with people not understanding you.
> I am very sure the people at google are aware of the rss feed usage.
No. No they aren't. As you can see in the discussion: https://github.com/whatwg/html/issues/11523 where the engineer who proposed this literally updates his "analysis" as people point out use cases he missed.
Quote:
--- start quote ---
albertobeta: there is a real-world and modern use case from the podcasting industry, where I work. Collectively, we host over 4.5 million RSS feeds. Like many other podcast hosting companies, we use XSLT to beautify our raw feeds and make them easier to understand when viewed in a browser.
mfreed7, the Googler https://github.com/whatwg/html/issues/11523#issuecomment-315... : Thanks for the additional context on this use case! I'm trying to learn more about it.
--- end quote ---
And then just last week: https://github.com/whatwg/html/issues/11523#issuecomment-318...
--- start quote ---
Thanks for all of the comments, details, and information on this issue. It's clear that XSLT (and talk of removing it) strikes a nerve with some folks. I've learned a lot from the posts here.
--- end quote ---
> Don't confuse people disagreeing with you with people not understanding you.
Oh, they don't even attempt to understand people.
Here's him last week adding a PR to remove XSLT from the spec: https://github.com/whatwg/html/pull/11563
Did he address any of the issues? Does he link to any actual research pointing out how much will be broken, where it's used etc.?
Nope.
But then another Googler pulls up, says "good work, don't forget to remove it everywhere else". End of discussion.
I stand by my previous comment.
You're angry you didn't get your way, but the googler's decision seems logical, i think most software developers maintaining a large software platform would have made a similar decision given the evidence presented (as evidenced by other web browsers making the same one).
The only difference here between most software is that google operates somewhat in the open. In the corporate world there would be some customer service rep to shield devs from the special interest group's tantrum.
It's worse than that, of course. XSLT removal breaks quite a few government and regulatory sites: https://github.com/whatwg/html/issues/11582
They are easy to understand :) Modern browsers became such bloatware beyond salvation, they start to feel all the tech debt.
You're naming Google specifically, when it's not just Google. This seems like a you thing, separate to the actual issue at hand.
Well, it's Google who jumped at the opportunity citing their own counters and stats.
Just like they did the last time when they tried to remove confirm/prompt[1] and were surprised to see that their numbers don't paint the full picture, as literally explicitly explained in their own docs: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1RC-pBBvsazYfCNNUSkPqAVpS...
You'd think that the devs of the world's most popular browser would have a little more care than just citing some numbers, ignoring all feedback, and moving forward with whatever they want to do?
Oh. Speaking, of "not just Google".
The question was raised in this meeting: https://github.com/whatwg/html/issues/11146#issuecomment-275... Guess what.
--- start quote ---
dan: even if the data were accurate, not enough zeros for the usage to be low enough.
brian: I'm guessing people will have objections... people do use it and some like it
--- end quote ---
[1] See, e.g. https://gomakethings.com/google-vs.-the-web/