Have you ever tried to imagine the world without computers? Well, I did and I failed to see it in that particular form.
I mean what is a computer if not just better or worst version of the brain…
Now ask yourself, does your mind need UI?
Join me in the time traveling adventure, as we are going to see the future, today.
What is a core of the internet?
If we remove all the shiny parts, the visual things that entertain us.
There are only 2 building blocks of the world wide web:
- information
- communication (which relies on the former)
Now you may think, yeah everybody knows that. That is only partly true. Maybe that people think that they know it, but every Front-End engineer can tell you what people actually think when they say the internet.
Surprisingly it seems that: The Internet is UI
Let’s face it, people love shiny, fancy things.
They love them so much that they are more than eager to pay the price for visual experience on the web with poor performances and bad UX.
It is darn hard to accept the reality that today’s computers are not Hal9000.
Even though modern computers do look SciFi, most of their hardware resources are wasted on visual experience, or shell I say UI.
Sorry, I got a bit distracted there…
I strongly believe that it’s impossible to understand the details without knowing the big picture. Thus, sometimes it may seem that I switch the conversation to another topic.
Imagine that there is no Youtube and try not to think about the internet in pictures.
Who use those computers which are connecting the world?
We will soon get back to that…
Best UI is no UI
Part of me hates that idea, but that part is called CSS.
It’s like the sweet memory of your first love. Nothing can replace that in your heart, but your mind knows that it just didn’t work out.
Nevertheless, many of us may still be coupled with CSS, and that’s great. It did evolve during the time, thus delaying the inevitable.
As the matter of fact passion of the “CSS people” is so strong that it makes the cross-browser pain acceptable.
Now think for a second.
CSS based UI is like a piece of art in form of a picture. Before it gets valued it must be shown to several famous art critics.
Can you guess their names?
Yeah, I am talking about browsers.
Chrome, Firefox, Edge, Safari, Opera… they are all interpreting and evaluating art (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Art_critic) or better say the web page.
At the end, the user doesn’t see a piece of art, instead, he/she see criticism.
That means that CSS based UI is an interpretation of the idea.
Cascading Stylesheets suffer from a growth disorder.
Its development is not in sync with the development of its living environment.
We needed to wait for 20+ years of the internet to get evergreen browsers. Have you ever wondered why?
The answer is simple, It’s darn hard to make rendering engine. That’s both important and irrelevant. Because humans already have built-in rendering engine.
You are using it as you read…
Can you imagine it?
The internet without bitter taste in the mouth of Front-End engineers.
Or even better (or worst), the world without Front-End engineers at all!
Soon a time will come when one of the magic concepts of human civilization will become reality.
Instead of the internet, we will call it simply Telepathy (because bottom line that’s what the internet actually is).
Next time when you chat with your friend in the Sweden, try to close your eyes for a second. Then think about it…
You do not open your mouth and still, you talk with somebody.
To make it sound even more magical, that somebody is on the other side of the globe.
Telepathy I tell you!
But what shell we do? You may think.
When this kind of core idea changing topic is in question I always remember one science joke.
There was a conference where scientists were talking about the end of the Sun. At one point presenter said that the Sun will die in 5 billion years.
Somebody from the audience (apparently just woke up) stood on his feet and shouted in fear.
Either that his idea of time was wrong or he overheard what scientists were saying. Anyway, this is exactly what I am talking about here.
Just replace the sun with CSS, or any kind of visual representation of UI in general.
The real question is not will our planet be burnt by our nearest star, rather where will we be when that happen.
It’s the same with UI as we know it.
I hope that you find this topic bright and optimistic.
Because it’s far from late for you, me and all the people who placed their bets on and around UI.
We are all doing this job just because of one crucial skill and that skill will make us doing this job in the future. No matter how it may look…
Ability to adapt.
Front-End and JavaScript are just, well I will say it. You either love it or you don’t do it (or you don’t love it and do it in an awful way).
Imagine for a second that you are a traditional Back-End engineer.
You have 1 codebase that is executed on 1 environment (language interpreter) used by 1 user (server), and that’s it.
Now please return from that fairytale to our reality and what you can see there?
Front-End have 3 codebases (HTML, CSS, JS) that are executed on at least 5 environments (browsers) where each of those environments has numerous active versions.
To make it even more complicated your app is used by literally billion of users (each client).
The core concept of UI interpretation is wrong.
We know it, but we are still not accepting the fact.
No UI means no design, or at least not in its traditional form.
No UI does not mean no UX.
Now let’s get back to the beginning of this article…
Remember when I mentioned Youtube?
I am sure that nearly 100% of internet users are actively using that service. But what does it do and why is it so popular?
As a usual, answer to this question is in front of our eyes, literally.
Youtube is “just” a place where people share their memories, goals, art, life, everything.
You are most probably aware that there is something called frame rate. Knowing that can give us additional perspective on videos. They are just a collection of images.
Now think for a second…
Do we need UI to experience an image?
If you think that we do, then why are you constantly clicking on that Fullscreen button?
How does JavaScript fit into this topic?
We all know that our favorite language is English, oh I mean JavaScript.
Even though it can look like it is most hated programming language around, people love it.
Bad reputation that JS have didn’t stop it to be the widest spread programming language in the world.
There are lots of bad things that I can say about JS, but I will not do that.
JavaScript is my hero, it does not care a bit about the haters.
You don’t need perfect tool to create perfection.
To understand JavaScript we should try to figure out why is it so popular, that my father’s smart TV has JS running most of its apps?
A few minutes ago I said that “CSS is like the sweet memory of your first love.”.
JavaScript is quite the opposite, it is my true love. It alone can not do much. Still, it provides enough tools with which the right craftsman can make miracles.
Billions of users are testing its limitations on daily basis and it still works. The internet of today would not be possible without it.
The best part is that internet UI of tomorrow can also be based on JavaScript.
I am still not sure that I can say the same for HTML / CSS…
To be honest that makes me feel chills down my spine. All the years invested into the development of technology which will possibly vanish.
That sounds just evil.
But think a bit further than your computer screen.
Let’s get back to the beginning of 20th century.
Imagine somebody who was passionate about steam cars. They were the thing back then, and I am sure that vast majority of people were not able to imagine the world without them.
It’s funny to know that steam car was able to be quite fast.
The land speed record for Steam powered cars stood from 1906 when a Stanley steam car, driven by Fred Marriott, which achieved 127 mph (204 km/h) at Ormond Beach, Florida.
But if we kept ourselves thinking within that particular technology, space age would never come.
Revolution requires sacrifice.
Or better say a change in the mindset, which is more than less the same for most of the people.
What will happen tomorrow? Will UI as we know it really become obsolete?
To be honest, I don’t know, nor this article was meant to become a prophecy.
What I do know is that things change over time.
Current workflow of thoughts looks like this:
mind > fingers > keyboard > computer > remote computer > eyes > mind
I am sure that we can do better than that.
Voice as input > augmented reality as output.
Thoughts as input > VR as output.
Telepathy powered by hardware…
The Internet is a global computer network. It will inevitably evolve into a form which doesn’t require a middle device. Instead, both communication and information will be transferred directly from human to human, which will ultimately turn the internet into a global human network.
Who knows when will that happen, still I would like to see it in action and more than anything else work on its creation.
If you are reading this it means that you are curious and passionate about JavaScript and Front-End in general. That makes two of us!
Consider joining me on this adventure of discovery by following me here, clicking on that heart, or checking out my twitter account https://twitter.com/develoger
Once I hit 1000 followers on the blog I will share the prizes (public draw) -- 2 yearly subscriptions to https://egghead.io
