Links nov 4, 2016

http://courses.csail.mit.edu/6.851/
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12871234

http://meowni.ca/posts/web-fonts/
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12865998

https://blog.intercom.com/browsers-not-apps-are-the-future-of-mobile/
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12863565

https://turkeyblocks.org/2016/11/04/social-media-shutdown-turkey/
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12869142

http://www.marketwired.com/press-release/ai-makes-yet-another-remarkable-prediction-2172570.htm
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12863779

http://www.craigkerstiens.com/2016/01/08/writing-better-sql/
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12861305

about the web font debate, my new wren-based websites use default fonts, such as arial, verdana, and georgia, although my desktop linux didn't support even those, i think, therefore i simply fell back to serif and sans-serif in my css. on my desktop ubuntu linux, i installed basic fonts. maybe it was the courier that my linux didn't support.

top hn comment:

I have had the exact experience in the last month. Being on a slow connection, I've come to loath web fonts. There is nothing wrong with them in general but it's just that they've come to symbolise over-indulgence and a myopia towards the users actual task-focused needs as opposed to aesthetics.
Part of the issue is dealing with progressive enhancement as far as slow internet connections go. How do you solve that problem? There is no native browser API to my knowledge that does not depend on using JS which isn't ideal imo.
Would love an attribute on script and link tags that could be conditional based on connection speeds.
P.S Would also encourage those who have the choice to use system fonts (https://medium.design/system-shock-6b1dc6d6596f) instead of web fonts. Seems more in-line with the spirit of the web and these fonts are very well tested in general.

number 2 hn comment:

As much as I believe font matters, I really think people should just use system fonts in general. No content is definitely more annoying than ugly content, but I have a seething hatred for webpages who jump around as content loads. "Let's click on this link... ah, not that link, let's go back. Yes, this link... NO! STOP MOVING!"
Besides, I'm used to my fonts. I know your fonts are a deliberate design choice, but I'm here for content. Maybe I'm just a neophyte, because I think a smaller cleaner website is better than a reactive design that has to constantly change to cram everything in. I don't care though, it's stupid when I have to wait 10 seconds for a page to load on my home connection because you've got so much crap going on, and all the while the content is jumping around like a frog with it's butt on fire.
If your site sucks, I'm not going to whine about it on twitter, I'm just going to stop visiting.

hn:

Didn't this start on the desktop and now because companies think it was successful on desktops, they need to extend it to mobile since they think everyone has 4G service?
I remember when your mobile experience was supposed to be a stripped down faster version of your desktop version. Now, they're both insanely hard to navigate and use.
So much for we dev progression, huh?

hn:

I used to get the mobile versions of pages on the desktop. Not because I was on a slow connection, just because the text is the meat for most things on the Internet. Now there's less of a point in doing that.

hn:

I always set
browser.display.use_document_fonts = 0
in Firefox.
Surfing the web is a more pleasant experience without WebFonts.
reply