[HN Gopher] A Motherfucking Website
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       A Motherfucking Website
        
       Author : tzury
       Score  : 80 points
       Date   : 2024-07-13 19:18 UTC (3 hours ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (motherfuckingwebsite.com)
 (TXT) w3m dump (motherfuckingwebsite.com)
        
       | gooseyman wrote:
       | Obligatory v2 http://bettermotherfuckingwebsite.com/
        
         | boerseth wrote:
         | The original looks great on mobile, but for desktops the above
         | improvements are quite sensible as a minimum.
        
           | drewg123 wrote:
           | How is it an improvement? It wastes tons of whitespace. The
           | first one is far better.
        
         | neilv wrote:
         | It doesn't respect the body text size set in the browser.
         | F-word that f-wording site.
        
         | joshmanders wrote:
         | I registered the domain modernfuckingwebsite.com a few years
         | ago with the intent of building the evolution of this where you
         | don't forego niceties because someone hates JavaScript.
         | 
         | I haven't built it yet because all the frontend frameworks suck
         | still.
         | 
         | Maybe Astro? I don't know yet. I continue to renew the domain
         | in hopes that something will come along.
        
           | chuckadams wrote:
           | Never launching the site because of being stuck in the
           | interminable analysis paralysis of choosing a framework kind
           | of says it all.
        
         | zzo38computer wrote:
         | It is worse. If I disable CSS then it is better. The defaults
         | are not trash, but the desired fonts, colours, etc should be
         | set up by the user so that the author does not need to know
         | what size is appropriate for that user and for that user's
         | computer and display (or if the user wishes to make a print
         | out, etc).
        
         | jug wrote:
         | This one completely misses the point? At this point, why
         | doesn't it use a full fledged CSS framework?
        
       | voltaireodactyl wrote:
       | Truly one of the greatest pieces of art on the internet.
        
       | boredtofears wrote:
       | Something about the vulgarity and brashness of the tone of this
       | site just strikes me as so mid 2010's. Can't say it's aged
       | particularly well.
        
         | chambored wrote:
         | I appreciate the concept here, but I agree with your sentiment.
         | It's reminiscent of the crude as a personality type that was
         | almost hipster popular.
        
           | skobes wrote:
           | It has Maddox vibes.
           | 
           | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maddox_(writer)
        
         | klyrs wrote:
         | I dunno about you, but I was born in the 1980s and my dad
         | cussed like a sailor, loved George Carlin, etc. I'd say that
         | the language has a timeless quality.
        
           | boredtofears wrote:
           | I don't know if there is such thing as "tasteful" use of
           | vulgarity but Carlin did a lot better job than this does at
           | using vulgarity to emphasize parts of his standup. This
           | website just uses it as the only adjective which completely
           | diminishes its emphasis and weight.
        
       | exabrial wrote:
       | There are very very very few, about 1 in 10000, well executed
       | Javascript frontends. Just stop using it for _fkin everything_.
       | 
       | I can't even file a damn claim with my insurance on StateFarm.com
       | because some dev had to itch some javacraptasic urge.
        
       | LeoPanthera wrote:
       | See also: Brutalist Web Design. https://brutalist-web.design
        
       | simonsarris wrote:
       | I think this site epitomizes what I don't like about the
       | internet. There's no whimsy, no sense of artistry or creativity
       | or mystery or playfulness. You have a canvas to do anything and
       | you choose to do nothing.
       | 
       | It acknowledges that the problem space is difficult. Making
       | something truly delightful is no small task -- and it responds by
       | giving up. The site is a (forceful) shrug.
        
         | Exuma wrote:
         | Im with ya. The OP link is so painfully predictable and 1
         | dimensional. Its like people are unoriginal, which isn't so
         | bad, but simultaneously dont possess the awareness to realize
         | theyre unoriginal..... so to those who are not unoriginal its
         | all so very tiresome. Oh wow you used swearing to make your
         | point... I wonder how long it took for you to come up with
         | that. I myself love the very much alive-and-dynamic interwebz.
         | I love the creativity. I love the weird. I love javascript. I
         | love the 9000 ways to do things because it always works out in
         | the end and sorts itself out. There's ebbs and flows just like
         | every other thing in life, where things evolve in phases
        
         | lytedev wrote:
         | The main thing I like about the Internet is the exchange of
         | information. Many sites make this awfully difficult or insane
         | (download tens of megabytes to read a few dozen bytes).
         | 
         | There is absolutely the side of the internet you're talking
         | about, regarding making things pretty, but it's secondary in my
         | opinion.
        
           | lukan wrote:
           | Art and style is information. You (and I) just have a
           | preference for factual information that can be transmitted
           | via concise text and numbers and no bloat.
        
         | mym1990 wrote:
         | Agreed! This website is akin to saying "this is fucking chicken
         | and broccoli and eat it every single day because it's food and
         | nutrients and you don't need anything else". Well you know
         | what, sometimes I like ramen or curry or a Twinkie or whatever.
        
         | roncesvalles wrote:
         | I'm not sure if you read it till the end but I thought this
         | observation was pretty astute.
         | 
         | >Websites aren't broken by default, they are functional, high-
         | performing, and accessible. You break them.
        
       | ryandrake wrote:
       | > Websites aren't broken by default, they are functional, high-
       | performing, and accessible. You break them.
       | 
       | This is the TLDR message of the site. Generally, the more code
       | you write, the worse web pages get.
        
       | m463 wrote:
       | the non-minimal google analytics part of the page:
       | <!-- yes, I know...wanna fight about it? -->         <script>
       | (function(i,s,o,g,r,a,m){i['GoogleAnalyticsObject']=r;i[r]=i[r]||
       | function(){         ...
        
         | datameta wrote:
         | codegolfing in a text-only web page is next level irony
        
           | wyum wrote:
           | This is the standard Google analytics snippet. It's probably
           | automatically minified, maybe code-golfed. In any case, the
           | author of the page did not also write this snippet.
        
         | HenryBemis wrote:
         | You/he should see how my uBlock Origin, NoScript, and Privacy
         | Badger liked this ;)
        
       | HenryBemis wrote:
       | Quote in the end is by Dieter Rams
       | 
       | https://www.amazon.com/Dieter-Rams-Little-Design-Possible/dp...
       | (link doesn't contain affiliate)
        
       | arbuge wrote:
       | At least needs some margins...
        
       | bigboy12 wrote:
       | Are you allowed to say motherfucker on the internet?
        
         | theginger wrote:
         | No It just comes out as stars
        
       | js2 wrote:
       | Is this URL the most frequently dead'ed submission to HN?
       | 
       | https://news.ycombinator.com/from?site=motherfuckingwebsite....
       | 
       | The 2013 submission survived:
       | 
       | https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6791297
        
         | lukan wrote:
         | I would suspect it is at least partly because of a filter that
         | triggers with the f word. Only if someone vouches for it, it
         | has a chance. Or someone really hates that site. I think it is
         | not deep enough to warrant so much emotion.
        
       | ykonstant wrote:
       | I am making a personal webpage based on those examples. The
       | problem is that I want to embed mathematical formulas, so it
       | cannot be Javascript free; however, I think I am doing a good job
       | minimizing dependencies. My goal is to put some educational and
       | research materials directly on the web, like this:
       | https://ykonstant1.github.io/power-draft.html
       | 
       | I think that my background is a little too yellow, though.
        
         | enriquto wrote:
         | Great site!
         | 
         | If you want to improve its looks, you can just remove all the
         | css styling.
         | 
         | Also, since you are using mathjax, it's better to use the
         | dollar signs as in LaTeX, and not all these ugly tags with
         | classes. As a rule of thumb, going from latex to html involves
         | little more than replacing empty lines by <p>, \sections by
         | <h2>, and \includegraphics by <img>.
        
         | ben_w wrote:
         | I can just about, with surprising difficulty, select the text
         | of those mathematical formulae; but if I copy them to the
         | clipboard, I get only blank lines.
         | 
         | Are you sure pre-rendering images of the formulae wouldn't be
         | just as effective?
        
         | scythmic_waves wrote:
         | Could you generate MathML server side to avoid JS?
        
       | zzo38computer wrote:
       | They are right. It is good. They call it satire, but still I
       | think the stuff they mention is right; yes it should look like
       | this and shouldn't need pictures and CSS and whatever else they
       | add too much. Also, it works with "http:" and with "https:", so
       | that is also good. Another benefit is that I do not have to
       | override or disable the CSS to make it even partially good,
       | because it does not have CSS. It works how it is, unlike most.
       | 
       | However:
       | 
       | - The <meta charset> command should not be needed, if the text is
       | only ASCII anyways.
       | 
       | - The <meta name="viewport"> command should not be needed, if
       | they use the simple HTML as this anyways (without CSS); the
       | client should ought to set it automatically according to the
       | user-defined window size.
       | 
       | - They even have a <script> command (with Google Analytics),
       | which also should not be needed. They have a comment if you wanna
       | fight about it. (I have scripts disabled.)
        
         | cortesoft wrote:
         | > yes it should look like this and shouldn't need pictures and
         | CSS and whatever else it might need
         | 
         | Isn't this entirely dependent on what the purpose of the
         | website is? If i am visiting a website to learn about different
         | types of flowers, for example, I sure hope there are some
         | pictures of flowers on it.
        
           | zzo38computer wrote:
           | Yes, if you are trying to view pictures of flowers, then you
           | are right. They should not add the pictures merely for
           | decorations, but if you want to view a document explaining
           | flowers then it is helpful to include the pictures of the
           | flowers being described. (Similar thing is valid for other
           | kind of documents that might have pictures of whatever is
           | being described, but many documents should not need as many
           | pictures as they too often have.)
        
       | 29athrowaway wrote:
       | I love it. It is everything I have ever wanted to say.
       | 
       | You can probably see that website on Lynx or Dillo and it will
       | look the same.
        
       | dredmorbius wrote:
       | I'd written my own variant on this theme (based on the original
       | and the Better Motherfucking Website), which applies _some_ but
       | generally _minimal_ styling (14 CSS rules) to achieve a balance
       | of minimalism, legibility, and functionality:
       | 
       | <https://www.theregister.com/2018/07/12/broadcom_ca_technolog...>
       | 
       | (Let me know if you're having issues reading that, I myself get a
       | message "Referred from Pen Edward Morbius's motherfucking
       | website" viewing under Firefox.)
       | 
       | What most strikes me is that _with ever so slightly more advanced
       | browser defaults_ the Web could be ever so much more readable.
       | What I 'd like to see is a standard set of default page layouts
       | ("article", "overview", "lighttable", "catalogue", "discussion",
       | say) along with a few more primitive elements (notes, equations,
       | interactive tables with some basic spreadsheet functionality,[1]
       | and threaded discussions most principally) which could address a
       | huge chunk of what's now highly-styled, and often unreadable, Web
       | designs.
       | 
       | The one thing I find not entirely universally suitable from my
       | design is that the off-white / off-black background/text are not
       | ideal for e-ink devices, though the overall effect remains
       | _generally_ readable.
       | 
       | Gwern's own website (<https://gwern.net/>) strikes me as one of
       | the absolute best highly-styled websites, and absolutely stands
       | out amongst that class.
       | 
       | ________________________________
       | 
       | Notes:
       | 
       | 1. The ability to sort by specific columns, summarize
       | quantitative columns by total and some univariate statistics
       | (min, max, mean, median, mode, standard deviation), principally.
       | Perhaps the ability to drive a graph based on selected columns as
       | well.
        
       | viraptor wrote:
       | Here's a list of most follow-ups:
       | https://github.com/lyoshenka/awesome-motherfucking-website
       | 
       | My favourite is https://evenbettermotherfucking.website/ but I'm
       | a sucker for actually nice and readable typography.
        
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       (page generated 2024-07-13 23:00 UTC)