Seems like here it is almost non existent. Reddit has some, but not much.

Bjorn

Yea I wish CSS was only about style, and layout was handled in a different way. I think it is possible to keep the core layout engine of the current browsers, and create a kind of scripting language they can run, so the developer can interact with the layout procedure. These ideas have been proposed before, so I can't understand why we still have CSS today. I was cursing HTML layout 15 years ago, and couldn't imagine we would still be doing things the same way today. Some developments in this space have been amazing, but HTML/CSS/JS has really been a disappointment. There is still not a practical way to write C# and run it in the browser, just promises of WASM and compilers that never hit mainstream.

Bjorn

What you describe already happens in the layout engine of modern browsers. The rules that I outlined earlier already happen, but is invisible to us. There are hundreds of such rules that must be evaluated to produce the final layout, and some are in direct conflict with each other, so the engine is designed to make a compromise. These compromise heuristics is what avoids endless recursion. So imagine that tomorrow the Google Chrome team launches a new module called JSCSS, were they have moved out all those heuristics from inside the layout engine and written them in JS. From now on you point to a JSCSS file at the beginning of a HTML page, which defines all the CSS rules you intend to use. CSS still works exactly like before. But the HUGE difference is, now you can see how a flexbox actually figures out layout, AND you can extend CSS with your own definitions for things you think is better than the standard. AND you can omit CSS altogether, and write your layout directly in JSCSS of you want. This would be a huge relief for everyone, because browser makers only have to make sure the core layout engine works correctly, and every CSS definition is in external JS, exactly the same for every browser. And any developer can extend CSS with his own definitions.

Bjorn

I'm not talking about clever ways to generate complex CSS, I'm talking about expressing relationships between page elements that is not possible at all with current CSS. For example: "The height of element B is 1/10th of what ever the page height is at the moment. The width of element A should be equal to the height of element B, but only if B's height is less than 100px, in other case it should be half of the height of element B.". Here is how simple it could look in theory: B.height = PAGE.height / 10; A.width = B.height < 100px? B.height : B.height / 2;

Bjorn

Thanks for the link, interesting read. If PSL96 had been implemented instead, CSS would be a lot easier. You simply express sizes of things in terms of sizes of other things. It would have resulted in a much smaller language, that most people could grasp. And people would create libraries of handy expressions that accomplish the very same things that flex and grid does today. With the huge difference that you can look at the code and see what happens. Right now it is just a back box that almost no one understands. Browser support would be easier and more uniform, not harder, because there is a smaller feature set to implement. Do you know of any other language where there is so low predictability of outcome? You basically spend your time trying 100 different tweaks until it looks right.

Bjorn

No language has casued me more grief in my 30+ year career than CSS. It is almost like some form of black magic, where you can never be 100% sure what a page will look like. Even for the simplest designs you have to allocate 4 hours, just to make sure it looks the same in all browsers. Why the decision to write an enormously complex layout engine, and then keep adding more bloat to it every year? Why not let the page designer interact with the layout engine instead, as it is laying out the elements on the page? It could be done through JS calls, or even by writing simple math formulas into the CSS, that refer to the sizes of other elements. For example "the width of this element should be equal to half the width of that element". Then let the browser's layout engine simply be a multi variable equation solver. End of rant.

Bjorn

Why is this crude humor funny to begin with (for us who like it)? Because it has a kernel of truth in it, although warped to an absurd level. If it had no mapping to reality it wouldn't be funny, and purely offensive. Those stereotypes are correct to some extent. They were once based on facts about a group of people, and then exaggerated over time. But I think that most people know that individuals can be very far from their group stereotype. It's the same as how the first impression of someone can be totally wrong. So I don't buy your idea about discrimination. That's also why I don't agree with people who have a victim mentality, overly sensitive and not accept getting offended by anything. To live is to be offended by things. People in a weaker position shouldn't be off limits to ridicule, as long as that ridicule is funny. Take that Tetris game. Those are migrants looking for a better life, not refugees running away from a war zone. There are hardly any women or children in those boats; they have left the most needy behind. But out of political correctness we aren't allowed to say this, which makes it very funny when someone makes a game about it. It becomes funny because you are not allowed to make a game like this.

Bjorn

I agree that what you are describing is the current standard in society. But why? I can watch a comedian like Lisa Lampanelli tell crude racial jokes, and still think it is perfectly ok. If she makes fun of my group, it is even funnier. If her jokes hit a soft spot in me, I don't feel the need to get upset, I just laugh it off. Many people get out of their way to get offended, as if they want to be offended. This seems to be the trend now. Microaggressions on campus. Religious sensitivities. Black lives matter. Feminism. Political correctness. What about cultivating a society where people don't take things so damn seriously?

Bjorn

I think humor comes from pain, and seeing something funny in an atrocity is a way to cope emotionally. Doesn't necessarily mean that one is lacking empathy. I think jokes about the Holocaust can be funny too, even though it was a great evil. To me there is basically no limit to what can be joked about.

Bjorn

I think it's hilarious, but I have a very twisted sense of humor. I think the average person finds it in bad taste and offensive. How about you?

Bjorn

A Tetris game about refugees in boats. Funny or just plain stupid and offensive? Migration Madness - PI-Games.com[^]

Bjorn

I'm also 47 and I can relate to your description of getting "hypnotized" and focusing on one thing too long. I used to do that a lot, and when you have a perfectionist mindset its hard to not do it. But I break way from those sessions nowadays. I only work 4 hours a day, have my own business, and only take projects that I like. It is the perfect setup, but I'm still f*cked up in the head. If believed god existed, this would be the sign from him that should be in a different business.

Bjorn

Strangely, I have never had problems sleeping, even in the burnout periods. So I don't think this is the case for me. But out of curiosity, what medication has helped you? Sleeping pills?

Bjorn

I can totally relate to this John. Before my second burnout I was in a high profile project, and one of the key people there. As I hit the wall, people had a hard time believing me, as if I was making this up. "You left the project at crunch time, that's not fair to the team". Some people to this day still think I was traitor. I was even fired for this, although they didn't explicitly say it, because it would have been illegal. "We couldn't see that your had any problems". "It was not showing on you, you looked just normal". Funny how people suddenly become expert psychologists when something like this happens, and disregard my early warnings as laziness. I have never met a person who works harder than me (and that's of course part of the problem). The last day I worked, I couldn't even put letters together to form words anymore. I would see b, o, o and k, but could not compute that it said "book". Then followed nine months of rehabilitation before I was somewhat ok again. No need to feel sorry for me personally, I'm happy right now. But I wish that other people afflicted with this are taken seriously.

Bjorn

Thanks Murray, Yea I did, and my thyroid is fully functional.

Bjorn

Thanks Grant, Those are all good suggestions and I have tried most of them. The funny thing is that I look about 10 years younger than I am from taking good care of myself so long, but my brain seems totally messed up beyond repair.

Bjorn

I do believe you. I would be religious if I could, and probably happier, but my brain isn't wired that way.

Bjorn

I'm very suspicious of stuff that's not accepted by science, and adrenal fatigue one of those things. But thanks for the concern.

Bjorn

It depends on how practical of a person you are. Farming is a lot less glamorous than most people think. Its a lot about digging ditches and being out in the rain. And it is time consuming, so I'm not sure if you can manage software development at the same time. Plus if you want to do it commercially you will be competing with lots of people who don't have a choice but be farmers, and they usually settle for less pay. If I were you I would keep my job in the software business, and buy a cottage in the country side, and do a little gardening in the weekends.

Bjorn

Thanks Randy, will look up that stuff!

Bjorn