iframe RPC

You should all know that Eric is a goddamned genius. His remote scripting system using javascript and iframes is just brilliant and, frankly, I resent him for it. I still haven't wrapped my brain around all the possibilities, but what you have here is a system that lets you do things the way IIS/ASP/IE handles data objects, but it's cross-platform and cross-browser.

On a slightly related application development note, I was glancing at the printout of Jesse's Elements of User Experience document that I keep by my desk, and I realized that a large part of the frustration in creating the application I've been working on the past few months is due to the fact that CSS only describes the "Web as hypertext system" part of the user experience, but is woefully deficient in describing the "Web as software interface" part, except in the most cosmetic and superficial senses. (Yes, I did an all CSS and XHTML application in a production business environment. Love me, I do!)

Eric trumps me again in this regard, by pointing to similar conclusions drawn a few months ago on the W3C style sheet mailing list.

Whoopsie, actual technical content. Will go back to singing in the shower now. Meanwhile, tell everybody what you think about the web's maturation as an application platform.

I'm Anil Dash, and I've been blogging here since 1999, writing about how culture is made. Contact me at anil@dashes.com, at +1 646 833 8659, or at anildash on Twitter or IM. Find out more »

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