zlacker

Most people don't know how to use a computer well. Most people are just slightly above computer-illiterate. They were introduced to phones which have apps. Now in their minds that's how everything must be. Anything else induces fear into their minds.

While technically competent people might go:

"Oh neat, I don't even need to install an app, if I just put the website icon onto my home screen."

Most users are like: "Oh my god noooo! Not another way to do something! Aaaaa I cannot cope!" and panic.

>>zelphi+(OP)
Using a website instead of an app isn't signaling some particularly strong computer literacy. Not that it matters - the web, both mobile and general, has been neutered so much over the years that webpages are just as useless, locked down experience siloes as apps; really the main difference in practice is the icon experience and how unobtrusive surveillance is :).

>>TeMPOr+o
Most people can’t explain the difference between a website and an app, to them the web browser is just a more confusing construct with additional overheads (tabs/links etc).

>>TeMPOr+o
> Using a website instead of an app isn't signaling some particularly strong computer literacy.

I am not claiming it is. But it is different from what some people got introduced to. That's enough already to strike fear.

But what do you mean with websites have been neutered? Didn't HTML, CSS, and JS only got more capabilities over time?

>>zelphi+U1
> Didn't HTML, CSS, and JS only got more capabilities over time?

They did, but almost all of them are just there so serve developers, to enable them to build even more sophisticated interactive billboards. The web serves marketing and advertising. So do apps, but the web does it better in many ways.

What I meant by websites being neutered, is along the dimension of empowering users. Webapps as tools that provide functionality and play well with others. Composability, interoperability, end-user authonomy. Those are anathema to modern web.

And as I said, apps ain't better. It's really "pick your poison", whether you want to be fighting with your browser sandbox, or with your OS sandbox - and half of the things you need sit on the server-side anyway, out of your reach.

>>zelphi+(OP)
This is an unnecessarily rude and reductive take. Tons of people without your exalted computer science background are perfectly competent and comfortable with using computers “well”.

Their mental model of how they LIKE to use them is different from yours though - and that should be ok instead of arousing angst.

>>zelphi+(OP)
Why do you think people have to be "computer illiterate" to prefer apps? That’s pretty narrow, and obviously just an explanation you came up with to fit your mental model.

I just find apps more practical and convenient than websites in a browser most of the time, on my phone.

>>zelphi+(OP)
You come off like a dick, but it's really true.

I saw a tweet where some Zoomer was roasting an "Elder Millenial" for switching devices from a mobile phone to a desktop when making a big purchase (airline tickets? I forget).

I didn't feel like wading into that argument (what's the point? like spitting in a campfire), but... yeah.

Some folks say that we are regressing wrt technological proficiency, but it's really just that more people use technology than they used to. Regression to the mean, maybe? Is that the right expression?

>>ant_li+sv
This may not be relevant to the tweet, but big purchases can involve price discrimination, so making the same purchase from a different device/browser/location could get a better price.

>>thiht+bp
If you read my comment with more attention to detail, you will see, that I did not claim, that one has to be computer illiterate to prefer apps.

But aside from that, even if I had claimed that, it wouldn't imply, that anyone preferring an app must be computer illiterate.