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<title>The case for plain HTML — notes — tjp.lol</title>
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        <p class="meta"><a href="../notes/index.html" style="text-decoration:none;">&larr; notes</a> &nbsp;/&nbsp; tended <time datetime="2026-05-30">2026-05-30</time> &middot; planted <time datetime="2024-08-11">2024-08-11</time></p>
        <h1>The case for plain HTML</h1>
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        <p><em>A note, not an essay &mdash; expect it to change. This page shows how a wiki note reads: internal <a class="wiki" href="index.html">[[wiki links]]</a> render as underlined-dotted links, and a backlinks panel sits at the bottom.</em></p>

        <p>A hand-written HTML page is the most durable document format I know of that still looks like a document. It has no runtime, no dependencies, and no version that can go out of date. A file I wrote in 2004 opens today, pixel-for-pixel, in a browser that didn't exist then.</p>

        <p>This connects to <a class="wiki" href="index.html">Gemtext &amp; the small web</a> &mdash; both are bets that <em>constraint outlives capability</em>. See also <a class="wiki" href="index.html">How I take notes</a> for why I keep the source in plain text.</p>

        <h2>Things I no longer do</h2>
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          <li>Reach for a framework before there's a second page.</li>
          <li>Add a build step to save five keystrokes.</li>
          <li>Load a web font when the reader already owns a good one.</li>
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        <h2>The test</h2>
        <p>Turn JavaScript off. If the page is worse, I've added fragility I have to maintain forever. If it's identical, I'm done. This whole site passes that test &mdash; see the <a class="wiki" href="../about/index.html">colophon</a>.</p>
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        <h2>Linked from</h2>
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          <li><a href="index.html">Gemtext &amp; the small web</a></li>
          <li><a href="index.html">Home-lab &amp; self-hosting</a></li>
          <li><a href="../weblog/moving-off-gemini.html">Moving my weblog off Gemini (without leaving it)</a></li>
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