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0 pointsb0rsuk5y ago0 comments

There seems to be apathy in Rust community towards using client-side js for syntax highlighting. Rust documentation and The Rust Book uses it for no good reason. Code in examples doesn't change, and the way they are highlighted doesn't change. In my opinion it clashes with the philosophy of the language - that as much as possible should be done before the code is run.

Aside from my pedantry, it causes computers to make more unnecessary computations and our civilization emits more carbon. It also affects me because I currently have an old CPU and it takes a few seconds for syntax highlighting to kick in. Every time I press "Back" in my browser, syntax highlighting needs to be recalculated as well.

Oh well, on the bright side I have an itch to scratch :-).

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7 comments · 2 top-level

zimpenfish5y ago· 4 in thread

> Code in examples doesn't change, and the way they are highlighted doesn't change.

I'd consider it an accessibility issue - hardcoding the syntax highlighting on the backend makes it more difficult for people to change using accessibility tools. Whereas with js-based highlighting, you can probably just change the theme and get readable output.

detaro5y ago

What kind of accessibility tools are you thinking of that would work with JS highlighting, but not server-generated? (Given that generally both would produce roughly the same in-browser DOM, which is what most modern accessibility tools work against)

zimpenfish5y ago

> that would work with JS highlighting, but not server-generated?

Mainly that JS highlighting normally works with a theme variable which is much easier to change to get, e.g., a high-contrast theme than having to muck about with 10-20 different CSS styles.

Ignoring that option, working with a known set of CSS styles in the DOM is going to be easier than dealing with John Q Random's own particular set for highlighting (assuming they haven't used the same as a popular JS highlighter, of course!)

(To my shame, whatever Hugo is now using for syntax highlighting makes an awful mess - everything is "style:color#123456", no semantic information - I'll be fixing that ASAP.)

iudqnolq5y ago

You seem to be describing accessibility tools for completely blind users, and I think they were describing accessibility tools for users with other sorts of disabilities. For example, someone who uses a custom stylesheet or a browser extension to make the page have higher contrast.

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iudqnolq5y ago

If you used semantic class names you could change the theme with just css.

chrisweekly5y ago· 1 in thread

apathy - neutral / "don't care"

antipathy - negative / "hatred"

reificator5y ago

While another word or phrase would be preferable there, the GP did in fact use the word correctly.

They are claiming that the rust team uses client side JS because they don't care about the negative implications of doing so.

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7 comments · 2 top-level

zimpenfish5y ago· 4 in thread

> Code in examples doesn't change, and the way they are highlighted doesn't change.

detaro5y ago

zimpenfish5y ago

> that would work with JS highlighting, but not server-generated?

Mainly that JS highlighting normally works with a theme variable which is much easier to change to get, e.g., a high-contrast theme than having to muck about with 10-20 different CSS styles.

(To my shame, whatever Hugo is now using for syntax highlighting makes an awful mess - everything is "style:color#123456", no semantic information - I'll be fixing that ASAP.)

iudqnolq5y ago

1 more reply

iudqnolq5y ago

If you used semantic class names you could change the theme with just css.

chrisweekly5y ago· 1 in thread

apathy - neutral / "don't care"

antipathy - negative / "hatred"

reificator5y ago

While another word or phrase would be preferable there, the GP did in fact use the word correctly.

They are claiming that the rust team uses client side JS because they don't care about the negative implications of doing so.

1 more reply

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse