>the reality proves that the commercial web in general can not be trusted with so much power over layout.
That's not a reality, though, that's an opinion. If we were to "dumb down" HTML5/CSS and remove degrees of creative freedom from authors in favor of centralized, client-side solutions, we would do so for everyone, not just the "commercial web."
A web where everything looks and behaves exactly the same is a web which is only interesting to a minority of people. That web would probably have never escaped academia and the world would be worse off for it.
100% disagree. People fundamentally understand the power of the web, even if they don't realize it. To be able to link/chat/discuss quickly, freely, and easily will still win out, and people will still use it.
Exactly. And if current wild west of web design tells us anything, is that users can endure any kind of look&feel because they ultimately don't give a crap about it, they want to do what they came there to do.
(Which makes the "web where everything looks and behaves exactly the same" better than the web where designers fuck with UX to get a fraction of a percent increase on an A/B test, because consistent interfaces are easier on the mind of the user.)
That's not a reality, though, that's an opinion. If we were to "dumb down" HTML5/CSS and remove degrees of creative freedom from authors in favor of centralized, client-side solutions, we would do so for everyone, not just the "commercial web."
A web where everything looks and behaves exactly the same is a web which is only interesting to a minority of people. That web would probably have never escaped academia and the world would be worse off for it.