It's a neat trick using the Browser's Quirks Mode to load JSON that can bootstrap a framework, I'm not sure I really understand the benefit though. In order to actually get to the point of bootstrapping, the server has already transferred all of the content, plus the bootstrapping Javascript in a single payload. It seems like this implementation has the weaknesses of using a Javascript framework, without the benefits. Together with all of the weaknesses of static content, without the benefits. All the while depending on a quirk of the browser for support, which not all browsers may support.
The idea is to separate the data in JSON completely to be consumed outside the browser if needed, but still render correctly in the browser. The traditional javascript framework only solves the latter.
I tried to solve the quirks mode, but it is kind of hilarious that the browser needs the odd <!doctype html> to flip to standard mode. There are ways to inform the doctype on the headers or XHTML, but this would complicate a simple solution. But I was quite surprised how consistent is the look on different browsers, at least in the modern ones.
> The idea is to separate the data in JSON completely to be consumed outside the browser if needed, but still render correctly in the browser...
I'll accept that answer. As controversial as this comment may be, XML/XSLT is a very good fit for this purpose. It might not be particularly modern, however it's almost universally supported.
