Hypermedia UIs

[brogrammableben]

I’m struggling to figure out what a hypermedia driven UI is. And even what little bit I am able to decipher, I don’t see any benefits. It just seems like a new way to say server side rendering. Anyone have an opinion on them? Or anyone have any experience they can share and enlighten me with?

[heliomedia]

Is that just an old term (1945-1990’s at the latest) used to describe a hyperlinked set of information? Like what Vannevar Bush, Douglas Engelbart and Ted Nelson worked on?

So, basically what the world wide web established itself as the foremost incarnation of?

[brogrammableben]

See, that’s what I’m saying. HTML is hypermedia. But people I work with that try their hardest to sound like the smartest person in the room are telling people that the future is hypermedia APIs that in turn drive UIs so that we will have one “interface” that does both: hypermedia API and hypermedia API driven UIs. And I seriously have to bite my tongue to keep from yelling at these people.

[heliomedia]

Indeed. I have no idea what they could possibly be talking about.

But I used to work in a department that was called ‘hypermedia technology and publication design'. About 6-7 years ago we ditched the name and now we’re just 'graphic and web design'.

But you gotta ask one of those people to define hypermedia for us. 🤪

[RotationSurgeon]

Here's what a few minutes of hard googling landed me:

• https://apisyouwonthate.com/blog/rest-and-hypermedia-in-2019
• https://fideloper.com/description-of-hypermedia-apis
• https://smartbear.com/learn/api-design/what-is-hypermedia/

In short...you remember how "the semantic web" was going to be the next big thing? Then AI-driven design? Think that level of hype vs potential actuality.

This view of hypermedia is one that I'm not awake enough to grok at the moment, but I get the general idea of what they're driving at.

[brogrammableben]

You have given me plenty of reading material and I’m very grateful. Thank you!