Dillo Browser Team Proposes Static, Versioned Fork of Web Specification to Curb Complexity

A proposal titled "Forking the Web Specification" has been published by the Dillo browser team, outlining a strategy to develop an alternative standard for the World Wide Web. The document argues that the current web specification has become excessively complex and mutable, fostering monopolistic control and creating high barriers to entry for new browser developers. The initiative aims to reverse these trends by establishing a simplified, static framework that prioritises long-term stability over dynamic interactivity.

The core of the proposal involves creating a static, versioned standard for HTML with a strict formal grammar. To guarantee that the specification remains manageable and accessible, the team advocates for a hard size limit of 1.44 MiB when compressed in a tar.gz format. This constraint is a deliberate design choice intended to ensure the standard fits on a single floppy disk, reflecting the Dillo browser's historical focus on minimal resource usage and low-cost implementation.

Unlike the current web standard, which is described as a dynamic document changing roughly weekly, the proposed specification would utilise a rigid semantic versioning system. Under this model, a published version of the standard would never change; updates are handled solely through version bumps. A patch version would address typos, a minor version would introduce retro-compatible features, and a major version would be required for breaking changes. This approach ensures that a printed copy of a specific version, such as 1.2.0, remains valid forever, allowing authors to target a stable standard without worrying about constant implementation shifts.

The proposal explicitly forbids scripting capabilities within the new specification, arguing that interactive features should be managed by native clients using open protocols rather than embedded JavaScript. For instance, an interactive map currently loaded via JavaScript could instead provide a Geo link to open the location in any client supporting the protocol. This shift aims to prevent the "one size fits all" approach of modern web pages and allows clients to be optimised specifically for the device in use.

To enforce compliance, the new standard mandates a non-ambiguous formal grammar where pages are tested against the specification and either accepted or rejected. Clients would be required to refuse to render any page that does not conform to the standard, preventing the need for browsers to implement "diabolic rules" to correct broken or ambiguous content. The authors suggest that this strictness will likely encourage humans to migrate to simpler, more forgiving languages like Markdown for content creation.

The document identifies the current web as a victim of monopolistic entities that have an incentive to capture the standard to extract revenue, leading to uncontrolled complexity that stifles competition. By proposing a specification that functions more like a printed book or article, the Dillo team hopes to lower the cost of creating tools and parsers, thereby ensuring a diversity of browsers and clients that can be built with low effort.

While the proposal represents a theoretical alternative to the current web standards and has not been adopted by major browser vendors, it highlights significant concerns regarding the sustainability of the existing model. The initiative suggests that the web needs to return to its roots as a medium for exchanging knowledge and notes between humans, rather than requiring users to run a full-blown virtual machine simply to read a document.