Benedict Evans: "If all you're doing is wrapping up SQL and putting a car logo instead of a bike logo... you're screwed."
AI doesn't kill software. It kills software that's just a thin UI over a database.
We're building Pagelove so the UI is the DB.
🎧 open.spotify.com/episode/4SsTaeOZUvOUzHDPGdYgpT
What if HTML was the database?
Not a view onto data stored elsewhere. The data itself. CSS selectors as queries. HTTP as the interface.
That's what we built.
Part 4 of 4: page.love/blog/04-the-shape-of-pagelove.html
The HTTP spec has had an opportunity hiding inside it since 1997.
Nobody used it. We built databases, APIs, and frameworks instead.
Turns out we didn't have to.
Part 3 on how the web got complicated: page.love/blog/03-taking-documents-seriously.html
@timbl.bsky.social - would love your thoughts if you have time 🙏
Build a simple web app. What do you need?
DB. API. App server. JS framework. Client state. Caching. Hosting.
A to-do list needs all this. Each layer costs money, time, headspace.
There's now a min economic threshold just to exist on the web.
Part 2/4: page.love/blog/02-the-cost-of-the-shell.html
Right-click any web app. View Source.
What do you see?
Not the content. An empty <div id="app"> and a JS bundle.
The meaning arrives later, assembled at runtime.
The web used to be inspectable. We traded that for richer apps.
Part 1 of 4: page.love/blog/01-the-hollow-web.html
Agree?
We've been quietly building something...
The web has become impossibly complex. What used to be simple HTML pages are now buried under layers of databases, APIs, frameworks, and infrastructure.
We think there's a better way.
The waitlist is open if you're curious: page.love