I'd also comment on his speed/mobile concerns: The web is both big and small, fast and slow, dynamic and static. Most developers have a hard time accomplishing both aspects of the duality, but at least they try.
You can praise the small, slow, and static sites, because of what they're good at, but let us also point out that they aren't optimized for desktop browsers to date, don't utilize the speed of their upper clientele of users to offload processing and handling to the front end, and also don't accomplish as much as possible without the need of a state change.
I like what you put regarding complexity, because let's be realistic, as web developers, are jobs are constantly shifting from technology to architecture to agile to scrum to etc.
The author is complaining about mistakes in hindsight, and tries to complain about modern web apps having the same problems? There's always a new frontier in web development; if you can't handle the fact that certain api's become deprecated or that certain features a dev used aren't completely implemented, then do it better yourself. Update older tutorials, evangelize the correct approaches to problems, then, you'll do you part to remove some misinformation of outdated solutions that others are using.
Well said. Responsive design has been around for a while, and I've seen it used well. But not every site has a need to support every combination of big/small/fast/slow devices.
I agree with everything he mentioned up until he started criticizing the today's standard and practices, he ignores the issues you run into in today's environment based on what you've said:
media queries vs two separate projects - responsive and flexible one site fits all approach vs less resources served for smaller mobile version and reduce complexity(?).
web fonts / assets management - this is a growth issue or a design issue focusing on either OECD/Fast Internet or Server Load. It is somewhat an issue, but not something to cry over really.
his complaint about his textarea box are ill founded. He's using posterous' system, and should build his own if he doesn't like it so much. Isn't it a free service?
modal / gui decisions - usually client/manager driven. Can't blame me on this one. I'm all about pages and lightboxes.
his complaint about mobile browsing is one that is justified, but one that isn't any modern developers fault. My first 10 sites were all responsive. Now some clients don't want it. How is this my fault? This does take extra time and consideration, unless a client wants a very simply mobile site only.
You can praise the small, slow, and static sites, because of what they're good at, but let us also point out that they aren't optimized for desktop browsers to date, don't utilize the speed of their upper clientele of users to offload processing and handling to the front end, and also don't accomplish as much as possible without the need of a state change.
I like what you put regarding complexity, because let's be realistic, as web developers, are jobs are constantly shifting from technology to architecture to agile to scrum to etc.
The author is complaining about mistakes in hindsight, and tries to complain about modern web apps having the same problems? There's always a new frontier in web development; if you can't handle the fact that certain api's become deprecated or that certain features a dev used aren't completely implemented, then do it better yourself. Update older tutorials, evangelize the correct approaches to problems, then, you'll do you part to remove some misinformation of outdated solutions that others are using.