Source worth viewing

There was a time — ancient history, in web years — when a curious mind could right-click a page, hit “View Source,” and learn something.

You’d see real HTML. Headings in order. Lists that looked like lists. Links that were links, not mystery divs with sixteen data- attributes and a click handler buried three frameworks deep. The source code was not just code. It was an invitation.

That’s how many of us learned: by borrowing ideas, copying structures, and seeing how a real site was put together. No minification. No obfuscation. Just text. Human-readable. Browser-renderable. View-sourceable.

Now? You view source and you get a <div id="root"></div> and 500kb of minified regret.

We lost something.

Legible HTML isn’t just nostalgic. It’s practical. It helps junior developers learn. It helps search engines understand. It helps accessibility tools function properly. And if something breaks, it helps you fix it without spelunking through abstraction layers.

Write your HTML so a human can read it. Use semantic tags. Use indentation that makes sense. Keep the structure clear. View Source is still there — it’s just waiting for something worth viewing.

Make your source worth viewing again.