Progress Being Made On New "WebGPU" Web Graphics API

[plonoma]

Still an open question is whether the shading language will ultimately be represented by JavaScript or instead if they will target WebAssembly (WASM) or both as the source languages.

How about a SPIR-V in WASM shader storage format?

[Geopirate]

Yes, I've been looking forward to input type=date and type=time support for a very long time!
This is really great for web developers who can code up this very simply and don't have to rely on third-party JavaScript components, and use the platforms native widgets for picking time and dates.
It is great for Firefox users to be able to easily use websites that weren't easy to use without Chrome and Edge before.

However by default Firefox does not respect the user's locale settings.
This is a problem for us who lives outside the US but still prefers to use our software in the English language, then Firefox date formats are American like 18/07/2017 (dd/mm/yyyy) with 12-h AM/PM time instead of what many of us Europeans are accustomed to which is yyyy-mm-dd an 24-h clock.
So I have to open about:config and set "intl.regional_prefs.use_os_locales" to true.
After setting that key then Firefox respects the locale that the user configured in the operating system which allows you to have Firefox UI in English language but dates and times presented in the locale used in your country.

Other things I miss in Firefox:

• The "system-ui" font-family.
• Support for the <dialog> element.

Is there not an option for British(UK) English? Or does it exist but not fix your problem?

[uid313]

Is there not an option for British(UK) English? Or does it exist but not fix your problem?

The brits are retarded like the Americans. They also use 12-h AM/PM clock with weird date formats.

[Delgarde]

No wait. I thought US dates were mm/dd/yyyy.

And my country (in EU) is using dd/mm/yyyy.

I fully support the switch to yyyy-mm-dd though, as that's plain best.

You're correct... uid313 seems to be a bit confused on this subject. The US and a handful of others uses month/day/year, some countries (mostly in Asia) use year/month/day, but most of the rest of the world uses day/month/year.

I agree that year/month/day is preferable... and I think it's notable that most of the countries which use it by default are places like China and Japan, for which the Western calendar is relatively new. Not sure if that reflects the way their own historic calendars worked, or if they've chosen year/month/day as being an unbiased logical choice...

[name99]

Are you not aware of why imperial units are the way they are? They're specifically made so you have a common (at least at the time of their creation) tangible item to compare to, so you don't have to wrap your head around anything. Meanwhile, metric is relatively abstract.
For example, an inch is roughly the width of an adult human thumb. A pound is 7000 wheat or barely grains (where historically that number was probably more significant). A cup is how much water you can fit when cupping your hands. And so on.

All that being said, I still prefer metric. Imperial served its purpose well throughout history but in a day where we actually have legitimate tools with great consistency for measurement, I hope one day the whole world will be 100% metric.

This argument (imperial units are natural) is such nonsense. Americans think this way PURELY because imperial is what they grew up with.
I grew up with metric, and every unit seemed perfectly natural.
I moved to the US and within a year or so, I was comfortable with the US system.

You can get used to anything fast --- "what is natural" is a dumb argument.

What is NOT a dumb argument is that calculations are vastly superior in metric (even now, no way I would do ANY sort of serious computation in imperial, I'm not insane). America, for all its claim to be so forward looking, is actually a deeply backward country that allows its most backward elements to control it. Rather than accept the pain of one year of changeover to metric, they'd rather put up with imperial nonsense (and similar reactionary stupidity like pennies) till the end of time...

It's silly to say that "you can use metric in the US". Yes you can, but you're out of step with every other human you have to interact with, and with all the public infrastructure. If you're a foreigner seeing that the temperature is 25 degrees centigrade helps your mental model, but does you know good as soon as you need to talk to an American about this...
I mean, it's like me saying you can use the Jewish (or Islamic or Japanese calendar _in the US. Sure you can set your computer to work that way, but good luck telling anyone else about appointments giving using Jewish dates...

[nanonyme]

You're correct... uid313 seems to be a bit confused on this subject. The US and a handful of others uses month/day/year, some countries (mostly in Asia) use year/month/day, but most of the rest of the world uses day/month/year.

I agree that year/month/day is preferable... and I think it's notable that most of the countries which use it by default are places like China and Japan, for which the Western calendar is relatively new. Not sure if that reflects the way their own historic calendars worked, or if they've chosen year/month/day as being an unbiased logical choice...

Calendars... Finland uses dd.mm.year, I'm assuming it's used is some other countries too though not *that* common. I tend to use that everywhere else except in paths where year-month-day is usually the most convenient format

[schmidtbag]

This argument (imperial units are natural) is such nonsense. Americans think this way PURELY because imperial is what they grew up with.
I grew up with metric, and every unit seemed perfectly natural.
I moved to the US and within a year or so, I was comfortable with the US system.

It's not an argument, it's fact...
I'm not saying you can't comprehend metric units. Of course you can. But my point is the purpose of imperial units was so you could measure them without proper tools to do so. Not a hard concept to grasp.

You can get used to anything fast --- "what is natural" is a dumb argument.

It's natural in the sense that you use what's naturally available to you.

What is NOT a dumb argument is that calculations are vastly superior in metric (even now, no way I would do ANY sort of serious computation in imperial, I'm not insane).

You're saying that as though I disagree, which I don't. Everyone agrees with this, including Americans.

America, for all its claim to be so forward looking, is actually a deeply backward country that allows its most backward elements to control it. Rather than accept the pain of one year of changeover to metric, they'd rather put up with imperial nonsense (and similar reactionary stupidity like pennies) till the end of time...

I don't know of any American personally who feels the US is "so forward looking". In fact I know many who find the country to be more behind than ahead, and continuing to regress due to Trump. But again: as a foreigner, how often does the US using non-metric units impact you? I feel like most people complain on behalf of the US rather than actually being affected by their own personal lifestyles, which is mind boggling to me. Sure, once in a while you might see American media using miles or pounds or Fahrenheit, but generally that bears no real significance.

It's silly to say that "you can use metric in the US". Yes you can, but you're out of step with every other human you have to interact with, and with all the public infrastructure. If you're a foreigner seeing that the temperature is 25 degrees centigrade helps your mental model, but does you know good as soon as you need to talk to an American about this...

And how often do you have conversations with people on a regular basis saying things like "so I added 100g of sugar to the batch" or "I am 180cm tall" where it either:
A. Is said in a manner where anyone actually cares about such details
B. Is said in a scenario where the people you are with do not understand
So regardless of which you pick, it doesn't matter. You're blowing this whole thing out of proportion, as though the US is somehow destroying world progress, when in fact they use metric for worldwide needs and the rest is them wallowing in their own issue.

I mean, it's like me saying you can use the Jewish (or Islamic or Japanese calendar _in the US. Sure you can set your computer to work that way, but good luck telling anyone else about appointments giving using Jewish dates...

And much like everything else computerized, it takes absolutely no effort to convert to what the rest of the world uses.

[nomadewolf]

Yup pretty much. Doesn't change my point though - so far, I have yet to encounter a country that is 100% metric, and yet I encounter non-US citizens who whine about the US not using metric. So, these people ought to prioritize their own country vs one they don't live in and probably never visited. In most cases, such people tout that their country is all-metric, and then I go to an online store in their native language and find products to prove them wrong. You could argue "yeah but they're a lot more metric than the US" but that's not really true. The US still uses metric in almost all industries. Non-metric units are pretty much only used for "pedestrian" purposes. So, basically anything that has no relevance to people outside the US. And even then, the pedestrian uses can often be toggled. Measuring cups show both imperial and metric units. Most digital scales can toggle between grams and pounds/ounces. Games and GPSes can switch from miles to kilometers, and cars show both on the speedometer. Weather websites can toggle between C and F. Rulers and measuring tapes show both inches/feet and meters. The list goes on and on. Very rarely are you not able to get metric readings in the US.

Just my two cents, as a European:
Yes, phones, TVs and other stuff are advertised and referred to by people here in Europe (in inches). But that's mostly pushed into us by marketing/manufacturing interests (if you don't know it's size, you can't judge as well if it's worth it).
But what your reasearch can't tell you is that is very common for us to ask how many centimeters that size corresponds to... when buying said products and after buying them...
It's more of an industry specific stuff than widespread/accepted practice.

[schmidtbag]

Just my two cents, as a European:
Yes, phones, TVs and other stuff are advertised and referred to by people here in Europe (in inches). But that's mostly pushed into us by marketing/manufacturing interests (if you don't know it's size, you can't judge as well if it's worth it).
But what your reasearch can't tell you is that is very common for us to ask how many centimeters that size corresponds to... when buying said products and after buying them...
It's more of an industry specific stuff than widespread/accepted practice.

I totally understand - I'm not saying that isn't a problem, because it is. Personally, I don't really know why screens have always been measured in inches, especially considering almost all of them are manufactured in "metrificated" countries. If you look at it in a historic perspective, CRTs (both as a tool or as a TV) were both invented and commercialized by Germans. LCDs have been invented by various Europeans. LCDs were commercialized via Europeans and Japanese. For most modern LCD approaches, mostly the Japanese and Koreans can be thanked for that. So, it really doesn't make sense to me why displays have ever been measured in inches as a standard. Americans might have been the largest demographic of those who bought these displays, but the displays are still clearly catered toward inches rather than metric.

[KellyClowers]

Yup pretty much. Doesn't change my point though - so far, I have yet to encounter a country that is 100% metric, and yet I encounter non-US citizens who whine about the US not using metric. So, these people ought to prioritize their own country vs one they don't live in and probably never visited. In most cases, such people tout that their country is all-metric, and then I go to an online store in their native language and find products to prove them wrong. You could argue "yeah but they're a lot more metric than the US" but that's not really true. The US still uses metric in almost all industries. Non-metric units are pretty much only used for "pedestrian" purposes. So, basically anything that has no relevance to people outside the US. And even then, the pedestrian uses can often be toggled. Measuring cups show both imperial and metric units. Most digital scales can toggle between grams and pounds/ounces. Games and GPSes can switch from miles to kilometers, and cars show both on the speedometer. Weather websites can toggle between C and F. Rulers and measuring tapes show both inches/feet and meters. The list goes on and on. Very rarely are you not able to get metric readings in the US.

As an American, kindly shut the fuck up. Whether other countries are 100% metric is irrelevant here. They are totally in the right to roast us for not converting from our stone-age nonsense.