The problem is that DOM is absolutely inadequate for describing page layout, and even less so for Web applications. Incremental changes to DOM were meant to make it more suitable for this goal, but having inherently bad foundation didn't exactly help.
I believe that some sort of a constraints language would've been a lot better at describing page layout. And stuff like Web applications simply shouldn't exist. These should be applications that use native UI toolkits while relying on Internet for moving data, not presentation.
Users are usually unhappy with Web applications because of the way browsers restrict useful functionality and programmers struggle with workarounds and bloat of browsers to accomplish simple things.
I believe that some sort of a constraints language would've been a lot better at describing page layout. And stuff like Web applications simply shouldn't exist. These should be applications that use native UI toolkits while relying on Internet for moving data, not presentation.
Users are usually unhappy with Web applications because of the way browsers restrict useful functionality and programmers struggle with workarounds and bloat of browsers to accomplish simple things.