How Did REST Come To Mean The Opposite of REST

In the essay “How Did REST Come To Mean The Opposite of REST?“¹ the author advocates for what he explains as the original notion of REST output, as distinct from HTTP requests. He probably favors XML, too, for its self-documenting features. This article immediately ran counter to my principles, though: in particular, by combining data and display he runs counter to the separation of content and display that has made CSS good. Also, whether or not it was the original intention of REST, the article advocates including the interface (UI) in the responses given by a server. This is an alternative to the concept of data-driven design, by which data alone is passed and the receiver can choose to use it or expose it as they wish. Both of these are, in my mind, vast improvements over that original notion of REST.

Discussion?

Footnotes

¹ The author has done on admirable job of hiding his identity. https://htmx.org/essays/how-did-rest-come-to-mean-the-opposite-of-rest/