I want to be a part of a frontend culture that accepts and promotes our responsibilities to others, rather than wallowing in self-centred “DX” puffery. In the hierarchy of priorities, users must come first.
Alex doesn’t pull his punches in this four-part truth-telling:
The React anti-pattern of hugely bloated single-page apps has to stop. And we can stop it.
Success or failure is in your hands, literally. Others in the equation may have authority, but you have power.
Begin to use that power to make noise. Refuse to go along with plans to build YAJSD (Yet Another JavaScript Disaster). Engineering leaders look to their senior engineers for trusted guidance about what technologies to adopt. When someone inevitably proposes the React rewrite, do not be silent. Do not let the bullshit arguments and nonsense justifications pass unchallenged. Make it clear to engineering leadership that this stuff is expensive and is absolutely not “standard”.
- Basic functionality should work on any device that can access the web.
- Extras and flourishes are treated as progressive enhancements for modern devices.
- The UI can look different and even clunky on older devices and browsers, as long as it doesn’t break rule #1.
This is very nice HTML web component by Miriam, progressively enhancing an ordered list of audio elements.
I have to agree with John here:
There’s absolutely no reason the mobile web experience shouldn’t be fast, reliable, well-designed, and keep you logged in. If one of the two should suck, it should be the app that sucks and the website that works well. You shouldn’t be expected to carry around a bundle of software from your utility company in your pocket. But it’s the other way around.
There’s absolutely no technical reason why it should be this way around. This is a cultural problem with “modern front-end web development”.
This is a great history of the idea of progressive enhancement:
It is an idea that has been lasting and enduring for two decades, and will continue.
So what are the advantages of the Custom Elements API if you’re not going to use the Shadow DOM alongside it?
- Obvious Markup
- Instantiation is More Consistent
- They’re Progressive Enhancement Friendly
Technically, websites can do just about anything that native apps can do. And yet the actual experience of using the web on mobile is worse than ever.
Having fun with view transitions and scroll-driven animations.
It’s kind of ridiculous that this functionality doesn’t exist yet.
Here’s Clearleft’s approach to browser support. You can use it too (it’s CC-licensed).
Here’s how I interpret the top-level guidance in the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines.