An Event Apart: The Way of the Web

by April 3, 2018

In his The Way of the Web presentation at An Event Apart in Seattle, Jeremy Keith discussed building for the Web today and how to manage the rate of change of technologies and tools for Web development. Here's my notes from his talk:

  • Science fiction is not about predicting the future, it is about looking at the concerns we have today and projecting them forward. Novels are empathy machines. You can really get into what the characters were feeling/experiencing and thereby share their concerns.
  • While science fiction books get some things right about the future, they also have blind spots. For instance, people went to phone booths instead of carrying mobile phones. In the present we have a future that was almost beyond what was predicted in seminal works of science fiction.
  • With where technology is today and what is possible, are we in a utopia or a dystopia? Are we excited or afraid of technology's possibilities. What makes the difference? Why are we excited about some technologies and apprehensive about others?
  • Working on the Web can be overwhelming as we have to endure constant changes in technology and processes. When that rate of change is especially steep, things get worse.
  • Stewart Brand's pace layers outline the rate of change of everything from people to buildings. Fashion changes quickly, culture changes slowly, and that's good. We get apprehensive when things that should move slow start changing too quickly. Example: quick changes in government are usually revolutions.
  • The materials of the Web (HTML, CSS, and Javascript) move slow and are more stable, they are lower pace layers. The tools of the Web move much faster and are more subject to change.
  • If a technology helps the developer but not the end user, there's a balance that needs to be understood. Is the trade-off of developer convenience worth a large download for users?
  • We can map Web technologies to pace layers. The bottom layer is the Internet (TCP/IP). This hasn't changed in decades and you don't want it to change. HTTP is the protocol layer above this and is changes very slowly, which is appropriate. URLs are the layer above, which change often but probably shouldn't. HTML and CSS are changing much more quickly but still not as fast as Javascript.
  • Every week there is a new Javascript library, which is where the Web feels apprehensive. Ideas get vetted out in Javascript and when they stabilize, they move down to HTML and CSS. It's ok that Javascript changes quickly -it needs to in order to work out new ideas.
  • You can choose to build single page Web sites in Javascript only. Going directly to URLs and HTTP. However this sets up a works great or doesn't work model. The power of the Web is that we have different levels of "working", a continuum. Everybody gets something with these in-between levels of experience.
  • The rule of least power: "choose the language of least power to accomplish something" It's not as powerful, but much more stable. Instead of doing everything in Javascript, see what can be done in HTML and CSS first.
  • The Web favors ubiquity over consistency. You can get to the content but it may not look the same to everyone. Start with the simplest element (like a select) and gradually apply styling/code to layer on additional enhancements.
  • This mode of building for the Web isn't just for simple sites. Even "complex" sites can be broken down into simpler elements. There's actually a continuum between simple and complex.
  • Progressive Web apps are Web sites that add HTTPS, a Web app manifest, and a service worker. This layering of technology allows sites to not only run securely but also offline.
  • People want browser features to be supported everywhere before they start using them, but that's not how it works. You can start using these elements now even if they only have partial support and get the benefits where they're available.