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# The State Of The Web

Are heavy frameworks actually making the web worse? Discover why overcoming massive software bloat requires us to ruthlessly prioritize the end-user over developer convenience.

- **Speakers:** Jeremy Keith
- **Event:** World Congress 2021
- **Published:** July 1, 2021
- **Duration:** 43:11
- **URL:** https://www.wearedevelopers.com/videos/225-the-state-of-the-web

## Summary

By adopting an Overview Effect perspective, this retrospective traces the World Wide Web from early concepts like Vannevar Bush's Memex and Tim Berners-Lee's global hypertext to today's feature-rich platform. In its formative years, tools like Flash and jQuery acted as rapid R&D incubators for the web, polyfilling native gaps in typography, vector graphics, and layout until standards like CSS grid, variable fonts, and native browser APIs could mature. Yet, as technical constraints vanished, architectural and business decisions introduced severe regressions in usability. The modern web suffers from an invasive tracking model powered by third-party cookies and behavioral marketing, abandoning its originally stateless nature. Simultaneously, developers have widely adopted single-page application architectures that needlessly reinvent native browser functionality using massive framework payloads. This leads to software bloat and Verschlimmbesserung—making things worse in the attempt to make them better. The biggest challenge on today's web is no longer technical limitations, but rather degraded user expectations conditioned by slow, privacy-invasive digital experiences. To restore the platform's core utility, engineers must ruthlessly prioritize the end-user over developer convenience. By choosing to stop solving problems you don't yet have and treating libraries as disposable cattle rather than permanent pets, teams can lean on modern HTML and vanilla JavaScript. Ultimately, the engineering mandate becomes clear: if I have the choice of making something the user's problem or making it my problem, I'll make it my problem every time.

**Keywords:** web standards evolution, css variable fonts, javascript api polyfills, third-party cookie tracking, single-page application architecture, user-centric web design, vanilla javascript performance, frontend framework bloat, behavioral advertising privacy, native browser apis, css grid layout, document object model

## Chapters

1. **Finding perspective through the overview effect** (00:03) — The Apollo 8 Earthrise photograph demonstrates how a shift in vantage point alters human perspective.
1. **The historical origins of the World Wide Web** (06:27) — Early concepts of hypertext and networked computers culminated in the creation of the global hypertext system.
1. **Overcoming constraints in web color palettes** (10:06) — The transition from a limited palette of web safe colors to modern, complex color spaces allows for richer web design.
1. **From system fonts to variable typography** (11:40) — Web typography evolved from basic system fonts and image hacks to standardized variable fonts.
1. **Integrating media and the influence of Flash** (16:25) — Proprietary plugins like Flash acted as an incubator for modern web standards including scalable vector graphics and native media elements.
1. **Moving from fixed layouts to responsive design** (21:08) — The shift from layout hacks like tables to fluid design using modern layout algorithms transformed multi-device support.
1. **Taming browser quirks and JavaScript evolution** (24:50) — Standardization and libraries like jQuery smoothed over early differences in browser behavior and made DOM scripting accessible.
1. **Expanding web capabilities to rival native applications** (29:49) — The expansion of device APIs and service workers enables web applications to match native app performance.
1. **The negative impact of behavioral web tracking** (31:08) — Third-party cookies and tracking mechanisms degraded user privacy and the overall web experience in the pursuit of targeted advertising.
1. **Rethinking the architecture of single page web applications** (34:38) — Relying on heavy JavaScript frameworks to recreate native browser functionalities leads to poor performance and bloated payloads.
1. **Valuing user needs over developer convenience** (39:00) — Embracing native web capabilities prevents users from paying a performance tax for unnecessary dependency downloads.
1. **Defending and changing expectations of the web** (40:47) — Developers hold a shared responsibility to protect the capabilities of the web by building exceptional user experiences.

## Related Moments

- [Remembering past challenges and early web engineering solutions](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/videos/850-the-year-3000-a-brief-history-of-web-development) (from "The year 3000, a brief history of Web Development")
- [Examining the historical evolution of web design practices](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/videos/1822-wearedevelopers-live-11ty-and-a11y) (from "WeAreDevelopers LIVE - 11ty and a11y")
- [The case for the web as a developmental platform](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/videos/293-native-web-apps-are-we-there-yet) (from "Native Web Apps: Are We There Yet?")
- [Historic resilience and backward compatibility of web technologies](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/videos/460-future-proof-css) (from "Future-Proof CSS")
- [Introduction to building accessible web frontends](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/videos/403-the-what-why-who-and-how-of-accessibility-on-the-web) (from "The What, Why, Who and How of accessibility on the web")
- [Influential design principles from the early web](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/videos/518-design-principles-for-the-web) (from "Design Principles For The Web")

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