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World Congress 2022 • Jun 15, 2022

Design Principles For The Web

Jeremy Keith

A worthwhile design principle forces hard choices, not empty platitudes. Discover why prioritizing native HTML and radical backwards compatibility over pixel-perfect interfaces is the web's true superpower.

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#1 about 2 min

The design process and Double Diamond model

How the Double Diamond diagram clarifies divergent and convergent thinking during software design.

#2 about 2 min

Running explicit divergent and convergent meetings

Why it is essential to clearly separate brainstorming phases from definitive decision-making meetings.

#3 about 2 min

Surfacing assumptions and establishing organizational values

How early research and discovery exercises help uncover expectations, biases, and inherent organizational purpose.

#4 about 3 min

How core values drive technical design principles

Understanding the cascading effect from organizational purpose to guiding principles and user interface patterns.

#5 about 2 min

Evaluating design principles with the reversibility test

How phrasing principles as prioritization decisions ensures they are genuinely arguable and useful.

#6 about 3 min

Priority of constituencies and eponymous tech laws

An examination of conflict resolution models and universal technological truisms like Hofstadter's and Murphy's laws.

#7 about 3 min

Influential design principles from the early web

The historical context of the web's creation and the original axioms of web architecture.

#8 about 3 min

Applying Postel's robustness principle in web design

Why being conservative in what you send and liberal in what you accept builds more resilient systems.

#9 about 2 min

The cost of client-side JavaScript execution

The performance impacts of sending non-conservative payloads and relying heavily on client-side JavaScript.

#10 about 4 min

Utilizing the principle of least power

Why choosing the simplest, least powerful language for a problem creates more robust and reliable web applications.

#11 about 5 min

Choosing native HTML elements over custom components

The practical trade-offs between under-engineered native web components and over-engineered custom solutions.

#12 about 3 min

Prioritizing ubiquity in modern web development

Why the web platform inherently favors universal accessibility over platform-specific visual consistency.

Matching moments

2:43 min

Re-evaluating core programming principles in web architecture

Frederik Pietzko Frederik Pietzko · World Congress 2025

2:35 min

Prioritizing business logic and user value over technology choices

Sasha Shynkevich · LIVE

1:50 min

Examining the historical evolution of web design practices

Chris Heilmann Chris Heilmann +2 · LIVE

3:08 min

Introduction to building accessible web frontends

Konstantin Tieber · World Congress 2022

1:53 min

Leveraging community resources for sustainable web design

Ines Akrap Ines Akrap · World Congress 2023

3:38 min

Showcasing web design capabilities through extreme user interface customization

Chris Heilmann Chris Heilmann +2 · LIVE

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