Infrequently Noted

Alex Russell on browsers, standards, and the process of progress.

Election Season 2020, W3C TAG Edition

It's TAG election time again, and among a packed field, a few candidates stand out. If you've benefited from the way the TAG has become a functional and important part of the W3C and broader web ecosystem process in the past several years, I heartily recommend devoting your AC rep's first place vote to Jeffrey Yasskin.

Resize-Resilient `content-visibility` Fixes

The previous post spurred further investigations, and with the help of some of the folks who implemented `content-visibility`, there's perhaps an even more robust solution.

`content-visiblity` Without Jittery Scrollbars

The new `content-visibility` CSS property finally lets us render only what's on screen. What could possibly go wrong?

The Pursuit of Appiness

Apps are whatever OSes say they are, app stores bundle services that need not come as a package, and tech pundits aren't asking the right questions. In particular, we should question assertions that app stores are necessary for security _combined_ with restrictions on web browser competitiveness and simultaneous claims that the web is an outlet for developers who find store policies unworkable.

Why Browser Security UI Isn't Specified

Occasionally someone pushes a working group to adopt normative language regarding browser security UI. The browser community often pushes back. Here's why.

Platform Adjacency Theory

Like other meta-platforms **the web thrives or declines to the extent it can accomplish the lion's share of the things we expect most computers to do**. Platform Adjacency Theory explains how to expand in a principled way and what we risk when natural expansion is prevented mechanisms that prevent effective competition.

A Faster Blog, Faster

Dialing Eleventy build speed up to 12

New Blog, Who Dis?

The inevitable 11ty port of infrequently.org

Alex Russell

Currently: Product Manager on Microsoft Edge and a Blink API OWNER. Previously: Engineer, TL, and Platform Strategist at Google ('08-21). Led PWA & Web Components efforts. Started Project Fugu 🐡. Served as Chrome Standards TL, elected W3C TAG rep, and TC39 delegate. Instigated Chrome Frame & Dojo. Still working for a web that works for everyone.

Newer Posts: 2021

Older Posts : 2018