Reckoning
Since at least 2016 I have implored the frontend community to step back from the brink of JavaScript excess, acknowledge mobile-first reality, and prioritise users at the margin.
Instead, frontend became a responsiblity-free zone, externalising costs onto users and businesses with 'full-stack' fairy tales and used-car sales tactics. This has culminated in heartbreaking hurdles to access crucial public services thanks to JavaScript.
Modern websites don't have to feel broken. Better is possible. This series walks through today's network and device ground truth, stares into abyss of developer practices, and closes with advice for managers and engineers who want to avoid the same mistakes.
Reckoning: Part 4 — The Way Out
JavaScript overindulgence remains an affirmative choice, no matter how hard industry 'thought leaders' gaslight us. Better is possible, but we must want it enough to put users ahead of our own interests.
Reckoning: Part 3 — Caprock
I have worked with dozens of teams surprised to have found themselves in the JavaScript ditch. They all feel ashamed because they've been led to believe they're the first; that the technology is working fine for other folks. It isn't.
Reckoning: Part 2 — Object Lesson
SNAP benefits sites for more than 20% of Americans are unusably slow. All of them would be significantly faster if states abandoned client-side-rendering, and along with it, the legacy JavaScript frameworks (React, Angular, etc.) built to enable the SPA model.
Reckoning: Part 1 — The Landscape
It would be tragic if public sector services adopted the JavaScript-heavy stacks that frontend influencers have popularised. Right?