699: Jeremy Keith on Web Day Out – ShopTalk
This episode of the Shop Talk Show is the dictionary definition of “rambling” but I had a lot of fun rambling with Chris and Dave!
Webrise
Prompted by my talk, The State Of The Web, Brian zooms out to get some perspective on how browser power is consolidated.
The web is made of clients and servers. There’s a huge amount of diversity in the server space but there’s very little diversity when it comes to clients because making a browser has become so complex and expensive.
But Brian hopes that this complexity and expense could be distributed amongst a large amount of smaller players.
10 companies agreeing to invest $10k apiece to advance and maintain some area of shared interest is every bit as useful as 1 agreeing to invest $100k generally. In fact, maybe it’s more representative.
We believe that there is a very long tail of increasingly smaller companies who could do something, if only they coordinated to fund it together. The further we stretch this out, the more sources we enable, the more its potential adds up.
Related links
I’m speaking at Web Day Out 2026 - Manuel Matuzovic
The core idea of the event is to get you up to speed on the most powerful web platform features that you can use right now. I love that because it aligns perfectly with what I’ve been working on over the last couple of years: finding ways to break old habits to get the most out of CSS.
Web Backstories: Shadow DOM | Igalia
Eric Meyer and Brian Kardell chat with Jay Hoffmann and Jeremy Keith about Shadow DOM’s backstory and long origins
I enjoyed this chat, and it wasn’t just about Shadow DOM; it was about the history of chasing the dream of encapsulation on the web.
Hack to the Future - Frontend - Matt Hobbs
Put the kettle on. This is a long one!
Matt takes a trip down memory lane and looks at all the frontend tools, technologies, and techniques that have come and gone over the years.
But this isn’t about nostalgia (although it does make you appreciate how far we’ve come). He’s looking at whether anything from the past is worth keeping today.
Studying past best practices and legacy systems is crucial for understanding the evolution of technology and making informed decisions today.
There’s only one technique that makes the cut:
After discussing countless legacy approaches and techniques best left in the past, you’ve finally arrived at a truly timeless and Incredibly important methodology.
CSS Intelligence: Speculating On The Future Of A Smarter Language — Smashing Magazine
This is a really thoughtful look at the evolution of CSS and the ever-present need to balance power with learnability.
Related posts
Installing web apps
Here’s an HTML web component you can use if you’re participating in the origin trial for the Web Install API.
Manuel Matuzovič is speaking at Web Day Out
The line-up is now complete and you don’t want to miss this!
Jake Archibald is speaking at Web Day Out
The sixth speaker is revealed—only two more to go!
Reasoning
In which I find a tagline for Web Day Out and a tagline for React.
Harry Roberts is speaking at Web Day Out
This line-up just gets better and better! You’ll want to be in Brighton on March 12th, 2026.