The web is the most important platform for individual empowerment and creative expression that mankind has ever invented. What was once a meager collection of a handful of scientific documents linked together, is now an expansive graph of billions of people interacting to exchange trillions of interconnected ideas. Getting to be even a small part of building that should be tremendously exciting.
But, even as great as it is, the web faces myriad existential threats. And it's up to us, the builders of the web, to confront them head on. Privacy, security, and accessibility are the obvious big ones, but less obvious are some far deeper problems at the core of the web and how we design/build it.
Should the web go all-HTTPS? Most think so, but uncacheable HTTPS alienates 1/3 of the world's population. We can all probably imagine how bad the web is on slow connections, or even how much it costs on expensive metered-data plans. But worse than slow connection is spotty/intermittent connection or no connection at all -- do we ever consider those conditions in our designs? And what about how much battery power web features cost, especially in places where electricity isn't plentiful and practically free? Just because a device can do some trick (aka, feature!), does that mean the user always wants it?
These questions hold the keys to whether the web survives/thrives, or is eventually replaced by native and intrinsic (device) alternatives. We built the web, but we've got to fight to make sure we keep the web.
PWAs (Progressive Web Apps) are finally taking a first jab at some of these issues, but we must rapidly broaden our definition of the P in PWA if we're going to keep pushing and expanding the web to the next several billion users.
Beautiful piece!