Alex Russell
@infrequently.org
Trying to make a web that works for everyone.
Also at https://toot.cafe/@slightlyoff
For more: https://infrequently.org/about-me/
https://infrequently.org/
Also at https://toot.cafe/@slightlyoff
For more: https://infrequently.org/about-me/
https://infrequently.org/
Pinned
Alex Russell
@infrequently.org
· Oct 27
Platform Strategy and Its Discontents - Infrequently Noted
Alex Russell on browsers, standards, and the process of progress.
infrequently.org
Platforms are competitions, and the web is losing. We can do simple, straightforward things to combat that decline...but contemporary frontend isn't doing those things.
Why not?
A consolidated thread from last week:
infrequently.org/2024/10/platform…
Why not?
A consolidated thread from last week:
infrequently.org/2024/10/platform…
Reposted by Alex Russell
Hope matters, but without a clear map of how the system is failing, it can’t change anything. The slide happens because core democratic functions are weakening under real structural pressures. Naming that isn’t surrender, it’s the work required to understand what has to be rebuilt.
November 28, 2025 at 9:38 PM
Hope matters, but without a clear map of how the system is failing, it can’t change anything. The slide happens because core democratic functions are weakening under real structural pressures. Naming that isn’t surrender, it’s the work required to understand what has to be rebuilt.
Reposted by Alex Russell
One of whom presented a Russian capitulation document as a US peace plan. That’s the headline. We need headlines that are true and not news jargon that washes out the basic facts.
President Donald Trump’s demand that Ukraine sign a deal by Thanksgiving appears to have softened as he leaves some of the most important details of the peace plan in the hands of his envoys, one of whom was just embroiled in a high-profile phone leak. https://wapo.st/481ZdYG
Trump steps back from Ukraine peace process, sends out envoys
Envoy Steve Witkoff, who in new phone leaks appears to have advised Russia on negotiations, heads to Moscow next week to discuss the peace plan.
wapo.st
November 28, 2025 at 10:55 PM
One of whom presented a Russian capitulation document as a US peace plan. That’s the headline. We need headlines that are true and not news jargon that washes out the basic facts.
Just encountered the "device hoarding" discourse, and I guess it answers the question "what bogus framing will the pro-e-waste/anti-right-to-repair lobby (Apple) come up with next?"
November 29, 2025 at 12:47 AM
Just encountered the "device hoarding" discourse, and I guess it answers the question "what bogus framing will the pro-e-waste/anti-right-to-repair lobby (Apple) come up with next?"
Reposted by Alex Russell
The president is such a bumbling idiot he thinks tweeting out the word "hereby" a couple times on his white supremacist social media site is the same thing as making an actual law.
The only story here is the one about a mentally diminished, increasingly erratic president who thinks he's a king.
The only story here is the one about a mentally diminished, increasingly erratic president who thinks he's a king.
It should go without saying, but the president has no authority to do this, and anyone reporting the story needs to say as such.
November 28, 2025 at 9:48 PM
The president is such a bumbling idiot he thinks tweeting out the word "hereby" a couple times on his white supremacist social media site is the same thing as making an actual law.
The only story here is the one about a mentally diminished, increasingly erratic president who thinks he's a king.
The only story here is the one about a mentally diminished, increasingly erratic president who thinks he's a king.
So Apple is flagging features off in the EU (using the system it built explicitly to avoid complying with the spirit of the law), blaming regulators *for it's own choices*, and using shills to promote that line.
Do I have that about right?
Do I have that about right?
Why is that bad? Because it shows how much the EC is now in control of product development and product launches in Europe.
Want to launch new features? That's at the mercy of DMA enforcers in Brussels. Try doing it around the holidays? Build that into your development timeline.
Want to launch new features? That's at the mercy of DMA enforcers in Brussels. Try doing it around the holidays? Build that into your development timeline.
November 28, 2025 at 9:24 PM
So Apple is flagging features off in the EU (using the system it built explicitly to avoid complying with the spirit of the law), blaming regulators *for it's own choices*, and using shills to promote that line.
Do I have that about right?
Do I have that about right?
Reposted by Alex Russell
ah, the Apple shakedown is working on some MEPs cc @infrequently.org
At the end of September a group of right-wing European Parliamentarians posed questions to the EC on the impact the DMA was having on users, and whether it was resulting in fewer innovative services or delays in product launches. www.europarl.europa.eu/doceo/docum...
November 28, 2025 at 9:05 PM
ah, the Apple shakedown is working on some MEPs cc @infrequently.org
Reposted by Alex Russell
This is almost word for word what xenophobes in the 1930s and 1940s said about Miller's Jewish ancestors and relatives. He's so hateful he couldn't possibly recognize that of course.
Stephen Miller is now arguing that assimilation is fundamentally impossible and that certain cultures are not compatible with Western civilization
November 28, 2025 at 1:01 PM
This is almost word for word what xenophobes in the 1930s and 1940s said about Miller's Jewish ancestors and relatives. He's so hateful he couldn't possibly recognize that of course.
Reposted by Alex Russell
Another outcome for which the Kremlin worked, lest we forget. Described in "Road to Unfreedom."
Still reeling from the Stanford report on Brexit. Reduced GDP by up to 8% and investment by as much as 18%. The UK Treasury would have £40 billion more each year if Britain had remained in the EU. Devastating self-immolation.
The Economic Impact of Brexit
Other
siepr.stanford.edu
November 28, 2025 at 8:22 PM
Another outcome for which the Kremlin worked, lest we forget. Described in "Road to Unfreedom."
Reposted by Alex Russell
We're gonna need a truth and reconciliation commission and Nuremberg style trials to reckon with all of this evil, and any Dem candidate for office who shies away from a full reckoning in the name of "moving forward as a nation" can get well and truly fucked
I feel much safer today knowing that we deported a Babson College student back to a country where she hasn't lived since childhood.
She wasn't even flying internationally. She was flying to Texas.
She wasn't even flying internationally. She was flying to Texas.
A Babson College student wanted to surprise her family for Thanksgiving. She was deported instead. - The Boston Globe
Any Lucia Lopez Belloza was at Logan to catch a flight to Texas when immigration authorities detained her as she was about to board the plane.
www.bostonglobe.com
November 27, 2025 at 4:29 PM
We're gonna need a truth and reconciliation commission and Nuremberg style trials to reckon with all of this evil, and any Dem candidate for office who shies away from a full reckoning in the name of "moving forward as a nation" can get well and truly fucked
Reposted by Alex Russell
Welcome Shabana Mahmood to your next four years of headlines!!!
Foreign doctors trained by the NHS face deportation under visa rules
Foreign doctors trained by the NHS face deportation under visa rules
www.thetimes.com
November 28, 2025 at 9:32 AM
Welcome Shabana Mahmood to your next four years of headlines!!!
Reposted by Alex Russell
"We followed everything we were supposed to do"
Legitimate green card applicants with US spouses are being
arrested by armed, masked men at scheduled immigration interviews, taken away from their children, sent to prison
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/26/u...
Legitimate green card applicants with US spouses are being
arrested by armed, masked men at scheduled immigration interviews, taken away from their children, sent to prison
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/26/u...
Green Card Interviews End in Handcuffs for Spouses of U.S. Citizens
www.nytimes.com
November 27, 2025 at 11:55 AM
"We followed everything we were supposed to do"
Legitimate green card applicants with US spouses are being
arrested by armed, masked men at scheduled immigration interviews, taken away from their children, sent to prison
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/26/u...
Legitimate green card applicants with US spouses are being
arrested by armed, masked men at scheduled immigration interviews, taken away from their children, sent to prison
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/26/u...
Reposted by Alex Russell
The war will end when Russia stops fighting. Therefore, pressure has to be put on Russia, so that they stop believing that they will win. Why is that so hard to understand?
November 27, 2025 at 1:49 AM
The war will end when Russia stops fighting. Therefore, pressure has to be put on Russia, so that they stop believing that they will win. Why is that so hard to understand?
Reposted by Alex Russell
Witkoff is not buying the Russian narrative. He is selling it.
November 26, 2025 at 5:24 PM
Witkoff is not buying the Russian narrative. He is selling it.
One of my hopes for 2026 is that browser vendors take more responsibility for today's pervasively bad experiences. Nobody wants a slow site, but they also don't want to dismiss a mailing-list pop-up that blocks scrolling. Browsers need to step in:
infrequently.org/2025/11/perf...
infrequently.org/2025/11/perf...
The Performance Inequality Gap, 2026 - Infrequently Noted
Embedded in this year's network and device estimates is hopeful news about the trajectory of devices and networks. It has never been easier to deliver pages quickly, but we are not collectively…
infrequently.org
November 26, 2025 at 5:33 PM
One of my hopes for 2026 is that browser vendors take more responsibility for today's pervasively bad experiences. Nobody wants a slow site, but they also don't want to dismiss a mailing-list pop-up that blocks scrolling. Browsers need to step in:
infrequently.org/2025/11/perf...
infrequently.org/2025/11/perf...
Reposted by Alex Russell
If @infrequently.org and I were Australian www.instagram.com/reel/DRZAR8e...
Login • Instagram
Welcome back to Instagram. Sign in to check out what your friends, family & interests have been capturing & sharing around the world.
www.instagram.com
November 26, 2025 at 8:59 AM
If @infrequently.org and I were Australian www.instagram.com/reel/DRZAR8e...
Reposted by Alex Russell
Witkoff advised the Russians on how to pitch their Ukraine plan to Trump www.bloomberg.com/news/article...
November 25, 2025 at 9:51 PM
Witkoff advised the Russians on how to pitch their Ukraine plan to Trump www.bloomberg.com/news/article...
Reposted by Alex Russell
This is the best advertisement for the mobile Web ever!
www.instagram.com/reel/DRZAR8e...
This will bring a tear to the eye of @infrequently.org, and @brucelawson.vivaldi.net.ap.brid.gy
www.instagram.com/reel/DRZAR8e...
This will bring a tear to the eye of @infrequently.org, and @brucelawson.vivaldi.net.ap.brid.gy
Fairbairn Films on Instagram: "When you have to download a new app
Follow us @lachlanfairbairn and @jaxonfairbairn"
In this entertaining and relatable video, two brothers experience the frustrations of downloading new apps and the consequences of not having them. They discuss the convenience and usability of apps, ...
www.instagram.com
November 25, 2025 at 10:40 PM
This is the best advertisement for the mobile Web ever!
www.instagram.com/reel/DRZAR8e...
This will bring a tear to the eye of @infrequently.org, and @brucelawson.vivaldi.net.ap.brid.gy
www.instagram.com/reel/DRZAR8e...
This will bring a tear to the eye of @infrequently.org, and @brucelawson.vivaldi.net.ap.brid.gy
Frontend is failing. 75% of devices with browsers are smartphones, but not even half of sites pass Core Web Vitals on them. Why not? Too much JavaScript, added to indulge SPA fantasies the data is falsifying in real time:
infrequently.org/2025/11/perf...
infrequently.org/2025/11/perf...
The Performance Inequality Gap, 2026 - Infrequently Noted
Embedded in this year's network and device estimates is hopeful news about the trajectory of devices and networks. It has never been easier to deliver pages quickly, but we are not collectively…
infrequently.org
November 25, 2025 at 5:23 PM
Frontend is failing. 75% of devices with browsers are smartphones, but not even half of sites pass Core Web Vitals on them. Why not? Too much JavaScript, added to indulge SPA fantasies the data is falsifying in real time:
infrequently.org/2025/11/perf...
infrequently.org/2025/11/perf...
Reposted by Alex Russell
About 90,000 people living near larger chemical plants face an unacceptable risk of developing cancer, the EPA says.
New rules adopted last year could’ve cut that number to 3,000 residents — a drop of 97%.
But Trump has halted those efforts.
New rules adopted last year could’ve cut that number to 3,000 residents — a drop of 97%.
But Trump has halted those efforts.
Air Pollution From Industrial Facilities Is Far Worse Than Estimated
The Trump administration has put a stop to EPA rules that would have required more than 130 industrial facilities to install air monitors to measure pollution. Millions of people living near these pla...
www.propublica.org
November 25, 2025 at 1:00 AM
About 90,000 people living near larger chemical plants face an unacceptable risk of developing cancer, the EPA says.
New rules adopted last year could’ve cut that number to 3,000 residents — a drop of 97%.
But Trump has halted those efforts.
New rules adopted last year could’ve cut that number to 3,000 residents — a drop of 97%.
But Trump has halted those efforts.
Reposted by Alex Russell
In summary and in conclusion: every Vercel is a market failure.
November 25, 2025 at 12:46 AM
In summary and in conclusion: every Vercel is a market failure.
Reposted by Alex Russell
You already know that Kevin knows CSS, but he really does know CSS. This is your chance to learn from a true master of their craft.
You wouldn't pass up a painting lesson from Michelangelo, would you?
You wouldn't pass up a painting lesson from Michelangelo, would you?
I've started the sale a little early to make sure everything is working correctly before my emails start going out tomorrow... and it seems like it's all working, so you can jump on my biggest sale ever right now 😁
✅ www.beyondcss.dev?utm_source=b...
✅ cssdemystified.com?utm_source=b...
✅ www.beyondcss.dev?utm_source=b...
✅ cssdemystified.com?utm_source=b...
So I'm jumping on the Black Friday train for the first time.
Starting tomorrow, I'm offering 40% off both CSS Demystified and Beyond CSS.
Going to have an extra little sweetener in there too. More details coming once it goes live 😊
Starting tomorrow, I'm offering 40% off both CSS Demystified and Beyond CSS.
Going to have an extra little sweetener in there too. More details coming once it goes live 😊
November 25, 2025 at 12:31 AM
You already know that Kevin knows CSS, but he really does know CSS. This is your chance to learn from a true master of their craft.
You wouldn't pass up a painting lesson from Michelangelo, would you?
You wouldn't pass up a painting lesson from Michelangelo, would you?
Reposted by Alex Russell
If you haven’t had the distinct pleasure of hearing @infrequently.org, do yourself a favor and check out the latest episode of @redmonk.com's MonkCast. We discuss web standards, JavaScript performance, PWAs, and Apple (iOS) & Google (Android). redmonk.com/blog/2025/11... youtube.com/shorts/5N_fm...
Alex Russell on web standards #developer #webdevelopment
YouTube video by RedMonk
youtube.com
November 24, 2025 at 11:55 AM
If you haven’t had the distinct pleasure of hearing @infrequently.org, do yourself a favor and check out the latest episode of @redmonk.com's MonkCast. We discuss web standards, JavaScript performance, PWAs, and Apple (iOS) & Google (Android). redmonk.com/blog/2025/11... youtube.com/shorts/5N_fm...
Inspired by perfnow.nl, I've dusted off drafts of my network and device situation analysis. Good news/bad news: devices and networks are improving, but pages are swelling. The web is usable for the wealthy, but less so for everyone else.
infrequently.org/2025/11/perf...
infrequently.org/2025/11/perf...
The Performance Inequality Gap, 2026 - Infrequently Noted
Embedded in this year's network and device estimates is hopeful news about the trajectory of devices and networks. It has never been easier to deliver pages quickly, but we are not collectively…
infrequently.org
November 24, 2025 at 7:31 PM
Inspired by perfnow.nl, I've dusted off drafts of my network and device situation analysis. Good news/bad news: devices and networks are improving, but pages are swelling. The web is usable for the wealthy, but less so for everyone else.
infrequently.org/2025/11/perf...
infrequently.org/2025/11/perf...
Reposted by Alex Russell
If your immediate response is to suggest data pipes are fatter, video is to blame, images must be the highest resolution possible, font files are doing this, etc., then you might not understand who you’re actually serving and why this is a concern.
bsky.app/profile/did:...
bsky.app/profile/did:...
How broken is today's frontend culture?
A friend points out that the median *mobile* page is now larger than a copy of DOOM (2.6 MiB vs. 2.48 MiB), the 75th percentile page is more than 2 DOOMs, and the P90 mobile page is 4.5x the size of DOOM:
httparchive.org/reports/page...
A friend points out that the median *mobile* page is now larger than a copy of DOOM (2.6 MiB vs. 2.48 MiB), the 75th percentile page is more than 2 DOOMs, and the P90 mobile page is 4.5x the size of DOOM:
httparchive.org/reports/page...
HTTP Archive: Page Weight
This report tracks the size and quantity of many popular web page resources. Sizes represent the number of bytes sent over the network, which may be compressed.
httparchive.org
November 24, 2025 at 12:11 AM
If your immediate response is to suggest data pipes are fatter, video is to blame, images must be the highest resolution possible, font files are doing this, etc., then you might not understand who you’re actually serving and why this is a concern.
bsky.app/profile/did:...
bsky.app/profile/did:...