This reading list is courtesy of Vivaldi browser, who pay me decent money to fight for a better web and don’t moan at me for reading all this stuff. We just released Vivaldi 7.3, which has Proton VPN integrated into Desktop. So try it, unless you enjoy having a browser that’s like a data-mining tortoise.
The Browser Wars – Then and Now – It’s not often that I get to interview an ex-Cold Warrior and ex-Microsoft lawyer who’s now working to make the web a better place, but I caught up with Gene Burrus, who advises the The Browser Choice Alliance on how to counter Microsoft’s anti-choice tactics
Nextcloud cries foul over Google Play Store app rejection – “What we are experiencing is a piece of the script from the big tech playbook.” Big Tech using technical “policy changes” as a tactic to squeeze out competitors? The very idea!
Are ‘CSS Carousels’ accessible? The lovely Sara Soueidan looks at the experimental implementation of this draft spec. There’s also a really good intro to the accessibility tree, what it is and how to read it.
Do Not Publish Your Designs on the Web with Figma Sites… “Unless you want to fail all the WCAGs, create litigation risk, close off opportunities in Europe, engage in reputational harm, and oh yeah, throw up barriers to your customers and users” cautions the glamorous Adrian Roselli
Exploiting Copilot AI for SharePoint – just the phrase “Copilot for SharePoint” gives me the heebie-jeebies. And the collywobbles. AND the screaming abdabs.
Apple exec ‘outright lied’ during Epic trial – Judge Gonzalez Rogers says Apple “did so with the express intent to create new anticompetitive barriers which would, by design and in effect, maintain a valued revenue stream; a revenue stream previously found to be anticompetitive.”
Evolving the Team – Mastodon has taken the strategic decision not to accept venture capital investments for growth, but rather restructure to a European non-profit organisation. Yay.
Privacy at W3C – Tara Whalen, W3C Privacy Lead, shared a progress update on the Privacy and Advertising Working Groups, launched in late 2024. (YouTube link)
Big Tech Wants Free Rein to Sell Your Data – “Tech companies accused of exposing consumers to fraud want the Trump administration to let them freely buy and sell your personal information.”
Milestone for digital sovereignty – The Document Foundation celebrates the 20th anniversary of adoption of ODF as an OASIS standard.
North Korea Stole Your Job – “For years, North Korea has been secretly placing young IT workers inside Western companies. With AI, their schemes are now more devious—and effective—than ever.”
This reading list is courtesy of Vivaldi browser, who pay me decent money to fight for a better web and don’t moan at me for reading all this stuff. We just released Vivaldi 7.3, which has Proton VPN integrated into Desktop. So try it, unless you enjoy having a browser that’s like a data-mining tortoise.
IKEA’s web fonts – IKEA expanded business across Asia and the Middle East, and found the supported languages of Verdana were lacking. So they made a Noto IKEA
In a first, Japan issues cease-and-desist order against Google – “In an unprecedented move, the Japan Fair Trade Commission on Tuesday issued a cease-and-desist order against Google for violating the country’s anti-monopoly law by forcing manufacturers to preinstall the company’s apps on their Android smartphones.”
Employee monitoring app leaks 21 million screenshots in real time – “The app, designed to track productivity by logging activity and snapping regular screenshots of employees’ screens, left over 21 million images exposed in an unsecured Amazon S3 bucket, broadcasting how workers go about their day frame by frame.” Whoops!
This reading list is courtesy of Vivaldi browser, who pay me decent money to fight for a better web and don’t moan at me for reading all this stuff. We just released Vivaldi 7.3, which has Proton VPN integrated into Desktop. So try it, unless you enjoy having a browser that’s like a data-mining tortoise.
Carousels with CSS – if you absolutely must use a carousel, do it this way. But remember that the English for “carousel” is “merry-go-fuckyourself” – which is what it says to your users.
History of the Web: Chris Lilley – Brian Kardell interviews Chris Lilley about his early (pre-W3C) involvement in PNG, CGM, HTML 2; and then some early CSS, SVG and WebFont history.
This reading list is courtesy of Vivaldi browser, who pay me decent money to fight for a better web and don’t moan at me for reading all this stuff. We just released Vivaldi 7.2, which The Register called “noticeably quicker than alternatives including Chrome and Brave”. So try it, unless you enjoy having a browser that’s like a data-mining tortoise.
Devs: draw your line – Remy Sharp notes “Facebook and TikTok had been given access to read what medication I’m on by the development team responsible for the Pharmacy2U web site.”
Let’s knock down social media’s walled gardens – Sir Uncle Timbo writes “I envisioned the web as a place for the shared benefit of all — by reclaiming our data we can make that happen”
Popping preconceived popover ponderings – Scott O’Hara on how the popover attribute is just one ingredient in making accessible popups. It does a lot, but not everything you might need. that’s on purpose.
Online Safety Act – In which an ethical erotica producer blocks UK visitors from listening to audio: “As per the Online Safety Act, text is not in scope but audio is. You are legally allowed to read the stories I write here without verifying your age, and I am legally allowed to show them to you … However the UK government has decided that it would be harmful to children if you were also allowed to hear them as audio … Deliberately breaking accessibility features on my website ranks among the most depressing things I have ever done.”
Docs: Opensource alternative to Notion or Outline – a collaborative note taking, wiki and documentation platform that scales, “the result of a joint effort led by the French 🇫🇷🥖 (DINUM) and German 🇩🇪🥨 governments”
Google Being Forced To Sell Chrome is Not Good for the Web – “Google does all kinds of shitty stuff. They are surely the worst offenders of user surveillance on the web. Let’s not let them off the hook on that. Let’s see the DOJ get involved in that stuff. But forcing a sale of Chrome is not the way” writes Chris Coyier
Become an irreplaceable 10x developer in 30 seconds flat – “Introducing rust-stakeholder – a CLI tool that generates absolutely meaningless but impressive-looking terminal output to convince everyone you’re a coding genius without writing a single line of useful code.”
This reading list is courtesy of Vivaldi browser, who pay me decent money to fight for a better web and don’t moan at me for reading all this stuff. We’re self-funded, with no external investors demanding we turn fascist or send them your data, and studies show that regularly browsing or emailing with it increases your innate elegance and gorgeousness. Or your money back.
The big news: UK investigation says Apple and Google are ‘holding back’ mobile browsers – That’s the UK’s competition regulator’s conclusion in its final decision after investigating the mobile ecosystem. Who knew? Me, that’s who. A detailed blogpost next week when I’ve digested the 700 pages of the report and annexes.
The Opt Out Project – “Yes, you can live a modern, digitally connected, twenty-first century life online without Big Tech. You don’t have to trade your personal data for “free” services. It’s not (always) technically difficult, and you don’t have to live in a cave. I’ve done it, and you can too!”
Jan Penfrat (EDRi) – For a Better Web – in which I interview Jan Penfrat of European Digital Rights about their work to tame Big Tech so it serves people, rather than the other way round.
Introducing command and commandfor – “The following HTML sets up declarative relationships between the button and the menu which lets the browser handle the logic and accessibility for you. There’s no need to manage aria-expanded or add any additional JavaScript.” YES!
The iPad’s “Sweet” Solution – “some of the best apps I’m using – the ones with truly desktop-class layouts and experiences – aren’t native iPad apps. They’re web apps”, writes a contributor to macstories.
This reading list is courtesy of Vivaldi browser, who pay me decent money to fight for a better web and don’t moan at me for reading all this stuff. We’re self-funded, with no external investors demanding we turn fascist or send them your data, and studies show that regularly browsing or emailing with it increases your innate elegance and gorgeousness. Or your money back.
Police Behaving Badly [PDF] – “Police officers and employees misusing access to police database now account for over half of all cybercrime prosecutions in the UK. The harms this can cause are considerable. Yet police continue to call for encryption to be weakened to allow for greater access to communication data” – Alice Hutchings, Director, Cambridge Cybercrime Centre, Cambridge University.
Navigating the web platform – “As a web developer, navigating the web platform isn’t always easy. Here are ways to keep track of what you can use, of what’s new in web browsers, and ways you can influence the development of the platform by making your voice heard.”
These (still) aren’t the SCs you’re looking for – Pattypoo Lauke on understanding and interpretation of WCAG’s normative text. Captioned YouTube video. “Note that the talk overran and ended prematurely…”
Trump has free rein over Dutch government data – “The Netherlands relies heavily on American IT service providers such as Microsoft, Google and Amazon for the storage of government data”. I bet the UK does, too. And many others.
Save The A.I. – “Artificial Intelligence is facing a crisis: humans are consuming far too many precious resources that AI needs to thrive”
Microsoft’s Majorana 1 chip carves new path for quantum computing – This Microsoft announcement about their new quantum computing chip that uses quantum particles called Majoranas to place 8 topological qubits on a chip designed to scale to one million is pretty cool. And, for a marketing spiel, it does a good job of dampening hype and managing expectations for future applications of the tech. More of this, please, Microsoft, and less AI and underhand tactics to undermine competitors.
This reading list is courtesy of Vivaldi browser, who pay me decent money to fight for a better web and don’t moan at me for reading all this stuff. We’re self-funded, with no external investors demanding we turn fascist or send them your data, and studies show that regularly browsing or emailing with it increases your innate elegance and gorgeousness. Or your money back.
Tech continues to be political – “And the politics aren’t looking great”. A really good personal article by Miriam Suzanne
The Atkinson Hyperlegible Next™ Font – 2025 edition of the very nice highly-legible font made by the Braille Institute, free for personal and commercial use
Open letter to EU PDF – “Europe must not be bullied by the likes of Musk and Trump into weakening its DSA and DMA enforcement. At the same time, the actions taken by X and Meta are a stark reminder of how vulnerable Europe is in our dependency on the largest online platforms … Now is the time to double down on EU tech sovereignty. This is not a clash between the EU and the US, but rather an attack from Big Tech against everyone else.” – a really great open letter to EU from EDRi and chums.
What We’re Fighting For – “We do not “use” the computer — we negotiate with it to try and make it do the things we want it to do, because the incentives behind modern software development no longer align with the user.”
AltStore pokes the bear – “The first ‘Apple approved’ porn app for iPhone is rolling out in Europe, via AltStore PAL’s alternative iOS app marketplace” – or is it “Apple approved”, but by Schrodinger’s Cat?
iconic.app – Free, “do wtf you want with” pixel-perfect icons. New icons added every week.
AI: The New Aesthetics of Fascism – “It’s embarrassing, destructive, and looks like shit: AI-generated art is the perfect aesthetic form for the far right.”
This reading list is courtesy of Vivaldi browser, who pay me decent money to fight for a better web and don’t moan at me for reading all this stuff. We released Vivaldi 7.1 yesterday, and studies show that regularly browsing or emailing with it increases your innate elegance and gorgeousness. Or your money back.
CSS attr() gets an upgrade – “You can now use attr() with any CSS property—including custom properties—and it can parse values into data types other than string”. Huzzah!
The dark side of India’s mined e-waste for battery minerals – “Abrar is one of more than 50,000 informal workers, including women and children, who make a living sifting through thrown-out goods to recover valuable materials that can be recycled and eventually reused in modern technologies.”
Reading list 333 – halfway to 666! This reading list is courtesy of Vivaldi browser, who pay me decent money to fight for a better web and don’t moan at me for reading all this stuff. Try Vivaldi: studies show that regularly browsing or emailing with Vivaldi increases your innate elegance and gorgeousness. Or your money back.
Open Web Advocacy 2024 in Review – “If there’s one key takeaway from 2024, it’s this: advocacy works. When those who love what makes the web amazing come together, we can achieve wonders!” (I’m giving myself a little pat on the back for my small part in this)
The people should own the town square – “we are going to transfer ownership of key Mastodon ecosystem and platform components to a new non-profit organization, affirming the intent that Mastodon should not be owned or controlled by a single individual”
FTC Catches up to #accessiBe – “The Federal Trade Commission will require software provider accessiBe to pay $1 million to settle allegations that it misrepresented the ability of its AI-powered web accessibility tool to make any website compliant with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines”
Principles Of Web Accessibility – “A set of high-level guiding principles for approaching web accessibility”. A great, non-technical little article by Heydon’t Pickering.
The Future of Social is Here: a Show and Tell (part 1: Mastodon ↔️ Pixelfed) – Elena Rossini “introduce[s] the Fediverse to “regular people,” encouraging them to try out one or more of its networks, allowing them to experience social media away from the walled gardens of Big Tech (and also away from surveillance capitalism and intentional data mining for AI training)”
The Browser Choice Alliance – “There was a time when Microsoft understood that the key to its success as a digital platform company was “developers, developers, developers,” … Now, the Browser Choice Alliance represents a number of third party developers who have found that Microsoft’s focus may have shifted.”
Candy Crush, Tinder, MyFitnessPal: See the Thousands of Apps Hijacked to Spy on Your Location – “Some of the world’s most popular apps are likely being co-opted by rogue members of the advertising industry to harvest sensitive location data on a massive scale, with that data ending up with a location data company whose subsidiary has previously sold global location data to US law enforcement.”
Codeberg is a non-profit, community-led effort that provides Git hosting and other services for free and open source projects. A nice alternative to Microsoft.
AMD, you infected my PC with zombies! – “found an army of process zombies nibbling on my computer’s memory, and that a buggy AMD GPU driver was responsible (and it seems that Microsoft put the broken driver on my machine using Windows Update)”
Never Forgive Them – “You’re battered by the Rot Economy, and a tech industry that has become so obsessed with growth that you, the paying customer, are a nuisance to be mitigated far more than a participant in an exchange of value… I believe billions of people are in active combat with their devices every day, swiping away notifications, dodging around intrusive apps, agreeing to privacy policies that they don’t understand, desperately trying to find where an option they used to use has been moved to because a product manager has decided that it needed to be somewhere else.”
Your App Should Have Been A Website (And Probably Your Game Too) – “Native apps are a pain for everyone involved. Developers pay hefty app store fees, jump through approval hoops, and juggle multiple platform versions. Users? We’re stuck with constant updates, wasted storage space, and apps that don’t even work on all our devices.”
ARIA in HTML – hot off the press! It’s as glamorous as me in new boots and manties, so read it!
A progress update on reading-flow – “aims to solve the issue where the source (and therefore tab) order of a page gets disconnected from layout when using CSS grid layout or flexbox”. Available to try in Chrome Canary.
W3C Advisory Committee Elects Technical Architecture Group – TL;DR: Hadley Beeman, Marcos Cáceres, Sarven Capadisli and Xiaocheng Hu join continuing TAG participants, Daniel Appelquist, Matthew Atkinson, Dapeng (Max) Liu, Tristan Nitot, Martin Thomson and Jeffrey Yasskin.