Not All Browser APIs Are "Web" APIs

Kilian Valkhof on the Polypane blog:

many APIs we rely on aren't actually part of "the web" at all. They're standardized interfaces, but with browser-specific implementations that depend on third-party services, proprietary systems, or vendor-specific infrastructure.

There are tons of great examples in this post that illustrate how many web APIs are standardized but work on privatized infrastructure.

All the more reason, in my mind, to really try building sites with progressive enhancement: core features work across all browsers and vendor-specific services serve as enhancements.

Also, this insight on how browsers work is a really great callout. Maybe one we don’t acknowledge enough:

web specifications are mostly written by the people working for these big players because these companies can afford to employ people to work on specs full-time and employ people to implement the specifications. And when there's implementations, specifications become standards.

The W3C has guards to prevent abuse, but in practice the process is weighed towards the wishes of large companies. The specification process is a way for the big players to entrench their dominance.

I shall call this the golden rule of standards: they who have the gold make the standards.