figure out which files depend on each other and merge them together, reducing the number of http requests per page view, thus improving performance

use YUI Compressor or Google Closure Compiler to compress code, thus improving performance

verify that your JavaScript is safe to minify/compress by running JsLint on it

cycle asset hosts in CSS files

add “cache busters” to URLs in CSS files

recalculate relative URLs in CSS files, as well as convert them to absolute (or convert absolute URLs to relative URLs)

embed images into stylesheets using data-uris

Mike Davies, Breaking the Web with Hash-Bangs:

Gawker, like Twitter before it, built their new site to be totally dependent on JavaScript, even down to the page URLs. The JavaScript failed to load, so no content appeared, and every URL on the page was broken. In terms of site brittleness, Gawker’s new implementation got turned up to 11.

A follow-up from Tim Bray, Broken Links:

There is no piece of dynamic AJAXy magic that requires beating the Web to a bloody pulp with a sharp-edged hashbang. Please stop doing it.

Jeremy Keith in Going Postel:

I’m always surprised when I come across a site that deliberately chooses to make its content harder to access.

What are we really talking about here?

Each of these articles, from people more brilliant than I, none of whom I have ever had the chance to meet or speak with, presumes you understand one critical fact: his individual cause is not the only thing you need to worry about.

The ostensible focus of the discussion is the brittleness of hash-bang style URLs. In fact, Jeremy Keith is having a conversation about accessibility. Tim Bray focuses on robustness, flexibility, and the curious indifference to basic computer science principles. Mike Davies touches on many points with concerns regarding JavaScript dependence, exclusive site crawling, broken analytics, and more. Ben Ward partially defends JavaScript-based URLs on the grounds of increased performance, though he also acknowledges at least temporary problems as browsers embrace a new paradigm.

Web development is an intricate puzzle.

The anti-hash-bangers, as we’ll call them, are fighting a hopeless rearguard action here, and they know it. They are a much needed force for conservatism, a constant reminder of not only the way things used to be but why they used to be that way. Thoughtful conversation regarding—and intense advocacy for—strong engineering and pervasive accessibility is undeniably good. Nobody wants information to be hidden or compelling experiences to be walled off by immature decisions.

This, however, is a woefully incomplete picture of the Internet, which has now extended its tentacles into nearly every device imaginable and will continue to do so. Web pages are merely a small part, a part which until just recently looked and performed about as unsatisfactorily as theoretically possible. Complete page refreshes, limited control of layout, abrupt—literally instantaneous—transitions between state, a set of utilitarian typefaces, and a browser landscape so bereft of consistency as to discourage even the strong-hearted.

Fortunately, we are rapidly moving out of that phase into a place where websites built with the common tools of the browser can look and feel as delightful as native applications. This is a wonderful achievement. Loading only tiny bits of information as necessary; choosing typefaces appropriate to the tone of the site while maintaining accessibility; rounding corners, dropping shadows, and fading elements all via native, hardware-accelerated browser features rather than with clever hacks and verbose JavaScript techniques is the irresistible tide of the future.

We must, therefore, always balance the desire to delight visitors in thousands of large and small ways with the tactical needs of reliability, accessibility, and speed. I know Mike Davies, Tim Bray, Jeremy Keith, Ben Ward and all the other hard-working, smart web designers and developers understand this fact implicitly. Their tireless efforts to speak for the traditional strengths of the Internet are inspiring. I merely note that empathy for the user means good visual and interactive design not just a web page that always loads correctly and in the last place you looked for it.¹

1. Please don’t foist a false dilemma of either good engineering or good design onto this conversation. There will inevitably be growing pains and temporary setbacks, but everyone should agree the ultimate goal is both good engineering and good design.

Bruce:

The only function of a DOCTYPE is to keep the browser out of Quirks Mode. The HTML5 DOCTYPE <!DOCTYPE HTML> is the shortest string that does this reliably. And note that there’s no version number on that.

John:

My larger objection is around perception of the spec: developers who think that just because it’s spec’ed atWHATWG this week that it’s good to go, bring it on, to heck with permanence and legacy! It’s a continued “fix-it-in-the-mix” attitude far-removed from the real world of large corporations and government.

Cross Platform Scalable Vector Graphics with svgweb by Jim Ray

Despite all the attention being paid to canvas, there’s still a place for good ole SVG, particularly for developers looking to replace plug-ins like Flash for data visualization.

Designing Web Registration Processes for Kids by Debra Gelman

Designing websites for kids is a fascinating, challenging, rewarding, and exasperating experience: You’re trying to create a digital experience for people who lack the cognitive capacity to understand abstraction. You’re trying to establish brand loyalty with people who are influenced almost exclusively by their peers. And you’re trying to communicate subjective value propositions to people who can only see things in black-and-white.

We’re sad to see OpenID go. The promise was grand. Life would be simpler if we only had one login, but in this case, the cure was worse than the disease.

I was one of the people who used OpenID at 37signals to support multiple accounts. Now that single sign-on is handled by 37signals ID, I guess I can retire it. Not that they’re giving me a choice.