predictability for the web
TRANSCRIPT
Predictability for the Web
@robertnyman@RickByers
Rick & Robert
Rick & Robert
Rick & Robert
What is Predictability?
Image credits: https://www.flickr.com/photos/toddle_email_newsletters/15575925446
Working cross-browser is hard
Inconsistency and lack of interoperability
Started the Predictability project 6 months ago
The web has a problem
Image credits: https://www.flickr.com/photos/toddle_email_newsletters/15575925446
Canada & Sweden
Image credits: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Flag_of_Canada.svg https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Flag_of_Sweden.svg
How Chrome is trying to improve predictability for developers
How we work with other browsers to make this better
How web developers can help improve the platform
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We want the web to just work for developers
Fight the platform less
Reduce the need for:
Browser-specific code paths
Workarounds for regressions
Polyfills for inconsistencies between APIs
Shims that smooth over lacking interoperability
Break websites less
Ship no accidental regressions.
Only deprecate features when we understand the cost and know it’s worth it.
Be transparent about interventions, and give developers a smooth migration path.
Image credits: https://www.flickr.com/photos/dullhunk/4517822872/
Fail fast and obviously
Decrease the number of times a developer stares at a blank screen or searches aimlessly for help.
Image credits: https://www.flickr.com/photos/johnath/7356295658
Data informs platform changes
Tradeoffs that impact existing developers’ sites can be quantified by usage data or compat analysis tools.
A more coherent platform
Features that are commonly used together work well in conjunction.
Remember when web development was hard?
Predictability improvements
Predictability Improvements
Cross-browser collaboration
Listening to web developers
Minimizing breaking changes
Cross-browser collaborationBy Oregon Department of Transportation (Collaboration Uploaded by AlbertHerring) [CC BY 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons
Better interopImproved collaboration between engines:
Specifications Bug trackers
Shared test suites GitHub issues
Standards meetings Twitter
Conferences Mailing lists
We’ve gotten better at listening to you.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/paul_garland/4957441955
Listening to web developers
The Web is a commons
It thrives on collaboration and competition
Good communication between stakeholders is critical
By Daniel Schwen (Own work) [CC BY-SA 4.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0)], via Wikimedia Commons
Blink bugs!
The best way to discuss where chromium should improve for web developers
https://www.flickr.com/photos/brizzlebornandbred/12852086543
Blink bugs over time
0
550
1100
1650
2200
Jan 2
014
AprJu
ly Oct
Jan 2
015
AprJu
ly Oct
Jan 2
016
AprJu
ly Oct
Opened Closed (not archived)
External blink bug stats for September
Total external 300 (28% of total)
Triaged 93%
Resolved 62%
Fix landed 16%
Star bugs!
For the top 1%
Fixed: 66%
15% of the top 60 fixed this year!• Ship MediaRecorder
(#262211, 1822 stars) Encoding audio and video streams
• Ship Pointer Events (#471824, 1027 stars) New input API that unifies mouse, touch and stylus
• Smooth Scrolling(#575, 576 stars) Animate scrolls from keyboard / clicky mouse
• Support for the Tifinagh language (#569421, 398 stars) Used in northern Africa
• Don't fire click for middle button(#255, 190 stars)Replaced by new “auxclick” event
• Support for CSS hyphens property (#605840, 179 stars) Used to enable or disable hyphenation
• Started: Animated PNG (#437662, 884 stars)
Minimizing breaking changes
Aug 23
Regression introduced, goes unnoticed
Chrome 54 beta released
Bug filed Fix lands Verified in new beta release
Sept 2
2
Sept 2
0
Sept 1
5
Sept 2
8
Oct 17
Chrome 54 stable ships
A recent regression: Bug 648589
External blink bug stats for September
All bugs Regressions
Total external 300 49
Triaged 93% 100%
Resolved 62% 84%
Fix landed 16% 39%
Deprecations
Image credits: https://www.flickr.com/photos/12567713@N00/5724170380
Excellentuser experience
vs. Composition
of partsyou can’t control
https://www.flickr.com/photos/clonedmilkmen/3604999084
Interventions
• Minimally breaks existing behavior • For substantial user benefit • Should be
• Predictable • Avoidable • Transparent • Justified by data
Example intervention: throttled rendering
• Don’t run rendering pipeline for off-screen cross-origin iframe
• Shipped in Chrome 52 • Substantial power improvements • No reports of broken sites
Example intervention: throttled rendering
• Don’t run rendering pipeline for off-screen cross-origin iframe
• Shipped in Chrome 52 • Substantial power improvements • No reports of broken sites
Developer Feedback
Developer Feedback
Listening to developers
Understanding challenges
Getting information
New bug wizard
New bug wizard
Web developer focus
Direct routing to right team
Filing a good bug or starring one that exists is the fastest way to get an issue fixed
Browser Bug Searcher
developers.google.com/web/feedback/
developers.google.com/web/feedback/
Web Predictability breakout sessionTomorrow, 4pm
Take awaysWe’re trying to treat the web as a single platform
Test on beta and file bugs
Star the bugs / features you care about
Visit /feedback, try the Browser Bug Searcher
Get involved - this is your web!
Thank you!To all you web developers making the web better
Thank You!Rick Byers @RickByers
Robert Nyman @robertnyman