How to keep velocity while reducing risk: BFFs, capability boundaries, feature flags, and evidence‑driven rollouts. The hardest part of modern front‑end isn’t the framework—it’s the shape of the system. As AI‑assisted workflows arrive, we need architecture that absorbs change without multiplying risk. Here are some of the related topics we’ll be focusing on at our […]
A pragmatic guide to how AI is impacting the practice of front‑end development: agents, MCP, and how to thread them into the work you already do. AI is edging into the daily work of front‑end teams—component libraries, design reviews, code review, testing, even the architecture decisions that shape our products. So, our Developer Summit is […]
Three major shifts have defined web development over the past twenty-five years. The web standards movement of the early 2000s gave us systematic approaches to structure, presentation, and behaviour. The framework revolution of the 2010s fundamentally changed how we architect applications. Now we’re at the threshold of a third transformation—one that may prove more profound […]
This week we have a great roundup of articles across the spectrum of things that we typically pay attention to here. From design to front-end architectures, AI software engineering to accessibility, there’s plenty here to keep you engaged and thinking about what comes next, regardless of your role. We’re also in the run home to […]
The web platform is evolving faster than many developers realise. New APIs, CSS capabilities, and authentication methods are landing in browsers right now—not distant specifications, but production-ready technologies you can use today. At Web Directions Developer Summit this November, we’re exploring these emerging technologies with the engineers building them. CSS: From Styling to Storytelling CSS […]
There’s no doubt this is a challenging time. Budgets are reduced, belts are being tightened. But, we’re witnessing something unprecedented in web development. Not a gradual evolution, but a fundamental restructuring of how we build for the web—one that will reshape the profession more dramatically in the next 18 months than the previous two decades […]
The architecture of web applications is undergoing a fundamental transformation. More than a simple migration from old to new, a fundamental rethinking about how we structure, deliver, and reason about web software. At Web Directions Developer Summit this November, we’re bringing together practitioners who are actively reshaping these patterns in production to help you chart […]
Last week was a very big one at Web Directions. We launched Web Directions To Go, that brings our conference experience to your team’s conference room. Premium content, professional production, zero travel. And we announced that performance.now() the world leading web performance conference is headed to Conffab–you can stream live on October 30 and 31 […]
The discourse around AI in development sometimes seem to be a struggle between breathless evangelism and dismissive skepticism. At our Developer Summit this November we’ll help you understand what’s actually happening beneath the surface, with real-world use cases and experitise to help you shape how you and your team are adopting these technologies.. Demystifying the […]
The pandemic didn’t just disrupt conferences—it forced us to completely rethink them. When in-person events became impossible, we didn’t just have speakers on Zoom calls with their webcams. We rethought and rebuilt everything from the ground up: dynamic multi-camera production, professional real-time editing, purpose-built chat and Q&A systems, and most recently, live captioning that works […]
The conversation around AI and web development has moved far beyond code completion and chatbots. At Web Directions Developer Summit, we’re exploring something more fundamental: how AI is reshaping not just our tools, but our entire conception of what we’re building and who we’re building for. Building Agents: Less Magic, More Engineering The mystique around […]
Twice in my career have I’ve felt the ground really shift under our feet. The first was the late 1990s and early 2000s, when standards-based development, progressive enhancement and CSS layout rewired how we build for the web. The second was the early 2010s, as responsive design and a modern JavaScript ecosystem took hold. My […]
Front-end development has become extraordinarily complex over the past fifteen years. What was for nearly the first two decades been the relatively simple direct manipulation of the Document Object Model (DOM) using HTML, CSS, and JavaScript has evolved into an intricate ecosystem of frameworks, build tools, state management libraries, and abstractions upon abstractions. React, Angular, […]
Last week, we launched the programmes for three upcoming conferences: All have a very healthy dose of AI and large language models because, whether we like it or not, whether we’re ready or not, those technologies are transforming how we do our job and the things that we build. So if you’re a front-end developer, […]
This week, we launched the programme for our upcoming Next conference, “Product in the Age of AI and LLMs“, as well as the full programme for our Developer Summit conference, coming up in late November in Sydney and, of course, online. Check out the programmes, mark your calendars, and we’ll see you there for these fantastic events! If you’d […]
Web Directions South is the must-attend event of the year for anyone serious about web development
Phil Whitehouse General Manager, DT Sydney
