Jeremy Keith – Building the Web

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I really enjoyed this interview with Jeremy Keith on the state of the web, how things have changed in recent years and why he’s a mix of optimistic and nervous for the future.

One thing that caught my attention during the interview more than anything was where Jeremy started discussing how folks think that websites are pretty crummy in general. This reminded me that I cannot count the number of times when someone has said to me “ah, I can’t view this website on my phone.”

We have websites that aren’t responsive! We have websites that litter the UI with advertisements and modals! And we have websites that are slow as all heck just when we need them the most!

Of course folks are going to start complaining about the web and working around them if they find that this is the case. I’ll even catch myself sending an email to myself when I know that the mobile experience is going to be crummy. Or I’ll Instapaper something because the design of the website is particularly difficult to read. Remember, Reader Mode is the button to beat.

My quick thought on this is that we shouldn’t become sour and pessimistic. We should roll up our sleeves and get to work because clearly there’s much left to do.

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