Web Foundations

Protocols, security, accessibility, and core browser APIs that underpin the web.

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Browser APIs

Web Foundations · 4 articles

Core browser APIs for DOM, storage, networking, and workers.

Accessibility Standards

Web Foundations · 2 articles

WCAG guidance, testing, and inclusive design patterns.
All Articles (6 articles)

  • Web Workers and Worklets for Off-Main-Thread Work

    Web Foundations / Browser APIs 15 min read

    Concurrency primitives for keeping the main thread responsive. Workers provide general-purpose parallelism via message passing; worklets integrate directly into the browser’s rendering pipeline for synchronized paint, animation, and audio processing.

  • Service Workers and Cache API

    Web Foundations / Browser APIs 17 min read

    A comprehensive exploration of offline-first web architecture, examining how the Service Worker API (W3C Working Draft, January 2026) enables network interception and background processing, how the Cache API provides fine-grained storage for request/response pairs, and how update flows ensure clients transition safely between versions. These APIs form the foundation of Progressive Web Apps (PWAs): service workers intercept fetches and decide response sources, Cache API stores those responses durably, and the lifecycle model ensures exactly one version controls clients at any time.

  • Fetch, Streams, and AbortController

    Web Foundations / Browser APIs 20 min read

    A comprehensive exploration of the modern web’s network primitives, examining how the Fetch Standard (WHATWG Living Standard, January 2026) unifies request/response handling across all platform features, how the Streams Standard enables incremental data processing with automatic backpressure, and how AbortController/AbortSignal (DOM Standard Section 3.3) provide composable cancellation semantics. These three APIs form an integrated system: Fetch exposes response bodies as ReadableStreams, Streams propagate backpressure through pipe chains, and AbortSignal enables cancellation at any point in the pipeline.

  • DOM API Essentials: Structure, Traversal, and Mutation

    Web Foundations / Browser APIs 22 min read

    A comprehensive exploration of DOM APIs, examining the interface hierarchy design decisions, selector return type differences, and the modern Observer pattern for efficient DOM monitoring. The DOM Standard (WHATWG Living Standard, last updated January 2026) defines a layered inheritance model where each interface adds specific capabilities while maintaining backward compatibility—understanding this design reveals why certain methods exist on Element rather than HTMLElement and why selector APIs return different collection types with distinct liveness semantics.

  • Accessibility Testing and Tooling Workflow

    Web Foundations / Accessibility Standards 14 min read

    A practical workflow for automated and manual accessibility testing, covering tool selection, CI/CD integration, and testing strategies. Automated testing catches approximately 57% of accessibility issues (Deque, 2021)—the remaining 43% requires keyboard navigation testing, screen reader verification, and subjective judgment about content quality. This guide covers how to build a testing strategy that maximizes automated coverage while establishing the manual testing practices that no tool can replace.

  • WCAG 2.2: Practical Accessibility Guide

    Web Foundations / Accessibility Standards 16 min read

    Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.2 became a W3C Recommendation in October 2023, adding 9 new success criteria focused on cognitive accessibility, mobile interaction, and focus visibility. This guide covers implementation strategies for semantic HTML, ARIA patterns, and testing methodologies—practical knowledge for building inclusive web experiences that meet legal requirements in the US (ADA) and EU (European Accessibility Act).