On March 12th, 1989, Tim Berners-Lee submitted Information Management: A Proposal. This would form the basis of what became the World Wide Web.
On March 12th, 2026, Web Day Out happened in Brighton.
Coincidence?
Yes. Yes, it is a coincidence. But it’s a pretty nice coincidence, you must admit.
It was a day dedicated to the World Wide Web. Not just the foundational languages of the web—HTML, CSS, and JavaScript—but also the foundational ideas of the web.
“Share what you know!” That was the original motto of the World Wide Web project. That was the motto of Web Day Out too.
Look, I’m biased because I put the line-up together but honestly, all of the speakers were superb! So much knowledge delivered in such entertaining fashion.
I had a blast. And I’ll give myself a little pat on the back for how I grouped the talks into rhyming couplets:
Browsers: Jemima talked about what you can do with just HTML and CSS these days, and Rachel followed up with how to come up with your own browser support strategy.
Performance: Aleth made the case for multi-page progressive web apps that work under any network conditions, and Harry followed up with an impassioned rant about how much time and energy has been wasted on over-engineered single-page apps that ignore what browsers can do.
Styling: Manuel walked us through a whole new approach to writing modern CSS, and Rich followed up with a whirlwind tour of all the great typographic possibilities in CSS.
Standards Jake took us on the standards journey to customisable select elements, including anchor positioning and popovers, and then Lola showed us exactly what it takes to add a new feature to a web browser.
Everything flowed together really nicely.
I was a little apprehensive going into Web Day Out that it would just be preaching to the converted. And sure, there were plenty of veteran devs there who already knew the value of progressive enhancement and making the most of web standards. But I was gratified to also see lots of younger faces in the crowd.
I was talking to one young developer afterwards and she told me what an eye-opening experience it was. Whereas before she would have defaulted to a framework-driven single-page app for everything, now she’s got the knowledge to make an appropriate architectural choice.
Mission accomplished!
If you couldn’t make it to Web Day Out and you want to experience some RAMO, here’s the chatter on Bluesky and Mastodon, lovely photos by Marc, a post by Dave, and a lovely post by Amber.
Thank you so much to everyone who came. I think you’ll agree it was a most excellent day out.