We’re dealing with the results of bad defaults, deployed at a terrible scale.
The way we make websites is built on a false assumption: that the tools we use are the right ones for the job. Now – more than ever – we should be questioning why common frameworks, dependencies, libraries, and other packages are often poorly optimised. Engineers can put in the work (and many do) to fix those issues, but if the default state is broken then most won't.
In other words, they have to give a damn. But giving a damn doesn’t scale.
It's the users that pay in the short-term, but in the long-term Ethan makes a valid point that it may ultimately mean the tech industry will require greater oversight and regulation. Some of what makes the web great might be lost in that process but, as he puts it:
If other industries follow building codes and regulations, why shouldn’t we?
