Web standards and the principles behind building sites that last. Covering semantic HTML, progressive enhancement, performance, and core web technologies.
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Frameworks come and go, but the web platform endures. Semantic HTML, progressive enhancement, and standards-compliant markup aren't old-fashioned. They're the foundation that makes everything else work. A site built on solid standards loads faster, breaks less often, and ages more gracefully than one chasing the latest toolchain.
These posts explore the principles behind durable web development. We cover semantic markup patterns, browser APIs, performance optimization, and the philosophy of building with the grain of the web rather than against it. If you believe the best technology is the kind that lasts, this collection is for you.
Written by Brent Passmore, Had A Farm
AI answer engines don't guess at content meaning. They read the structured data you provide. Schema markup is no longer just an SEO tactic. It's the label that teaches machines what your content actually is.
Every second your page takes to load costs you visitors. Performance isn't a technical nicety. It's the difference between a harvest that makes it to market and one that rots in the field.
Google now indexes the mobile version of your site first. If your small-screen experience is an afterthought, your search presence is built on the afterthought too. The small plot is the one that matters most.
Your HTML tells browsers how content looks. Structured data tells search engines what content means. It's the almanac in your toolshed: organized, referenced, and built for machines that need facts, not aesthetics.
You wouldn't plant seeds in frozen ground. Core Web Vitals tell you whether your site's performance soil is warm enough for growth, and Google is paying attention to the thermometer.
Headings aren't just big text. They're the structural skeleton of your page: the rows and furrows that tell both humans and machines where one section ends and another begins.
Imagine walking through a farm where you have to open every gate in sequence before reaching the barn. That's what keyboard users experience without skip links and proper focus management.
Without landmarks, a screen reader user sees your website as one enormous undifferentiated field. ARIA landmarks and semantic HTML create the fences, gates, and signposts that make navigation possible.
That light gray text on white might look elegant in Figma, but it fails 4.6 million Americans with low vision. Color contrast is a WCAG requirement, not a style choice, and getting it right makes everything better.
Factory-farmed code ships fast and breaks faster. Here's why we take the agrarian approach to software: patient, intentional, and built to last more than one season.
Accessibility and SEO aren't competing priorities. They're companion plants. When you invest in one, the other grows stronger. Here's how they share the same root system.
A healthy harvest starts underground. Accessibility isn't a feature bolted onto a finished product. It's the soil everything else depends on. Here's why WCAG compliance should be the first seed you plant.
Web standards are the specifications and best practices defined by organizations like the W3C and WHATWG that govern how websites are built. They include HTML for structure, CSS for presentation, and JavaScript for behavior. Building to standards ensures your site works reliably across browsers, devices, and assistive technologies without depending on proprietary features.
Semantic HTML uses elements like header, nav, main, article, and footer to convey the meaning and structure of your content, not just its appearance. Screen readers use these elements to help users navigate. Search engines use them to understand page structure. And developers benefit from code that is self-documenting and easier to maintain.
Progressive enhancement is a development strategy that starts with a baseline of content and functionality that works for everyone, then layers on advanced features for browsers that support them. This approach ensures your site remains usable even when JavaScript fails, network conditions are poor, or users rely on older devices.
Standards-compliant code tends to be leaner and more efficient than framework-heavy alternatives. Semantic HTML reduces the need for extra wrapper elements. Native browser features like the details element or CSS Grid replace JavaScript-dependent solutions. The result is smaller payloads, faster rendering, and better Core Web Vitals scores.
Absolutely. Modern frameworks like React, Vue, and Svelte all compile down to HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. Understanding the underlying standards helps you write better framework code, debug rendering issues, and build accessible interfaces. Frameworks are tools that sit on top of the platform, but the platform itself is defined by web standards.