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Web Day Out 2026

Web Day Out 2026

My thoughts and experience of the first Web Day Out in Brighton

Last week I attended Web Day Out in Brighton. It’s been a while since I’ve written one of these conference reviews, but here we go — especially as this one was new, and I feel the urge to champion it in the hope it returns for years to come.

I had a pleasant time, even if early‑spring Brighton felt more like midwinter without the sunshine.

What You Can Do Without JavaScript

I do far less coding now than I did ten years ago, but it was refreshing to hear from Jemima Abu about what’s possible using simple, accessible HTML and CSS rather than reaching straight for JavaScript. There are a few things I’m itching to add to my own site when I next have time.

Did I mention I’d love to revive a meetup for people working on their personal websites in London? It’s now almost a decade since I started Homebrew Website Club London.

Offline First

The night before, I bumped into Aleth Gueguen, who was speaking at the event. Sea‑travel‑loving and very much a sailor, she’d arrived via Brittany Ferries from France through Portsmouth. Her work on offline‑capable apps was a good reminder of the merits of progressive web apps in a world where we forget that not everyone has constant internet access.

Again, something I need to revisit for my own site — and maybe re‑enable as a feature.

Browser Support

It was great to see Rachel Andrew speaking again, this time on browser support rather than just CSS Grid. I think she was one of the first speakers I ever saw, almost 15 years ago, along with Jeremy Keith. It’s encouraging to see how far browser support has come in that time, even if we now have fewer browser engines.

It’s given me an idea for a related talk on screen reader support.

A Decade Lost to JavaScript Frameworks

I was strangely comforted by Harry Roberts' talk on the pain of working with companies who pour huge amounts of time, money and effort into bloated JavaScript frameworks in the hope of improving performance — often with the opposite result.

My career over the past decade reflects some of that pain: trying to wrap my head around ever‑changing frameworks that haven’t made sites any faster and, in many cases, have made them less accessible. It’s a relief to learn that recent improvements in web standards now offer far better features for seamless transitions between pages or views, without needing a heavyweight framework.

Better Stylesheets

Manuel Matuzović from Vienna spoke about the breadth of new CSS features, how to write better CSS, and his new project, olicss.com — an accessible, no‑class stylesheet built with modern CSS.

Accessibility and Fingerprinting

Lola Odelola's talk focused on alt text, but not in the way most people would expect. It was thought‑provoking to see how a feature request for browsers to detect more user preferences around alt text could actually harm user privacy, highlighting the trade‑off between accessibility and fingerprinting risk.

Last Thoughts

Overall, I really enjoyed my time at Web Day Out. Eight talks in one day, in a dark room, was comfortably within my cognitive load, and I stayed engaged throughout.

I heard many good things about State of the Browser a few weeks earlier, but sadly couldn’t make it this year.

I stuck around afterwards for a couple of drinks and chatted to people beyond my GDS bubble. Despite making me feel old, it was lovely to meet plenty of younger new faces, as well as bump into folks I’ve met over the years from all over Europe.

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