Philip Walton
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Philip Walton
@philipwalton.com
1.5K followers 200 following 30 posts
Engineering lead @ Google working on Chrome and the Web. I occasionally blog at: https://philipwalton.com
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Philip Walton @philipwalton.com · Sep 9
📢 New post: The State of ES5 on the Web.

For years, we defaulted to transpiling to ES5 in order to support IE. But is that still necessary?

I took a look at the data to find out, and I'll just say that the results were *actually* quite surprising! 🙀

philipwalton.com/articles/the...
The State of ES5 on the Web
Should web developers and JavaScript library authors still transpile their code to ES5? This post looks at what the data suggests based on what popular libraries, tools, and websites are doing
philipwalton.com
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Reposted by Philip Walton
addyosmani.bsky.social
Addy Osmani @addyosmani.bsky.social · 17h
View Transitions are now in all browsers! They also landed in React! developer.chrome.com/blog/view-tr...
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Reposted by Philip Walton
agektmr.com
Eiji Kitamura / えーじ @agektmr.com · 13d
Chrome for Android can now help users adopt passkeys more seamlessly.

If a user signs in with a saved password , your website can request that an associated password manager (in many cases on Chrome is Google Password Manager) creates a passkey automatically.

developer.chrome.com/blog/automat...
Automatic passkey creation in Chrome for Android  |  Blog  |  Chrome for Developers
Chrome for Android can now automatically create passkeys after password sign-in, helping users transition to passkeys with less friction.
developer.chrome.com
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Reposted by Philip Walton
bram.us
Bramus @bram.us · 15d
A lot has happened since Chrome shipped Same-Document View Transitions in 2023.

In 2024 we shipped Cross-Document VTs, added refinements such as `view-transition-class` and VT Types, and also welcomed Safari in adding VT support.

And this year … well, I wrote a post summing it all up.
What's new in view transitions (2025 update)  |  Blog  |  Chrome for Developers
An overview of what changed for View Transitions in 2025
developer.chrome.com
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Reposted by Philip Walton
paul.kinlan.me
Paul Kinlan @paul.kinlan.me · 24d
If we started Chrome Dev Summit again, would you be interested in it?

(huh - apparently can't do polls here...), Please reply, Yes or No, or any other answer in between.
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Reposted by Philip Walton
developers.google.com
Google for Developers @developers.google.com · 28d
✅ Baseline now has full feature coverage, making it easier to know which web platform features are ready to use.

Build the next wave of Baseline-powered tools and compete for $10,000 in prizes → goo.gle/424SBWc
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Reposted by Philip Walton
developer.chrome.com
Chrome for Developers @developer.chrome.com · Sep 23
Announcing our public preview of Chrome DevTools MCP! Experience the full power of DevTools in your AI coding agent→ goo.gle/4pDE6Tk

With Chrome DevTools MCP, your AI agent can run performance traces, inspect the DOM, & perform real-time debugging of your web pages.
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Reposted by Philip Walton
rviscomi.dev
Rick Viscomi @rviscomi.dev · Sep 16
Before, you needed a plugin to use Baseline semantics in your Browserslist queries. Now you don't!

Just give it a target like `baseline widely available` and it'll work out of the box

Available in [email protected] and later

web.dev/blog/browser...
Browserslist now supports Baseline  |  Blog  |  web.dev
Browserslist has added support for Baseline queries. Find out what that could mean for your developer workflow.
web.dev
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Reposted by Philip Walton
rviscomi.dev
Rick Viscomi @rviscomi.dev · Sep 2
Show us your best tooling ideas to help developers adopt more modern web features!

Join the hackathon for your shot at $10,000 in cash prizes 🔥🔥

web.dev/blog/baselin...
The Baseline Tooling Hackathon starts now!  |  Blog  |  web.dev
Want to make the web better for a chance to win cash prizes? Join the Baseline Tooling Hackathon!
web.dev
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Reposted by Philip Walton
digitaltransient.bsky.social
Penny @digitaltransient.bsky.social · Aug 15
Scoped View Transitions are ready for testing in Chrome!

SVTs expose el.startViewTransition() on HTML elements. The element creates a scope for the transition, ∴ the transition pseudo-elements are affected by ancestor clips and transforms. Multiple SVTs on separate elements can run *concurrently*.
github.com
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Reposted by Philip Walton
miriam.codes
Mia (online) @miriam.codes · Aug 13
🎉 Happy 30-month anniversary to Container Queries – in every browser since Feb, 2023. It was supposed to be impossible, but here we are!

Why 2.5 years? Nothing will change tomorrow, but Baseline uses this milestone to signal confidence a feature has gained "wide" support.

youtu.be/bhHV0rQ3-CQ
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philipwalton.com
Philip Walton @philipwalton.com · Aug 13
I know, I'm shocked as well!
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philipwalton.com
Philip Walton @philipwalton.com · Aug 13
Totally agree.

I'm not aware that it's a thing that has ever actually happened (though admittedly it would be hard to know if it did). But it's definitely something people are concerned could happen.

Here's one example (and I've heard others express similar concerns): bsky.app/profile/zach...
zachleat.com Zach Leatherman @zachleat.com · Mar 10
Let’s talk about why Baseline browser compatibility doesn’t tell a complete story about whether or not a feature can be used “safely” by developers.
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philipwalton.com
Philip Walton @philipwalton.com · Aug 13
But IMO anyone who understands how to use progressive enhancement is likely not going to be confused or dissuaded by Baseline labels.

The primary audience for Baseline labels are people that *don't* fully understand progressive enhancement and aren't actively looking to try out new features.
philipwalton.com
Philip Walton @philipwalton.com · Aug 13
The specific concern I've heard is that adding Baseline labels to blog posts and reference documentation will scare people off from using "limited availability" features, even if those features can easily be used as progressive enhancements now...
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philipwalton.com
Philip Walton @philipwalton.com · Aug 13
If you want to find out what Baseline target makes the most sense for your site, there are a number of tools to help you determine that: bsky.app/profile/deve...

And if you work at a company that doesn't have a browser support policy, talk to them about Baseline! #WhatsMyBaseline
developer.chrome.com Chrome for Developers @developer.chrome.com · Aug 8
What new web features are your users actually ready for? Stop guessing. 🔮

Baseline helps you make data-driven decisions so you can ship the right features at the right time. Learn more and find your target with #WhatsMyBaseline → goo.gle/whats-my-baseline
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philipwalton.com
Philip Walton @philipwalton.com · Aug 13
Using Baseline 2023 as my browser support target means I can safely adopt TONS of great features, including:

- :has()
- Container Queries
- CSS Nesting
- linear() easing

Any many more: webstatus.dev?q=baseline_d...
Web Platform Status
webstatus.dev
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philipwalton.com
Philip Walton @philipwalton.com · Aug 13
I believe this will lead to FASTER feature adoption on the web, not slower.

I also bet there are many features you can safely use now that you may not realize. For example, on my personal website, 98.2% of my users are on browsers that support all of Baseline 2023.

Here's what my data looks like:
Baseline Report Table, generated via: https://chrome.dev/google-analytics-baseline-checker/ Baseline target, % of users supporting 2015, 100.0% 2016, 100.0% 2017, 99.9% 2018, 99.8% 2019, 99.8% 2020, 99.8% 2021, 99.3% 2022, 99.2% 2023, 98.2% 2024, 96.0% Widely Available, 98.9% Newly Available, 87.5%
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philipwalton.com
Philip Walton @philipwalton.com · Aug 13
BUT, if your company has a browser support policy, the decision is simple.

This is why I'm excited about Baseline.

Baseline makes it easier for companies to decide on a browser support policy. And with Baseline data now exposed in so many tools and resources, devs can easily follow that policy.
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philipwalton.com
Philip Walton @philipwalton.com · Aug 13
In this situation, most devs will give up. Or worse, many won't even try at all because they don't want the hassle.

I've seen this play out many times, even with features that have been available for 5+ YEARS!

Unfortunately, if a feature is not already in the codebase, it will face resistance.
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philipwalton.com
Philip Walton @philipwalton.com · Aug 13
Even if you convince your immediate teammates, is that enough? Do you need sign-off from a manager? Your CTO? Who is the final decision maker?

And what if your code breaks a customer, will it get reverted and then you'll just end up having to rewrite it anyway?
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philipwalton.com
Philip Walton @philipwalton.com · Aug 13
Here's the scenario:

You get assigned a ticket, research a solution, and find a new Web API that does exactly what you need. But in the PR your teammates ask:

- Are you sure we can use this?
- Did you check browser support?
- Is this used anywhere else?

Now you’re on the hook to justify it.
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philipwalton.com
Philip Walton @philipwalton.com · Aug 13
In my experience, one of the main reasons devs don't use new web features is NOT lack of browser support, it's because their company doesn't have a clear browser support policy.

Without a clear policy, the path of least resistance is to just NOT adopt any new features, even widely available ones.
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philipwalton.com
Philip Walton @philipwalton.com · Aug 13
I know some people in the web community are concerned that Baseline will discourage devs from using new features—or anything not "Widely Available".

Personally, I'm not worried about that at all. If anything, I think Baseline will speed up new feature adoption!

Here's why 🧵
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Reposted by Philip Walton
developer.chrome.com
Chrome for Developers @developer.chrome.com · Aug 8
What new web features are your users actually ready for? Stop guessing. 🔮

Baseline helps you make data-driven decisions so you can ship the right features at the right time. Learn more and find your target with #WhatsMyBaseline → goo.gle/whats-my-baseline
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philipwalton.com
Philip Walton @philipwalton.com · Aug 7
TBH my significant other is questionable at times. When we first met she told me she likes hiking. Later she clarified that she "likes hiking, just not up hill".
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