Ryan Townsend
@twnsnd.com
Technology Leader & Distinguished Software Engineer • 20+ YOE in Tech, 10+ as CTO • Public Speaker • LessonsofaCTO.com & TWNSND.com
Pinned
Ryan Townsend
@twnsnd.com
· Sep 24
Software Engineering Insight from 1990s PlayStation Game Development
YouTube video by Lessons of a CTO
youtu.be
This is a fun one: what a 1990s PlayStation game studio taught me about software engineering 🎮 youtu.be/86bnEALGiDY
Reposted by Ryan Townsend
The "i" in "iPhone" stands for "inequality", late 2025 edition:
November 18, 2025 at 3:51 AM
The "i" in "iPhone" stands for "inequality", late 2025 edition:
Implemented shared compression dictionaries [1] on an @11ty.dev site.
Nothing in production to share yet, but shows HTML responses being ¼–⅓ the size of @netlify.com's dynamic Brotli-compression.
~4-6kb per page inc. inlined CSS, before any tuning 🤯
[1]: chromestatus.com/feature/5124...
#webperf
Nothing in production to share yet, but shows HTML responses being ¼–⅓ the size of @netlify.com's dynamic Brotli-compression.
~4-6kb per page inc. inlined CSS, before any tuning 🤯
[1]: chromestatus.com/feature/5124...
#webperf
Chrome Platform Status
chromestatus.com
November 17, 2025 at 3:35 PM
Implemented shared compression dictionaries [1] on an @11ty.dev site.
Nothing in production to share yet, but shows HTML responses being ¼–⅓ the size of @netlify.com's dynamic Brotli-compression.
~4-6kb per page inc. inlined CSS, before any tuning 🤯
[1]: chromestatus.com/feature/5124...
#webperf
Nothing in production to share yet, but shows HTML responses being ¼–⅓ the size of @netlify.com's dynamic Brotli-compression.
~4-6kb per page inc. inlined CSS, before any tuning 🤯
[1]: chromestatus.com/feature/5124...
#webperf
Firefox 147 should land the Navigation API 🙌🏻 🙌🏻 🙌🏻 bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi...
1997962 - Ship Navigation API
RESOLVED (afarre) in Core - DOM: Navigation. Last updated 2025-11-13.
bugzilla.mozilla.org
November 13, 2025 at 7:31 PM
Firefox 147 should land the Navigation API 🙌🏻 🙌🏻 🙌🏻 bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi...
Reposted by Ryan Townsend
I can't describe how much I love this conference and how sad I am that this is the last one.
If you've ever thought it looks good and you want to try it, *now* is the time to do it with the cheapest tickets.
Trust me, you won't be disappointed. See you there?
If you've ever thought it looks good and you want to try it, *now* is the time to do it with the cheapest tickets.
Trust me, you won't be disappointed. See you there?
🚨 Announcing All Day Hey! 2026. Celebrating ten years of the conference. The final one. Let's go!
A curated conference for curious developers, designers, and technology leaders.
A curated conference for curious developers, designers, and technology leaders.
November 12, 2025 at 8:48 AM
I can't describe how much I love this conference and how sad I am that this is the last one.
If you've ever thought it looks good and you want to try it, *now* is the time to do it with the cheapest tickets.
Trust me, you won't be disappointed. See you there?
If you've ever thought it looks good and you want to try it, *now* is the time to do it with the cheapest tickets.
Trust me, you won't be disappointed. See you there?
Not only did @bram.us solve my problem (combining Scroll Driven Animations with @starting-style) but he even blogged about it 👏 All within 24 hours.
If I had one, my gratitude journal would mostly be a list of Bluesky handles 😅
If I had one, my gratitude journal would mostly be a list of Bluesky handles 😅
Blogged: www.bram.us/2025/11/06/c...
(There is still 1 part that has gotten me scratching my head myself … I’m hoping to get some clues from engineering on _why_ a certain thing is the way it is)
(There is still 1 part that has gotten me scratching my head myself … I’m hoping to get some clues from engineering on _why_ a certain thing is the way it is)
Combining Scroll-Driven Animations with @starting-style
How the cascade, the animation-fill-mode, and implicit keyframes make things a bit more complicated then you’d initially think …
www.bram.us
November 6, 2025 at 1:25 PM
Not only did @bram.us solve my problem (combining Scroll Driven Animations with @starting-style) but he even blogged about it 👏 All within 24 hours.
If I had one, my gratitude journal would mostly be a list of Bluesky handles 😅
If I had one, my gratitude journal would mostly be a list of Bluesky handles 😅
@bram.us is there any way to combine scroll driven animations with starting-style? e.g. to have something fade-in on page load with starting-style, but then have its scroll container apply an animation which operates on opacity?
I need the `@starting-style { opacity: 0 }` to take priority, I guess?
I need the `@starting-style { opacity: 0 }` to take priority, I guess?
November 4, 2025 at 10:46 PM
@bram.us is there any way to combine scroll driven animations with starting-style? e.g. to have something fade-in on page load with starting-style, but then have its scroll container apply an animation which operates on opacity?
I need the `@starting-style { opacity: 0 }` to take priority, I guess?
I need the `@starting-style { opacity: 0 }` to take priority, I guess?
When you have poor signal, the Bluesky app becomes more true to its name.
November 3, 2025 at 12:57 PM
When you have poor signal, the Bluesky app becomes more true to its name.
Reposted by Ryan Townsend
Fellow #perfnow fellows, a reminder that PerfPlanet calendar is coming this December for another edition. And it needs YOU. Please ask if you have any contribution ideas or concerns calendar.perfplanet.com/contribute/
Contribute
Passionate about a topic? Working on a new tool? Have a technique you want to teach? Research you've done? Tell the web performance community!
Send your articles to ssttoo@ymail.com. Please include:
...
calendar.perfplanet.com
October 30, 2025 at 4:59 PM
Fellow #perfnow fellows, a reminder that PerfPlanet calendar is coming this December for another edition. And it needs YOU. Please ask if you have any contribution ideas or concerns calendar.perfplanet.com/contribute/
In my opinion, any SWE writing client-side JavaScript has a responsibility to understand the Event Loop.
@jakearchibald.com’s ‘In The Loop’ talk is required watching: www.youtube.com/watch?v=cCOL...
(cited by @andydavies.me at #perfnow)
@jakearchibald.com’s ‘In The Loop’ talk is required watching: www.youtube.com/watch?v=cCOL...
(cited by @andydavies.me at #perfnow)
October 31, 2025 at 9:24 AM
In my opinion, any SWE writing client-side JavaScript has a responsibility to understand the Event Loop.
@jakearchibald.com’s ‘In The Loop’ talk is required watching: www.youtube.com/watch?v=cCOL...
(cited by @andydavies.me at #perfnow)
@jakearchibald.com’s ‘In The Loop’ talk is required watching: www.youtube.com/watch?v=cCOL...
(cited by @andydavies.me at #perfnow)
“~200 bytes of JavaScript that can wreck your performance” – @andydavies.me explaining download size doesn’t always correlate to runtime performance at #perfnow
#webperf
#webperf
October 31, 2025 at 9:16 AM
“~200 bytes of JavaScript that can wreck your performance” – @andydavies.me explaining download size doesn’t always correlate to runtime performance at #perfnow
#webperf
#webperf
“What happens when you want to center a div in Chrome?” — @michael-hladky.bsky.social at #perfnow
This would make a great interview question that would give a variety of different answers.
#webperf
This would make a great interview question that would give a variety of different answers.
#webperf
October 30, 2025 at 11:33 AM
“What happens when you want to center a div in Chrome?” — @michael-hladky.bsky.social at #perfnow
This would make a great interview question that would give a variety of different answers.
#webperf
This would make a great interview question that would give a variety of different answers.
#webperf
Northern UK developers: join us tonight in Manchester for a talk on scaling to support hundreds of millions in client transaction volume.
It contains a lot of framework-agnostic advice, so non-Ruby developers stand to learn a thing or two too!
It contains a lot of framework-agnostic advice, so non-Ruby developers stand to learn a thing or two too!
October 16, 2025 at 10:34 AM
Northern UK developers: join us tonight in Manchester for a talk on scaling to support hundreds of millions in client transaction volume.
It contains a lot of framework-agnostic advice, so non-Ruby developers stand to learn a thing or two too!
It contains a lot of framework-agnostic advice, so non-Ruby developers stand to learn a thing or two too!
Safari TP 230 includes support for Largest Contentful Paint 🙌 #webperf
Webkit: Release Notes for Safari Technology Preview 230
Webkit: Release Notes for Safari Technology Preview 230
Webkit: Release Notes for Safari Technology Preview 230
webkit.org
October 15, 2025 at 9:27 PM
Safari TP 230 includes support for Largest Contentful Paint 🙌 #webperf
Reposted by Ryan Townsend
Just one week to go until our next event! Come hear @twnsnd.com share his story – Millions on Rails: A Two-Decade Retrospective on Scaling With Rails
nwrug.org/events/milli...
nwrug.org/events/milli...
NWRUG Event: Millions on Rails: A Two-Decade Retrospective on Scaling With Rails, Thursday 16th October
This month, Ryan Townsend will be sharing stories about how he started, scaled, and liquidated a Rails-based startup that at its peak reached £5M ARR:
Ryan h...
nwrug.org
October 9, 2025 at 7:13 PM
Just one week to go until our next event! Come hear @twnsnd.com share his story – Millions on Rails: A Two-Decade Retrospective on Scaling With Rails
nwrug.org/events/milli...
nwrug.org/events/milli...
The next evolution from Zstd compression: openzl.org
More info: engineering.fb.com/2025/10/06/d... #webperf
More info: engineering.fb.com/2025/10/06/d... #webperf
Introducing OpenZL: An Open Source Format-Aware Compression Framework
OpenZL is a new open source data compression framework that offers lossless compression for structured data. OpenZL is designed to offer the performance of a format-specific compressor with the eas…
engineering.fb.com
October 9, 2025 at 6:41 PM
The next evolution from Zstd compression: openzl.org
More info: engineering.fb.com/2025/10/06/d... #webperf
More info: engineering.fb.com/2025/10/06/d... #webperf
Is this mob programming?
October 9, 2025 at 12:02 PM
Is this mob programming?
Reposted by Ryan Townsend
At #fronteers #DarkMode, @utilitybend.com proposed the HTML Element.
It unlocks the multi-handle range slider, a pattern you might have already seen when picking a price-range.
Feedback Form (with links to the explainer and demos): docs.google.com/forms/u/0/d/...
It unlocks the multi-handle range slider, a pattern you might have already seen when picking a price-range.
Feedback Form (with links to the explainer and demos): docs.google.com/forms/u/0/d/...
October 3, 2025 at 4:24 PM
At #fronteers #DarkMode, @utilitybend.com proposed the HTML Element.
It unlocks the multi-handle range slider, a pattern you might have already seen when picking a price-range.
Feedback Form (with links to the explainer and demos): docs.google.com/forms/u/0/d/...
It unlocks the multi-handle range slider, a pattern you might have already seen when picking a price-range.
Feedback Form (with links to the explainer and demos): docs.google.com/forms/u/0/d/...
Reposted by Ryan Townsend
messenger.abeto.co
This is freaking insane. The level of polish necessary for this visual fidelity and it all runs flawlessly on mobile. Hats off.
This is freaking insane. The level of polish necessary for this visual fidelity and it all runs flawlessly on mobile. Hats off.
Messenger
It's a small planet, but someone's gotta make the deliveries.
messenger.abeto.co
October 2, 2025 at 9:49 AM
messenger.abeto.co
This is freaking insane. The level of polish necessary for this visual fidelity and it all runs flawlessly on mobile. Hats off.
This is freaking insane. The level of polish necessary for this visual fidelity and it all runs flawlessly on mobile. Hats off.
Looking forward to talking about scaling #RubyonRails to hundreds of millions of yearly client revenue @nwrug.org meetup on Thursday 16th in Manchester, my old university city 🙌
Come join us for free 👉 nwrug.org/events/milli...
Come join us for free 👉 nwrug.org/events/milli...
NWRUG Event: Millions on Rails: A Two-Decade Retrospective on Scaling With Rails, Thursday 16th October
This month, Ryan Townsend will be sharing stories about how he started, scaled, and liquidated a Rails-based startup that at its peak reached £5M ARR:
Ryan h...
nwrug.org
October 2, 2025 at 9:19 AM
Looking forward to talking about scaling #RubyonRails to hundreds of millions of yearly client revenue @nwrug.org meetup on Thursday 16th in Manchester, my old university city 🙌
Come join us for free 👉 nwrug.org/events/milli...
Come join us for free 👉 nwrug.org/events/milli...
Reposted by Ryan Townsend
Compression dictionaries is now an official RFC! www.rfc-editor.org/rfc/rfc9842....
RFC 9842: Compression Dictionary Transport
This document specifies a mechanism for dictionary-based compression in the
Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP). By utilizing this technique, clients and
servers can reduce the size of transmitted data...
www.rfc-editor.org
October 1, 2025 at 5:56 AM
Compression dictionaries is now an official RFC! www.rfc-editor.org/rfc/rfc9842....
This is a fun one: what a 1990s PlayStation game studio taught me about software engineering 🎮 youtu.be/86bnEALGiDY
Software Engineering Insight from 1990s PlayStation Game Development
YouTube video by Lessons of a CTO
youtu.be
September 24, 2025 at 1:07 PM
This is a fun one: what a 1990s PlayStation game studio taught me about software engineering 🎮 youtu.be/86bnEALGiDY
Reposted by Ryan Townsend
Blink: Intent to Ship: Interest Invokers (the `interestfor` attribute)
Blink: Intent to Ship: Interest Invokers (the `interestfor` attribute)
Blink: Intent to Ship: Interest Invokers (the `interestfor` attribute)
groups.google.com
September 18, 2025 at 8:40 PM
Blink: Intent to Ship: Interest Invokers (the `interestfor` attribute)
The #1 reason to upgrade to iOS 26… particularly in the UK, spam has been epidemic recently.
September 17, 2025 at 3:02 PM
The #1 reason to upgrade to iOS 26… particularly in the UK, spam has been epidemic recently.
Added an Interop 2026 Proposal for CSS Scroll State: github.com/web-platform... – please upvote!
It would be nice to remove JavaScript requirement for various popular design patterns we're all using on the web (floaty navs, scroll shadows etc)
cc: @nerdy.dev @bram.us
#webperf #webplatform #webdev
It would be nice to remove JavaScript requirement for various popular design patterns we're all using on the web (floaty navs, scroll shadows etc)
cc: @nerdy.dev @bram.us
#webperf #webplatform #webdev
CSS Scroll State Queries · Issue #1090 · web-platform-tests/interop
Description CSS Scroll State Queries are one of the final nails in the coffin for requiring JavaScript for a plethora of popular design patterns on the web such as carousels, sliders and shrinking ...
github.com
September 17, 2025 at 9:59 AM
Added an Interop 2026 Proposal for CSS Scroll State: github.com/web-platform... – please upvote!
It would be nice to remove JavaScript requirement for various popular design patterns we're all using on the web (floaty navs, scroll shadows etc)
cc: @nerdy.dev @bram.us
#webperf #webplatform #webdev
It would be nice to remove JavaScript requirement for various popular design patterns we're all using on the web (floaty navs, scroll shadows etc)
cc: @nerdy.dev @bram.us
#webperf #webplatform #webdev
"It’s time to choose frameworks based on constraints and merit rather than momentum." – @cheddybop.bsky.social
Amen 👏
www.lorenstew.art/blog/react-w...
#webplatform #webdev #webperf
Amen 👏
www.lorenstew.art/blog/react-w...
#webplatform #webdev #webperf
React Won by Default – And It's Killing Frontend Innovation | Loren Stewart
Exploring how React's dominance by default stifles frontend innovation, and why deliberate framework choices lead to better tools for performance, developer experience, and ecosystem diversity.
www.lorenstew.art
September 15, 2025 at 8:39 PM
"It’s time to choose frameworks based on constraints and merit rather than momentum." – @cheddybop.bsky.social
Amen 👏
www.lorenstew.art/blog/react-w...
#webplatform #webdev #webperf
Amen 👏
www.lorenstew.art/blog/react-w...
#webplatform #webdev #webperf