Web Witch Weekly: Issue 24

Open source maintainers are feeling the squeeze, five testharness.js mistakes, intent to experiment for longer, why I like designing in the browser, are there plenty of fish in the sea? and more!

February 27, 2025

Hi friends and welcome to issue 24 of Web Witch Weekly, I have been deep in a re-design of a website the past two weeks. I’m definitely enjoying the fact I can step away from the code and dive into a PM task. Lots of articles about the web this week, so let’s get into them.

On the Web, About the Web

Open source maintainers are really feeling the squeeze
Open source funding is drying up, which is not a good place for OSS to be in as maintainers battle burnout.

Five testharness.js mistakes
Frédéric takes us through some mistakes he’s encountered in web platform tests and how to fix them.

Intent to experiment for longer
Roma shares his thoughts about new features shipping in Chrome without enough time to ensure the feature is actual ready to ship.

Why I like designing in the browser
Tyler shares why he likes designing in the browser (it’s my preferred method too)

Why personal websites matter more than ever
Social media sites are not walled gardens, but prisons. A great write up on owning your own website and content.

🔊 Hey, Listen!

Tutorials & Tools

Light/Dark Mode Toggles
Stumbled upon some pretty pre-built toggles while trying to find a good tutorial for my own light/dark mode task.

BritCSS
Permits the use of British spellings, instead of American spellings in your CSS files.

Outside the Web (Exploring Outside Our Bubble)

Are these the last days of Brazil's realm of hidden wonder?
Modern life and consumerism threatens this Brazilian savanna.

Are there plenty of fish in the sea? Ask an elephant seal.
How elephant seals can help count deep-sea fish.

Lost 15th-century Zapotec city unearthed in Mexican jungle
What else does the jungle have hidden from us? The scale of this city is much larger than originally estimated.

The Web Witch (Stephanie)

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