Ryan Townsend
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Ryan Townsend
@twnsnd.com
Principal Product Manager @ Cloudflare • Public Speaker • 20+ YOE in Tech, 10 as CTO • LessonsofaCTO.com
Pinned
After implementing Compression Dictionaries back in December, I sat down with @yoav.ws and @patmeenan.com to discuss getting the most out of them and provide some visuals for those new to the concept. Check out the video below:

youtu.be/YR2er3EiYnM / lessonsofacto.com/videos/032-c...
Compression Dictionaries: How Google & Shopify Are Bringing SPA Speed to MPA Websites
YouTube video by Lessons of a CTO
youtu.be
Reposted by Ryan Townsend
We just finished the beta of our website. Look out for updates on Viewport soon!

You can sign up to our mailing list to be kept in the loop. viewportconf.org
Viewport 2027 — An independent conference about the web
An independent conference about the web, the people who build it, and the people we build it for. Liverpool, May 2027.
viewportconf.org
September 3, 2026 at 10:06 AM
Reposted by Ryan Townsend
Jeremy's whole post is worth a read, and I would underline + bold the last point: the web is the superior choice for privacy and security, and it's anti-web *and anti-user* to be preferencing native app install affordances:

adactio.com/journal/22757
Stalling installing
Trying to get past Webkit’s blockage at the W3C.
adactio.com
September 14, 2026 at 3:59 PM
Reposted by Ryan Townsend
We just launched experimental ad metrics in the Chrome User Experience Report (CrUX):

- Ad Count
- Ad Density
- Ad Weight: Network
- Ad Weight: CPU

These metrics are a set of ad-related measurements that provide transparency into sites' ad experiences.

developer.chrome.com/blog/crux-ad...

1/8 🧵
New ad metrics in Chrome User Experience Report  |  Blog  |  Chrome for Developers
Learn about the new ad metrics now available in the Chrome User Experience Report (CrUX)
developer.chrome.com
September 15, 2026 at 4:29 PM
I can't attend in person, but NY folk should! Sufian is a talented engineer who I'm lucky to call one of my colleagues.
September 12, 2026 at 6:05 PM
Reposted by Ryan Townsend
Interop 2027 prep is now. Want to help?

1. Go to developer-signals.rviscomi.workers.dev
2. Sign-in using GitHub
3. Find features you need
4. Click the comment icon, add your use case
5. Submit

There aren't many ways to tell browsers what you need and why you need them.
That's a very effective one.
September 11, 2026 at 7:24 AM
Reposted by Ryan Townsend
So, submit your own proposal or give a 👍 to already listed/proposed features you'd like to see supported across browsers.
Starting with LoAF when unsure where to start upvoting 😜
github.com/web-platform...

RUM tools, developers and ultimately site visitors will all benefit!

3/3
Long Animation Frames API · Issue #1372 · web-platform-tests/interop
Description The Long Animation Frames API (aka LoAF) defines a mechanism for pages to observe “long animation frames” (animation or rendering updates delayed beyond ~50 ms) that block rendering or ...
github.com
September 5, 2026 at 9:10 AM
Huge milestone for Cloudflare RUM (aka Web Analytics) today! @nicj.net completed his first major update: support for the Soft Navigations API 🎉 🎉 🎉 see: developers.cloudflare.com/changelog/po...

Hat-tip to @tunetheweb.com, @mmocny.com and @yoav.ws for their work and support on the API 🧡
Web Analytics improves soft navigation measurement for Single Page Applications (SPAs)
Cloudflare Web Analytics now uses the native Soft Navigation API (where available) to more accurately measure pageviews and Core Web Vitals for Single Page Applications. Pageview counts may increase a...
developers.cloudflare.com
September 4, 2026 at 10:37 AM
Can 2027 be the year we finally get all the Core Web Vitals in all browsers? 🙏

Work your magic folks: github.com/web-platform... #webperf
September 3, 2026 at 8:53 PM
Reposted by Ryan Townsend
Using the @e18e.dev MCP server has been pretty fun. "Check the dependencies for any redundant ones", and it does a pretty good job!

We can improve it but it's a great start 🎉

Big thanks to @paolo.ricciuti.me being the resident ai guy 😄
e18e MCP server
The official e18e MCP server, advising agents on modern and performant best practices.
mcp.e18e.dev
August 4, 2026 at 2:33 PM
Reposted by Ryan Townsend
If you're dealing with SVG icons you probably know the pain of overwriting colors. There's a new spec in the making that allows controlling CSS variables from "the outside". And it's shipping in Firefox already!

https://drafts.csswg.org...
July 17, 2026 at 10:44 AM
Amazing resource for anyone trying to understand performance profiles 👏🏻
In my audits, reading the Performance profile is where people get stuck: the flame chart and waterfall look like noise at first

I built an interactive guide to make them click, every figure is interactive, plus LCP, CLS, INP and the Insights panel

perf.reviews/profile-guide

#WebPerf #DevTools
Reading a Performance Profile: Field Guide
An interactive field guide to the Chrome DevTools Performance panel: waterfall, flame chart, LCP, CLS, INP, and the Insights panel.
perf.reviews
July 25, 2026 at 4:25 PM
Reposted by Ryan Townsend
If you work in frontend or on browsers, @lea.verou.me's post on polyfills is worth your time:

lea.verou.me/blog/2026/po...

/via @gregwhitworth.bsky.social
In defense of polyfills • Lea Verou
A highly influential spec editor expressed the opinion that polyfilling is harmful. I beg to differ.
lea.verou.me
July 15, 2026 at 6:56 PM
Cloudflare Real User Monitoring (aka Web Analytics) is the # analytics tool of 2025—with installs on 1.5% of all websites!—according to w3techs.com/blog/entry/w...

Reminder you can use this completely for free, even if you don’t use Cloudflare as your CDN!
July 9, 2026 at 8:29 AM
Reposted by Ryan Townsend
The unsung heroes of our time.

@43081j.com from the @e18e.dev community cut 1 MB from caniuse-lite.

With 700M installs per month, that saves around 700 TB of global internet traffic every month.

github.com/browserslist...
July 8, 2026 at 5:27 PM
Huge improvement to Cloudflare just dropped: you can now cache worker responses 🎉 🎉 🎉

blog.cloudflare.com/workers-cache/ #webperf
Your Worker can now have its own cache in front of it
We are launching Workers Cache, a regionally tiered cache that sits directly in front of your Worker entrypoints. Infinitely composable, configured via standard HTTP headers
blog.cloudflare.com
July 7, 2026 at 9:50 AM
Thank god I don’t have to keep this quiet any longer!

Looking forward to having you onboard @philhawksworth.dev! 🎉
I start my new job in a week.
July 6, 2026 at 5:07 PM
Reposted by Ryan Townsend
I've just hit publish on the photos and videos for the last conference in May. It's wonderful to reflect now a few months have passed on what an amazing day it was. I'll look back at the years we ran All Day Hey! with incredibly fond memories.
July 3, 2026 at 12:58 PM
What’s the daily recommended intake of Calipos for an adult male? Asking for a friend.
June 24, 2026 at 10:55 AM
Reposted by Ryan Townsend
It's happening...

We've asked Chromium API owners for permission to ship The Soft Navigation work to allow measuring of Core Web Vitals for SPAs!!
June 23, 2026 at 8:46 PM
This number is now <43 😉
As of this morning we have 43 tickets left for #SotB2027
And we haven't even announced the line up.

Do not be disappointed and buy early

2027.stateofthebrowser.com/tickets/#:~:...
Tickets | State of the Browser
More information and buying options for tickets.
2027.stateofthebrowser.com
June 23, 2026 at 11:29 AM
Reposted by Ryan Townsend
Hey! Look at that! in Safari 27! webkit.org/blog/17967/n...
News from WWDC26: WebKit in Safari 27 beta
Safari 27 beta is here.
webkit.org
June 8, 2026 at 8:54 PM
@bram.us are there any plans to make the "positioning an between two anchors, allowing for crossing either axis" any cleaner? (basically your demo from SotB youtu.be/VD_q3x9GnZs?...)

I've just had a need to do this and while it works... I'm not proud of this committing this code.
June 2, 2026 at 1:39 PM
We definitely need more image codecs, right? Apple have been working on a machine-learning-based image codec with some impressive stats: apple.github.io/ml-pico/ #webperf
What Matters in Practical Learned Image Compression
What Matters in Practical Learned Image Compression
apple.github.io
June 1, 2026 at 10:52 AM
Reposted by Ryan Townsend
beating our blues by watching this amazing aftermovie
youtu.be/EmNVwmB7k90
Aftermovie JSHeroes 2026
YouTube video by JSHeroes
youtu.be
May 28, 2026 at 4:26 PM
Still not over how wonderful @jsheroes.io was. 💯 post-conference blues.

I’ve been fortunate enough to speak at over 20 conferences now and this was in a league of its own.

So many new friends made, attendees, speakers, organisers and volunteers alike ❤️

Well done @alexmoldovan.dev and crew 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻
Talks may be over, but the community moments continued at our traditional speakers picnic. 🐻 🚀

#JSHeroes #JScommunity #tech #const #papanași
#latteart
May 23, 2026 at 10:47 AM