Interop 2024 proposals that I like

Interop is a project between the major web browser vendors to help create web standards between their products. I was’t building websites during the late 90s and early 2000s when there were major differences between browsers, but that doesn’t mean I don’t appreciate the effort to come together to help create a standard those of us who build for the web, can adhere to.

I thought I’d mention some of my favorite proposals. Most of them are high up in the list so they’re a favorite among many developers, but that’s ok!

scrollbar-color

Have you ever had content on your page that needs an overflow: scroll? Well you can’t style that scrollbar. It just ends up being the browser default. It would be cool to style that wouldn’t it?

Well that idea is proposed here. I think this is a wonderful idea but it has me a little scared. I think it’s great to do this but I think it’s important to do responsibly. Don’t want to hide a scrollbar but perhaps some folks only hide scrollbars because they can’t design for them?

Custom Media Queries

This is one of those “mad I didn’t think of it” ideas. Custom Media Queries would be awesome! Just look at the proposed syntax.

@custom-media --desktop (max-width: 70em);
@custom-media --mobile (max-width: 40em);

@media screen and (--desktop) {
  /* styles */
}
@media screen and (--mobile) {
  /* styles */
}
@media print and (--desktop) {
  /* styles */
}
@media print and (--mobile) {
  /* styles */
}

I think this is a great way to manage media queries. Would love to see this implemented.

Web Share API

The Web Share API would allow developers to build a sharing mechanism to let users share content easier.

This one is lower down the list and it exists…but the cross browser support isn’t great. That’s the point of Interop though so maybe we will see it. This one is more philosophical to me. To me, the web is about sharing. Information, content, whatever you want. Making it easier for users will almost always feel like a win to me. Hope to see continued support on this API.