Explainer ·
The Response That Arrives Before the Response
A server can tell the browser what to fetch before it has built the page. That head start lasts exactly as long as the server is slow, and on fast sites it is close to zero.
Most explanations of the web stop at the surface. These are notes on the layer below: how a page is assembled and delivered, what it can observe about you while it does, and where the cost is hidden.
Explainer ·
A server can tell the browser what to fetch before it has built the page. That head start lasts exactly as long as the server is slow, and on fast sites it is close to zero.
Explainer ·
Every deploy makes your visitors re-download a bundle they already have 99% of. A standard published in September 2025 fixes that, and almost nobody has switched it on.
Explainer ·
Two things used to guarantee the back button reloads a page from scratch. Chrome rewired one in 2025 and is deleting the other in 2026, mid-rollout right now.
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Your light or dark mode setting can leave the machine as an HTTP request header. The same channel carries your motion and contrast preferences too.
Explainer ·
The User-Agent string was trimmed to leak less. The detail it carried did not disappear - it moved to a channel the server switches on, and one engine answers.