Web Development Has a Short-Term Memory

Published on May 1, 2025, filed under development (feed). (Share this on Mastodon or Bluesky?)

Running Frontend Dogma, for which I’ve over the past years scanned more than 50,000 articles and videos from about 30 years of web development (of which I processed more than 15,000), and currently migrating 100s of articles from meiert.com, which I’ve been running for more than 20 years, I can say what I’ve already given away in the title:

Web development has a short-term memory.

You cannot believe how much stuff is being said all over again, even by the same people (guilty as charged).

Now yes, there are several information management problems and there isn’t really a good way of knowing that someone else may have written the same thing. But that doesn’t make the amount of repetition any less astonishing, frustrating, humbling, and even funny.

I’m taking the lazy route merely sharing the observation, but I’ll think about a way to present or visualize examples.

About Me

I’m Jens (long: Jens Oliver Meiert), and I’m a web developer, manager, and author. I’ve worked as a technical lead and engineering manager for small and large enterprises, I’m an occasional contributor to web standards (like HTML, CSS, WCAG), and I write and review books for O’Reilly and Frontend Dogma.

I love trying things, not only in web development and engineering management, but also in other areas like philosophy. Here on meiert.com I share some of my experiences and views. (I value you being critical, interpreting charitably, and giving feedback.)