--- title: "How WebAssembly is pushing the Web forward" publication: "Frontend Focus" issue: 587 published_at: "2023-04-05" canonical_url: "https://frontendfoc.us/issues/587" --- Plus nightmares on Safari, a new privacy oriented browser, and some Joy Division. | Together with [![Imagekit\](https://res.cloudinary.com/cpress/image/upload/c_fill,g_auto,e_trim,w_290,h_100/e_make_transparent/co_white,e_outline:7/srf0buoihyfdsnjkebof.png)](https://imagekit.io/blog/video-storage-api/?utm_source=Cooperpress+&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=+FrontEndFocus_Newsletter&utm_term=video-storage-api) #​587 — April 5, 2023 | [Read on the web](https://frontendfoc.us/issues/587) [![\](https://res.cloudinary.com/cpress/image/upload/w_1280,e_sharpen:60,q_auto/qpcppdio3vlns9r3en2t.jpg)](https://web.dev/pwas-in-app-stores/) [Getting PWAs in App Stores with PWABuilder](https://web.dev/pwas-in-app-stores/) — Thomas Steiner demonstrates how [PWABuilder](https://www.pwabuilder.com/) makes it possible to submit Progressive Web Apps (PWAs) to app stores like those provided by Google, Apple, and Microsoft. Thomas Steiner (Google) [CSS Masking](https://ishadeed.com/article/css-masking/) — A deep dive into using CSS to apply masks to images, covering how it works, along with a few use cases and accompanying examples. Ahmad Shadeed [![\](https://copm.s3.amazonaws.com/c98b4f93.jpg)](https://imagekit.io/blog/video-storage-api/?utm_source=Cooperpress+&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=+FrontEndFocus_Newsletter&utm_term=video-storage-api) [Everything You Need to Know About Video Storage APIs](https://imagekit.io/blog/video-storage-api/?utm_source=Cooperpress+&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=+FrontEndFocus_Newsletter&utm_term=video-storage-api) — A technical overview of video storage APIs, including how they work, the benefits of using them, and how to implement one for your video needs. ImageKit sponsor [How WebAssembly is Accelerating New Web Functionality](https://blog.chromium.org/2023/04/how-webassembly-is-accelerating-new-web.html) — WebAssembly is a portable bytecode format that’s now broadly supported and allows developers to create new capabilities and functionality on the web. It doesn’t necessarily replace JavaScript, but extends its capabilities. Thomas Nattestad (Google) [Mullvad and Tor Team Up to Release Privacy-Focused Browser](https://mullvad.net/en/browser) — [Mullvad](https://mullvad.net/en) is a popular privacy-focused VPN service and they’ve teamed up with the Tor Project to unveil a privacy-focused _web browser_ designed to minimize the impact of tracking and fingerprinting. _“You could say it’s a Tor Browser to use without the Tor Network.”_ As with Tor, it’s a modified version of Firefox under the hood. Mullvad **⚡️ IN BRIEF** - A look at [what's new in Chrome 112](https://developer.chrome.com/en/blog/new-in-chrome-112/), incuding support for CSS style nesting. - Oliver Dunk of the Chrome Extensions Team has posted [an update on the Manifest V2 to Manifest V3 transition](https://groups.google.com/a/chromium.org/g/chromium-extensions/c/zQ77HkGmK9E/m/HjaaCIG-BQAJ) – it's taking longer than expected so Manifest V2 isn't disappearing any time soon. - Wes Bos quickly demonstrates [what you can do with CSS color functions](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Hfq6i94FwE) in a 1-minute YouTube short. - [An interview with the creator of CSS,](https://evrone.com/hakon-wium-lie-interview) Håkon Wium Lie. - Over on Twitter, [🐦 Stefan Judis notes](https://twitter.com/stefanjudis/status/1641732778503860225) that _Firefox Nightly_ is the first browser shipping support for `@media (scripting: none)` to detect disabled JavaScript in CSS. - After years of work, Firefox [no longer uses any XUL layouts.](https://crisal.io/words/2023/03/30/xul-layout-is-gone.html) [XUL](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/XUL) (XML User Interface Language) was once the bedrock of Mozilla software like Firefox, but has gradually been replaced. - On Windows, the latest Firefox now allows users to [control which third party DLLs are allowed to load](https://hacks.mozilla.org/2023/03/letting-users-block-injected-third-party-dlls-in-firefox/) into Firefox processes. 📙 **Tutorials, Articles & Opinion** [![\](https://res.cloudinary.com/cpress/image/upload/w_1280,e_sharpen:60,q_auto/e5g79h4l92z4zgr9ynek.jpg)](https://www.construct.net/en/blogs/ashleys-blog-2/safari-releases-development-1616) [Are Safari Releases Causing 'Development Hell'?](https://www.construct.net/en/blogs/ashleys-blog-2/safari-releases-development-1616) — Covers the troubles one team went through with the recent feature-packed Safari 16.4 release, highlighting the “_stress and disruption it caused_”, and why the developer believes it amounts to “_[Apple having a policy of negligence towards developers](https://twitter.com/AshleyGullen/status/1642847415777517570)_”. Harsh words, but challenges other developers might sympathize with. Ashley Gullen [What are Source Maps?](https://developer.chrome.com/en/blog/devtools-tips-23/) — Learn how source maps can help you debug your original code instead of what was actually deployed after a build process. Sofia Emelianova (Chrome Developers) [React Authentication, Simplified](https://userfront.com/tutorials/react-authentication?utm_source=frontendfoc.us&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=sponsored_link&utm_content=react_authentication) — In this article, we lay out a new approach to authentication (plus access control & SSO) in React applications. Userfront sponsor [![\](https://res.cloudinary.com/cpress/image/upload/w_1280,e_sharpen:60,q_auto/kfqwddom08l1wx3phe7i.jpg)](https://sebastiandedeyne.com/a-css-selector-to-highlight-clickable-elements/) [A CSS Selector to Highlight Clickable Elements](https://sebastiandedeyne.com/a-css-selector-to-highlight-clickable-elements/) — An interesting, if slightly convoluted, snippet. Seb De Deyne ▶[Learn HTML5 and CSS3 from Scratch](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mU6anWqZJcc) — This 11 hour epic probably isn’t for _you_ but given it’s on YouTube, it could be handy for anyone you know who wants to learn HTML. John Smilga 🔧 **Code, Tools & Resources** [Framework7 8.0: Build iOS, Android and Desktop Apps with HTML](https://framework7.io/) — An open source framework for building full-featured iOS, Android and Desktop apps with Web technologies, complete with an ecosystem of plugins and tools and the ability to hook into existing front-end frameworks. Framework7 [Simple Icons: 2444 Free SVG Icons for Popular Brands](https://simpleicons.org/) — This project that we link to every year or two continues to go from strength to strength. Simple Icons [StatiCrypt 3: Password Protect a Static HTML Page](https://github.com/robinmoisson/staticrypt) — We first linked this a few weeks ago, but it has since had a major release with lots of cleanups and a switch to using the more secure WebCrypto engine. [Live demo.](https://robinmoisson.github.io/staticrypt/) Robin Moisson [How eBay Made Its New Accessibility Tool (And Made It Available to All)](https://tech.ebayinc.com/engineering/how-ebay-made-its-new-accessibility-tool-and-made-it-available-to-all/) — Several eBay teams worked together to create a Figma plug-in that makes it easy to include accessibility in a design right from the start. Dan Nosowitz (eBay) [Ellegant CSS Framework](https://ellegantcss.github.io/) — Aims to provide user interaction (_toggles, switches, modals, menus, etc._) with very little or no JavaScript at all. Lucas Leal [Eruda 3.0: A Console for Mobile Browsers](https://github.com/liriliri/eruda) — If you’re in a situation where you have no access to DevTools, you can add Eruda to your page and it provides a sort of virtual devtools you can use from any browser, including on mobile. LiriLiri [Jampack: A Post-Processing Tool to Optimize Static Websites](https://github.com/divriots/jampack) — Similar to a bundler or build tool, with features like image optimization, asset compression, and some code auto-fixes — all amounting to strong Core Web Vitals scores. divRIOTS 🧑‍💻 JOBS [Find Frontend Engineering Jobs with Hired](https://hired.com/join/?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=sponsor&utm_campaign=%28b2c%29%28l-all%29%28r-all%29%28cooper-frontendfocus%29&utm_content=easy-job-hunting) — Hired makes job hunting easy-instead of chasing recruiters, companies approach you with salary details up front. Create a free profile now. Hired 🧪 **A Tiny Web Experiment** [![\](https://res.cloudinary.com/cpress/image/upload/w_1280,e_sharpen:60,q_auto/oyplmpb2r0l7bgfvqnrs.jpg)](https://pouria.dev/unknown-pleasures) [▶️ Unknown Pleasures](https://pouria.dev/unknown-pleasures) is a fun little Web experience oriented around a visualization of _Joy Division's_ classic hit, "Love Will Tear Us Apart." The creator also wrote [an interesting blog post](https://pouria.dev/programs-are-dead/) about the challenges of working with the constantly evolving JavaScript ecosystem. 📬 **Got a new email address?** You can [change your email here](https://frontendfoc.us/edit_subscription/*|UID|*). --- **Bored of us?** Click [here to stop getting this newsletter](https://frontendfoc.us/leave/*|UID|*). --- **Got a link for us?** Reply and tell us. We can't include everything but we'll take a look. --- Published by Cooper Press Ltd. Curated by [Chris Brandrick](https://mastodon.social/@brandrick) & [Peter Cooper](https://twitter.com/cooperx86). Fairfield Enterprise Centre, Louth, LN11 0LS, United Kingdom [Stop getting this newsletter](https://frontendfoc.us/leave/*|UID|*) [Ipx.](https://frontendfoc.us/open/587/*|UID|*?ipx=t)