Is This the Web?

The web may be more than just what runs in a browser—its identity is evolving beyond traditional boundaries. In a deep dive on Igalia Chats, Dan Applequist, W3C Advisory Board co-chair and long-time web pioneer, challenges the very definition of 'the web' in an era where web technologies power everything from airline check-in apps and NHS digital services to smart thermostats and even spacecraft. He argues that the web is not a fixed platform but a living, amorphous ecosystem—its value lies not in technical purity but in shared principles like openness, accessibility, privacy, and resilience. The real danger isn't technological obsolescence, but losing sight of what makes the web uniquely human: its fault tolerance, its ability to survive errors, and its capacity to serve people even when things go wrong. The conversation reveals that the web’s strength is its inclusivity—its ability to absorb new forms, from web views in native apps to AI agents acting on our behalf—while still upholding core ethical standards. The episode ends not with a definition, but a call to action: we need better language—like 'web platform' and 'user agent'—to reason clearly about where the web begins and ends, especially as regulations like the EU’s Cyber Resilience Act begin to treat web apps differently based on their context. The discussion underscores that the web’s survival isn’t guaranteed by code, but by culture.