Welcome to this very first PEP Talk^*. I plan for PEP Talks to be an ongoing series of indefinite length about online publishing for the masses. My interest, what I mean with "masses", is in reaching everyone, everywhere, no matter how tenuous someone's connectivity.

My focus is publishing technology, not content: audience-focused publishing tech.

Books have been written, (programming) languages and frameworks developed, for and by those who implement the technologies used in online publishing. Those people also typically have access to extremely reliable and fast internet connections, and the skills and means to circumvent restrictions on their internet connectivity.

Lets look at those restrictions for a second, and identify two reasons for no or low connectivity: (1) lack of affordable access to the internet, and (2) censorship restricts access to the open internet.

So, where does that leave us?

• Access and affordability While broadband internet connectivity is very widespread in 2025, disparities in access to and affordability of broadband internet connections between regions and socioeconomic groups remain.
• Censorship and shutdowns Whereas we're quickly leaving disparities in access behind in the rear-view mirror, the incidence of network censorship and internet shutdowns is rising quickly around the world.

The internet is instrumental in the delivery of news and information people need to make life choices, lead their daily lives, be politically, economically and culturally active, and generally be an active member of society. But the developers of apps and sites that people use to consume the news, often have internet connections that are nothing like those of the audiences for those apps and sites.

Apps and sites are often tested only on the fastest of internet connections. The internet is like air, connectivity like breathing, "always on", an afterthought. Rarely do developers consider the user experience of sites or apps when connectivity is expensive, reduced to a trickle, or the online world switches off entirely.

Let that sink in for a minute. If you publish an app or site, but do not actively consider situations of no or low connectivity, then you are likely to actively push "solutions" that hamper the reach and resilience of your content.

Unless you're a publisher that develops content for the lucky few—those with copious amounts of bandwidth providing unfettered access to all of the global internet—you should really be considering the affordability of your audiences' internet access, and the restrictions on access imposed by (government) censors.

The choices we make, as publishers and developers, affect the availability of content, the reach and resilience of the platforms we shape with our decisions.

So let's make better decision!

In my next PEP Talks

• Small payload, big performance—Modern, performant websites are resilient websites.
• Feature detection all the way down—Treat everything as a feature, even connectivity and the internet.
• Progressively Enhanced Publishing—Publish with the worst case in mind, then upgrade your content.

(*) My colleagues and business partners, Joris and Sudeshna—both are all-round more technology savvy than I am, and much more in touch with what the #userneeds—have strongly advised against explaining my reasons for calling these "PEP Talks". You'll think me a nerd (I am) or you'll think I like making linguistic jokes at the expense of my audience (I do). If you have an inclination of my reasons for calling these PEP Talks, let me know in the comments.