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Building for people, not for browsers

By Olaitan Adebayo. 14 August 2026. A 5-minute read.

There is a way of building websites that is entirely about the browser. Does it render? Does it validate? Does it score well? These are good questions, and I ask all of them. They are also the wrong place to stop.

The person who opens the site does not care whether it validates. They came with a question: can these people fix my roof, can I buy this before Friday, is this the consultant I have been looking for. The site is good if it answers that question quickly and honestly. Everything else is scaffolding.

Building for people means starting from what they came for and working backwards. On a business site, the phone number goes where a person looks for a phone number, not where the template put it. The most important thing on the page is the thing they need, not the thing the business is proudest of.

It also means writing like a person. Interfaces that say "Submit" are written for the machine. Interfaces that say "Send my request" are written for the human clicking them. The second one converts better, and not by a little.

None of this argues against technical care. It argues for the right order: person first, browser second. Get the first right and the second is much easier, because you are no longer decorating a page. You are helping someone.