How the web works underneath the page: how media is encoded and delivered, what the code in your browser can see, and what each of those costs you.https://snapfrom.net/https://snapfrom.net/blog/the-snapshot-waiting-behind-the-back-button/https://snapfrom.net/blog/the-snapshot-waiting-behind-the-back-button/Two things used to guarantee the back button reloads a page from scratch. Chrome rewired one in 2025 and is deleting the other in 2026, mid-rollout right now.Fri, 11 Sep 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://snapfrom.net/blog/the-header-that-carries-your-dark-mode/https://snapfrom.net/blog/the-header-that-carries-your-dark-mode/Your light or dark mode setting can leave the machine as an HTTP request header. The same channel carries your motion and contrast preferences too.Wed, 09 Sep 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://snapfrom.net/blog/what-replaced-the-user-agent-string/https://snapfrom.net/blog/what-replaced-the-user-agent-string/The User-Agent string was trimmed to leak less. The detail it carried did not disappear - it moved to a channel the server switches on, and one engine answers.Fri, 04 Sep 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://snapfrom.net/blog/the-request-that-describes-your-device/https://snapfrom.net/blog/the-request-that-describes-your-device/Before your JavaScript runs, the browser can already have told the server how much RAM your device has and how fast your connection is, rounded off on purpose.Wed, 02 Sep 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://snapfrom.net/blog/the-page-you-never-opened-has-loaded/https://snapfrom.net/blog/the-page-you-never-opened-has-loaded/Two hundred milliseconds of hover can be enough for the destination to load in full, run all of its JavaScript, and count you as a visitor.Fri, 28 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://snapfrom.net/blog/not-all-bytes-cost-the-same/https://snapfrom.net/blog/not-all-bytes-cost-the-same/A kilobyte is treated as a fixed unit of harm. It is not: a kilobyte of JavaScript and a kilobyte of image do very different amounts of damage.Wed, 26 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://snapfrom.net/blog/the-codec-your-browser-picked/https://snapfrom.net/blog/the-codec-your-browser-picked/The same page can hand two people different encodes of one video. A negotiation before playback picks which, and the browser's answers are deliberately vague.Wed, 26 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://snapfrom.net/blog/what-a-page-knows-before-you-click/https://snapfrom.net/blog/what-a-page-knows-before-you-click/Loading a page is not a neutral act. A set of identifying details arrives with the request itself, before any script runs and before you touch the screen.Wed, 26 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://snapfrom.net/blog/what-an-embedded-script-actually-gets/https://snapfrom.net/blog/what-an-embedded-script-actually-gets/A script tag and an iframe look like the same act of embedding. They are opposites: one hands over the page, the other holds the guest at arm's length.Wed, 26 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://snapfrom.net/blog/what-happens-to-a-video-before-you-see-it/https://snapfrom.net/blog/what-happens-to-a-video-before-you-see-it/A video is not a file you are sent. It is a few hundred short segments, published at several qualities, and a running guess about which one to fetch next.Wed, 26 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMT