HTML Can Do That
- ID
- 16264
- Status
- summarized
- Published
- 19 Aug 2026, 11:11 PM
- Fetched
- 21 Aug 2026, 10:35 PM
- Provider
- Hacker News
- Category
- dev-community
- Original URL
- https://chrisburnell.com/html-can-do-that/
- Source URL
- https://hnrss.org/best
Summary
- Score
- 7.0
- Created
- 21 Aug 2026, 11:40 PM
- Tags
- Audience
- developersvibe_coders
What happened
Chris Burnell's page catalogs native HTML features that replace common JavaScript patterns, including the `popover` attribute (with `popovertarget` and `popovertargetaction`) for tooltip/menu-style overlays and the `<dialog>` element for modal boxes. The page was built for HTML Day 2026 and later updated to flag where browser implementations fall short on accessibility. It includes live code snippets showing how to toggle popovers and open/close dialogs with zero JavaScript.
Why it matters
If you're shipping UI components like popovers, modals, or dialogs, you can likely delete custom JS and z-index management by switching to the native `popover` attribute and `<dialog>` element—but you must test accessibility carefully, as the author explicitly warns browser support for some of these features is still incomplete.
Discussion angle
Which of your current JS-powered UI components (tooltips, modals, dropdowns) could be replaced with native HTML today, and where do the accessibility gaps make it unsafe to switch yet?