The “Paving the Cow Paths” Philosophy: How HTML Standardizes What Developers Already Do

Web standards don’t evolve in a vacuum. Instead of forcing developers to adopt entirely new approaches, browser vendors often look at what developers are already doing and then standardize those patterns. This philosophy—often called “paving the cow paths”—is about formalizing solutions that have already proven useful. Chris Coyier put it best: “Look where the cows walk and then make the path there.” This means that many new HTML, CSS, and JavaScript features aren’t brand new ideas—they're simply built-in solutions for problems developers have been solving manually for years. In this final post of our series, we’ll explore: ✅ What “paving the cow paths” means in web development. ✅ Recent HTML features that follow this philosophy. ✅ How browser vendors decide what to standardize. ✅ The future of web standards and what’s next. Let’s dig in!

Feb 20, 2025 - 20:04

The “Paving the Cow Paths” Philosophy: How HTML Standardizes What Developers Already Do

Web standards don’t evolve in a vacuum. Instead of forcing developers to adopt entirely new approaches, browser vendors often look at what developers are already doing and then standardize those patterns. This philosophy—often called “paving the cow paths”—is about formalizing solutions that have already proven useful.

Chris Coyier put it best:

“Look where the cows walk and then make the path there.”

This means that many new HTML, CSS, and JavaScript features aren’t brand new ideas—they're simply built-in solutions for problems developers have been solving manually for years.

In this final post of our series, we’ll explore:

✅ What “paving the cow paths” means in web development.

✅ Recent HTML features that follow this philosophy.

✅ How browser vendors decide what to standardize.

✅ The future of web standards and what’s next.

Let’s dig in!