HTML Can Do That: dynamic web features that no longer need JavaScript

HTML has absorbed a lot of work that once belonged to JavaScript, and a page by developer Chris Burnell collects the evidence in one place. "HTML Can Do That" lists browser features that deliver dynamic behaviour with markup alone, each with a demo and a link to browser-support data.

What the page demonstrates

The list includes the popover attribute, which gives an element light dismiss, Escape-to-close and top-layer placement without z-index juggling; the dialog element for modal dialogs, which can be opened and closed from HTML through popovertarget and form method="dialog"; and grouped details elements, where a shared name attribute turns several disclosures into an exclusive accordion. Invoker commands (command and commandfor) let separate buttons control one popover without scripting. Images gain deferred loading with loading="lazy", while hidden="until-found" hides a section that the browser reveals when a fragment link points to it.

Honest caveats

Burnell is explicit that browser implementations are uneven. Native form controls — colour, date and range pickers, meters and progress bars — vary widely in default styling between browsers and can be poor for accessibility, so he advises treading carefully. Support for datalist, which offers native autocomplete suggestions without a dropdown library, is "still pretty spotty" across input types, and he points readers to Adrian Roselli's writing on under-engineered comboboxes. The until-found attribute, meanwhile, works with a browser's own find-in-page but not with screen reader search.

Why it matters

The page began as a one-hour build during HTML Day 2026 and was later edited to flag where implementations fall short, with the note that anything built this way should be made "as accessible as you can". The practical takeaway for developers is a smaller JavaScript surface: less state to manage for overlays, accordions, dialogs and lazy media — provided the accessibility trade-offs of the newer features are checked rather than assumed.