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The browser APIs you're shipping libraries to replace with Kilian Valkhof

Apr 2, 2026
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Kilian Valkhof
Kilian Valkhof, founder of Polypane and frontend tooling expert, champions using built-in browser features for real problems. He explores the Intl API, locale-aware date and currency formatting, the Segmenter and Collator APIs. Short, practical talks highlight how modern browser primitives can replace heavy npm libraries and simplify internationalization.
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INSIGHT

Intl Is A Built-In Locale Aware Formatter

  • The Intl API is fundamentally a large locale-aware string formatting library built into browsers.
  • It converts raw data like dates and numbers into user-friendly strings for the user's locale without extra downloads.
INSIGHT

Thousands Of Locales Ship With Browsers

  • Modern browsers include thousands of locales so Intl supports locale-specific formatting out of the box.
  • Kilian notes a baseline of ~7,000 locale combinations (language+country) are available in evergreen browsers.
ADVICE

Stop Shipping Format Logic Use Intl For Presentation

  • Avoid shipping heavy date/currency formatting libraries when Intl can format strings client-side with no extra download cost.
  • Use Intl for presentation and keep business logic (date math) in your existing libraries if needed.
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