We are very happy to announce the launch of the first edition of a global, annual study of designer and developer needs on the web: The MDN Web Developer Needs Assessment. It is intended to shape the future of the web platform.

On single-vendor platforms, only one organization has to research developer needs and decide how to address them in the future. It’s not that straightforward on the web, where multiple organizations need to be involved in feature decisions, from browser vendors to standards bodies and industry. As a result, change can be slow to come, which means that pain points may take a long time to address.

In discussions with people involved in the standardization and implementation of web platform features, one need came up repeatedly, “We need to hear more from developers.”

That is what the MDN Web Developer Needs Assessment aspires to be: the voice of developers and designers working on the web.