From StandardWeb to Visual Field Tracker: Building Software That Lasts
20-09-2026This article is being published through a content management system I created approximately twenty years ago.
StandardWeb still runs alessandromiele.it today. For two decades, the website has remained exposed to technological change, evolving browsers, new standards and the constant background noise of automated attacks that every public website receives.
It continues to do its job.
That longevity was not the result of predicting every technology that would appear over the following twenty years. It came from decisions made at the beginning: keeping the architecture understandable, generating standards-compliant content, limiting unnecessary complexity and treating accessibility, security and maintainability as foundations rather than later additions.
In 2008, StandardWeb was also used during the W3C evaluation process as an implementation of the then-new Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.0 at Level A. Accessibility was therefore not merely a feature added to the product. It influenced how the system itself was conceived.
Twenty years later, I am applying the same engineering philosophy to a very different project: Visual Field Tracker
Visual Field Tracker began with a simple question: what happens between two clinical visual-field examinations?
Clinical examinations remain essential, but several months can pass between appointments. During that time, it can be difficult for someone to record consistently what they perceive or to communicate it clearly.
Visual Field Tracker explores a possible response. It allows users to create a personal map of their visual perception and compare it with maps created at different times.
The current version is an experimental, freely available beta. It is not a medical device, does not diagnose medical conditions and cannot determine whether someone’s vision is clinically stable. Its purpose is narrower: to provide a structured way to record, revisit and communicate personal visual perception.
Reliability starts before the first line of code
StandardWeb and Visual Field Tracker are very different products, created in different technological eras. What connects them is the method behind them.
Longevity is an engineering result
Software rarely fails simply because it becomes old. It usually fails because nobody can understand it, maintain it, secure it or adapt it without creating new problems.
StandardWeb’s twenty-year history has taught me that longevity is not achieved through technology alone. It depends on disciplined decisions, controlled complexity and a willingness to consider the complete lifecycle of a product from the beginning.
The technology has changed considerably since StandardWeb was created. The underlying objective has not:
Build something useful. Understand its boundaries. Make it dependable. Give it the foundations to last.
Visual Field Tracker is the next expression of that principle.
A personal observation is not a clinical measurement. Yet, when recorded consistently, it can support a more informed conversation.
Visual Field Tracker