Understanding why we should not use polyfills

In general, features that need to be polyfilled are either prone to change or will be implemented sooner or later. This is an actual fact not only for CSS but also JavaScript, PHP, Python, and other languages. Usually, we either need to support legacy systems or try to use things that are not entirely ready yet. In any case, we have alternative solutions to using polyfills – we can try to upgrade the legacy systems, drop support for them, or wait until we can use the feature with its full release.

Usually, polyfills are not mandatory. We can circumvent our issues with older language constructs or redesign our application (both code-wise and visually) to fit the available features. On the other hand, if we desperately need a polyfill, it might be the symptom of a more significant problem, such as unnecessarily supporting systems that are end of life (EOL) or lack upgrades.

We’ve seen what it takes to create a polyfill...