Modernizing the Pinterest carousel: 90% less code with native CSS

Опубликовано 17 марта 2026, 21:17

How do you build a web that inspires 600 million users? At Pinterest, the "Close Up" experience is core to how users discover ideas. But over time, the JavaScript powering carousel experience became a patchwork of 2,000 lines of code—resulting in noticeable lag and "jank" for users.

In this video, Pinterest engineers Calvin and Anuja walk through how they swapped legacy JavaScript for modern CSS carousels and View Transitions. The results? A 90% reduction in code, a 15% improvement in page load time, and a smoother, native-feeling UI.

Chapters:
[0:07] Inspiring 600 Million Users
[0:10] Meet the team: Engineering at Pinterest
[0:21] The legacy carousel: 2,000 Lines of JavaScript
[0:49] The Experiment: Converting to CSS carousel
[1:22] Results: 90% less code, 15% less load time.
[1:36] Scaling success everywhere
[2:03] View Transitions: Smooth animations are now possible

📚Resources:
Make accessible carousels → goo.gle/4aTpGtc
Carousels with CSS → goo.gle/3YuWhOv
Scoped View Transitions → goo.gle/3XuZMUX
View Transition API → goo.gle/3MzVngY
Watch more “Re-Imagine the web” → goo.gle/re-imagine-the-web
Subscribe to Chrome for Developers → goo.gle/ChromeDevs

#Chrome #Pinterest #webui

Products Mentioned: Chrome, Pinterest, web platform, web development, CSS, CSS carousels, CSS primitives, View Transitions