Is it time for a front end pipeline as a service?

There might be. I share your - and many other people's - feeling that the way we're doing it right now is neither sane or sustainable, nor scalable in the long run.

I'm not entirely sure though you such a service would've to be like to be useful.

Coding for the web today feels a bit like 80s-style hacking 8- or 16-bit home computers to make them do things nobody ever thought they were capable of in the beginning.

In the end we've got to make do with what the large browser vendors provide us with and that is very much the core problem. Their priorities don't always align with those of the people creating web-based solutions. Otherwise we'd have stylable <select> boxes for a long time now.

So, while such a service might indeed be an improvement if done correctly, I'm still wondering if it'd solve the right underlying problem or if it'd just be another attempt at hacking around the actual issues.