Well-run design processes do multiple passes of this iteration process, and designs change dramatically as constraints and needs become iteratively clearer.
The role of Explainers also changes over time. When incubating designs graduate to formal standards bodies, ship in multiple implementations, and earn their hard-fought place on MDN, perhaps they aren't needed. But at every moment until all those conditions are met, they help.
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...and they help a gradually shifting constituency. Early on, they help sell the problem as much as the solution, building developer and implementer enthusiasm at the possibility of solving the issues.
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Later in the process, they serve as front-matter for a formal spec. Opinions differ in various forums as to the role and necessity of example code and non-normative text within specs. Explainers provide a home for that context regardless.
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Lastly, the iteration and evolution of an explainer captured in source control helps to document the process by which the final deliverables came to be. This can be hugely valuable to future designers.
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End of conversation
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& Web Standards TL; Blink API OWNER
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