Syntax - Tasty Web Development Treats

994: AI Sucks At CSS

In this potluck episode of Syntax, Wes and Scott answer your questions about AI struggles with CSS and design workflows, learning vs relying on AI, debugging web performance, beginner soldering setups, navigating AI-era job interviews, Figma dev mode, modern API choices, and more. Show Notes 00:00 Welcome to Syntax! 00:55 Why AI struggles with CSS and design workflows 10:50 How much AI should you use when learning to code? 18:41 Debugging performance: tools and team workflows Ep 585: Fundamentals × What Makes a Website Slow? Ep 874: Fast Apps - Easy Perf Wins Ep 897: Making Your App Feel Faster Than It Really Is Ep 972: These Things Make Your App Feel Like Crap on Mobile 23:52 Brought to you by Sentry.io 26:26 Beginner soldering setup and essential tools 29:54 Preparing for interviews without AI (while jobs require it) Brendan Falk on AI-native coding interviews 35:16 Thoughts on Figma dev mode and design workflows 39:20 Ice vs Thaw menu bar apps 40:27 Why AI isn’t pushing us toward better APIs 44:54 Vibe rules, skills, and shipping docs for agents vibe-rules Optimizing Content for Agents 54:44 Sick Picks + Shameless Plugs Sick Picks Scott: Jury Duty Wes: USB Cable Tester Shameless Plugs Syntax YouTube Channel Hit us up on Socials! Syntax: X Instagram Tiktok LinkedIn Threads Wes: X Instagram Tiktok LinkedIn Threads Scott: X Instagram Tiktok LinkedIn Threads Randy: X Instagram YouTube Threads

993: It’s Been A Hell Of Week

Scott and Wes break down a chaotic week in dev news — the Claude Code source leak, a nasty Axios npm supply chain hack, and Railway’s private cache exposure — plus how to keep these nightmare scenarios from hitting your own projects. Show Notes 00:00 Welcome to Syntax! 00:55 Claude Code Leaked! Wes’ X Post Apple Source Code Video 05:42 Burning through Claude Code token limits. Reddit Thread 08:57 Axios hacked! Step Security pnpm Supply Chain Security pnpm minimumReleaseAge 16:13 Pretext blew up! Pretext.js Demos Wes’ Demo 27:24 Railway shared private cache. Railway Incident Report 31:54 Sick Picks & Shameless Plugs. Sick Picks Scott: Kindle Colorsoft Kids Wes: UGREEN 200W 8-Port GaN USB C Charger Block, Wyze Headphones Shameless Plugs Scott: Syntax on YouTube Hit us up on Socials! Syntax: X Instagram Tiktok LinkedIn Threads Wes: X Instagram Tiktok LinkedIn Threads Scott: X Instagram Tiktok LinkedIn Threads Randy: X Instagram YouTube Threads

992: Migrating Legacy Code Just Got Easier

Wes and Scott talk about migrating large codebases with AI — how to plan framework and language moves, establish patterns, handle templating changes, test thoroughly, safely deploy, and more. Show Notes 00:00 Welcome to Syntax! 01:46 Why migrate to a new language or framework? 05:09 How to approach a large code migration 08:47 Establishing patterns before using AI 10:35 Moving from pug to JSX 12:06 Building a detailed migration plan 15:18 Testing every part of the application 15:51 Brought to you by Sentry.io 16:58 Deploying and catching issues with Sentry 19:12 Converting express requests to web standard requests 19:34 Other codebases that could benefit from AI migrations 21:36 Sick Picks + Shameless Plugs Sick Picks Scott: WisprFlow Wes: displayplacer Shameless Plugs Phases Podcast Hit us up on Socials! Syntax: X Instagram Tiktok LinkedIn Threads Wes: X Instagram Tiktok LinkedIn Threads Scott: X Instagram Tiktok LinkedIn Threads Randy: X Instagram YouTube Threads

991: Vite’s bet on Cloudflare (VOID Framework)

Vite just launched Void, a fullstack JavaScript framework and cloud platform that bundles together routing, SSR, auth, an ORM, and nearly everything you’d expect from a modern meta-framework — all built on top of Cloudflare’s infrastructure. Scott, Wes, and CJ dig into whether Void is the Rails moment JavaScript has been waiting for, or just shiny Cloudflare lock-in with a bow on it. Show Notes 00:00 Welcome to Syntax! The Announcement 00:27 Laravel or Rails for JavaScript? 01:38 What is this big announcement? 04:36 It’s just Vercel for Cloudflare? 07:09 Database options. 09:37 Brought to you by Sentry.io. 10:01 Type safety. 12:09 What about RPC? 15:41 Component Loaders over Page Loaders. 18:23 Baked in authentication via Better Auth. 22:57 Lock-in. Unapologetically Cloudflare Evan’s X Post. 24:55 Is it lock-in? 32:40 Self-Cloudflare your own Void apps? Hit us up on Socials! Syntax: X Instagram Tiktok LinkedIn Threads Wes: X Instagram Tiktok LinkedIn Threads Scott: X Instagram Tiktok LinkedIn Threads Randy: X Instagram YouTube Threads

990: Vite Is Taking Over (Vite+)

Wes, Scott, and CJ talk about Vite+, a unified JavaScript toolchain that combines linting, formatting, task running, monorepos, and more. They break down its evolution, open-source shift, performance gains, Node version management, and whether it can realistically replace today’s fragmented dev tooling. Show Notes 00:00 Welcome to Syntax! 00:54 What Vite+ is and what’s changed since launch 03:43 Why the ecosystem needs Vite+ 06:41 What Vite+ actually does for your workflow 10:18 Built-in Node version management 12:32 Type-aware linting with tsgolint and oxc 15:27 Brought to you by Sentry.io 16:28 Should config live inside vite.config? 22:56 Monorepos and task running in Vite+ 26:28 Task caching and faster builds 29:01 Final thoughts and current limitations Hit us up on Socials! Syntax: X Instagram Tiktok LinkedIn Threads Wes: X Instagram Tiktok LinkedIn Threads Scott: X Instagram Tiktok LinkedIn Threads Randy: X Instagram YouTube Threads