Syntax - Tasty Web Development Treats

Wes and Scott talk about the latest CSS and browser features, including the Grid Lines API for masonry layouts, HTML in Canvas, name-only container queries, CSS random, search-text styling, and more.

Show Notes

00:00 Welcome to Syntax!

00:57 Grid Lines API for masonry-style layouts

Introducing CSS Grid Lanes

CSS Grid Lanes browser support

03:25 HTML in canvas and next-gen UI effects

@jaffathecake

@mattrothenberg

11:30 Name-only container queries for scoped styles

Name-Only Containers: The Scoping We Needed

14:37 Brought to you by Sentry.io

15:34 Safari removes haptic feedback workaround

17:38 CSS random for dynamic values

Rolling the Dice with CSS random()

18:49 Styling find-in-page with ::search-text

21:44 Sticky positioning now works in both axes

@una

22:43 Multi-column CSS finally gets usable fixes

Looking at New CSS Multi-Column Layout Wrapping Features

24:41 Border shape improvements and new design options

@una

MadCSS.com

27:09 Why MDN demos need to be better

28:24 Element-scoped view transitions for cleaner animations

@bram.us

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In this episode, Scott and Wes sit down with Tim Neutkens and Jimmi Lai from the Next.js team to dig into the new Adapters API, what it takes to run Next.js across platforms like Cloudflare and Netlify, and how caching and infrastructure choices affect performance. They also go deep on TurboPack’s internals, why Next.js doesn’t run on Vite, and the evolution of bundling in the framework.

Show Notes

00:00 Welcome to Syntax!

01:14 Introduction to Next.js and the Adapter Platform

Next.js Across Platforms

02:23 The Adapters API: Features and Community Needs

04:46 Building and Testing the Adapters API

07:37 Infrastructure Requirements for Next.js Apps

11:38 Caching Strategies and Performance Optimization

13:29 The Role of Cache Components in Next.js

17:21 First Steps of Optimizations.

19:48 Blessed Adapters and Community Contributions

22:56 Future Directions and Runtime Support

25:05 Challenges with Different Runtimes and Debugging

26:45 Webpack vs. TurboPack: The Evolution of Next.js

29:45 Why Not Run on Vite?

32:47 Navigating Bundler Challenges

36:59 Building TurboPack: Lessons Learned

41:42 Incremental Compilation and Performance

Episode with ByteDance’s Zack Jackson

43:50 Framework Comparisons and Performance Metrics

46:42 Exploring Future Directions for TurboPack

49:44 TurboPack’s Integration and API Development

52:50 Standardization in Bundler Tools

56:52 TurboPack’s Adoption and User Experience

57:49 Sick Picks + Shameless Plugs

Sick Picks

Tim: Acquired Podcast

Jimmy: Hydrangea Coffee

Shameless Plugs

Jimmy: nextjs-across-platforms

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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

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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

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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

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