Syntax &#8211; Tasty Web Development Treats

918: Extreme Native Perf on the Web with Superhuman Jul 09, 2025

Show notes

Wes and Scott talk with Loïc Houssier about how Superhuman builds lightning-fast, delightfully-designed email software. They dig into engineering philosophy, offline-first architecture, local databases, AI-powered productivity, and what it takes to create tools that people love.

Show Notes

00:00 Welcome to Syntax!
03:05 Inside Superhuman and Loïc’s role
06:49 Is Superhuman native? What’s the tech stack?
08:16 How Superhuman approaches product design and speed
12:17 Local-first architecture – Sync, storage, and performance
- Realm
13:46 Vector search, AI, and privacy considerations
18:12 How the team ships fast and stays focused
21:27 Rethinking email for the future
26:54 Brought to you by Sentry.io
27:19 How calendar integration and smart features work
29:54 Where new ideas come from
31:54 Will there ever be a true dark mode?
33:02 Are people actually using keyboard shortcuts?
36:42 How shortcuts work and the role of the command palette
41:28 Engineering for speed – Costs and trade-offs
43:32 How Superhuman’s sync engine works
46:09 What code runs locally and what runs on the server?
46:51 How Superhuman handled the Google and Cloudflare outage

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917: AI Tools You Should Know Jul 07, 2025

Show notes

Scott and Wes round up the hottest AI tools you should have on your radar; from text-to-speech wizards to self-hosted image generators. They break down what they’re using, what’s worth paying for, and which tools are changing their workflows.

Show Notes

00:00 Welcome to Syntax!
00:49 Getting too cozy with your tools.
01:34 Brought to you by Sentry.io.
03:40 LangFlow.
08:44 Super Whisper and Whisper Flow.
15:00 Dia.
23:16 Chat apps.
26:58 Self-hosted.
- 27:01 Comfy UI.
- 31:27 Automatic1111 and Forge UI.
- Xenova Shoutout
34:11 Sick Picks & Shameless Plugs.

916: I got fired, what should I focus on? Jul 02, 2025

Show notes

In this potluck episode of Syntax, Wes and Scott answer your questions about maintaining popular open-source projects, where to start after a layoff, impostor syndrome, Scott’s recording setup, whether a computer science degree is still worth it in the age of AI, and more!

Show Notes

00:00 Welcome to Syntax!
00:44 Brought to you bySentry.io
04:16 How to maintain a successful NPM package
08:03 What to do in Denver while attending Laracon
11:18 How to branch out and learn new frameworks while balancing work life and family
15:55 Built-in state management vs external state management
- Full Stack App Build | Travel Log w/ Nuxt, Vue, Better Auth, Drizzle, Tailwind, DaisyUI, MapLibre
19:43 Suggestion for CSS battles: Removing white space and new lines after the time limit?
23:06 What is Scott’s recording setup?
27:46 Snake case vs camel case
- Eye Tracking Study on camelCase and under_score Identifier Styles
31:16 Have you ever had impostor syndrome?
34:56 Is a degree worth it for computer science or machine learning?
38:41 Should I use a reverse proxy server?
- Ep 798: Self Hosting: Reverse Proxy Servers
42:03 Where to start when updating your webdev skillset
50:11 Sick Picks + Shameless Plugs

Sick Picks

Scott:Cardboard Cutter
Wes:Kitchen Scissors

Shameless Plugs

Syntax YouTube Channel

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Wes:X Instagram Tiktok LinkedIn Threads

Scott:X Instagram Tiktok LinkedIn Threads

Randy:X Instagram YouTube Threads

915: $200mo Background Agents, CLI Tooling and “Max Mode” Jun 30, 2025

Show notes

AI coding agents are getting wild. Scott and Wes break down the latest tools that run in the background, write code across multiple steps, and charge you $200 a month to do it. From CLI-based primitives to full-on copilots, this episode covers the next wave of dev tools and what it takes to use them effectively.

Show Notes

00:00 Welcome to Syntax!
03:13 Background Agents.
04:26 Appropriate tasks for background agents.
12:46 CLI tooling.
14:17 Claude Code Pricing.
18:20 Approaches to get the most from these tools.
19:56 PRD Documents.
- Atlasian What’s a PRD Document.
20:50 Claude Taskmaster.
- Langflow.
25:29 Sick Picks & Shameless Plugs.

Sick Picks

Scott: RingConn.
Wes: Dell Projector

Shameless Plugs

Scott: Syntax on YouTube.

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914: 5 Upcoming + Next Gen JavaScript Features Jun 25, 2025

Show notes

Wes and Scott talk about the latest JavaScript proposals from TC39, including features like import defer, the powerful new random namespace, Array.fromAsync, and native clamp and upsert methods. They break down what’s coming, why it matters, and how it might improve your code.

Show Notes

00:00 Welcome to Syntax!
02:55 Brought to you by Sentry.io
05:37 Import Defer
09:30 Random Functions
- proposal-random-functions
- proposal-seeded-random
18:32 Array from Async
- proposal-array-from-async
20:56 Upsert for Maps
- proposal-upsert
23:13 Clamp
- proposal-math-clamp
27:02 Sick Picks + Shameless Plugs

Sick Picks

Scott: Anker Max USB 4-Port
Wes: Clarkson’s Farm

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913: NEWS: Remix drops React, Safari 26 CSS + mega fast Vite and TypeSCript Jun 23, 2025

Show notes

Wes and CJ break down the latest web dev news, including big changes in Safari 26, TypeScript Native Previews, and Remix dropping React. They also chat about new proposals from TC39, Vite 7 beta, and a surprise project from the Astro team.

Show Notes

00:00 Welcome to Syntax!
00:41 Safari WWDC.
- 01:05 SVG Favicons.
- 02:01 Every site can be a web app on iOS and iPadOS.
- 03:08 WebGPU in Safari.
- 08:02 Lots of CSS goodies.
  - @Una Tweet.
10:19 Remix 3 dropping React.
- Wake Up Remix.
- @mjackson Tweet.
17:40 Typescript Native Preview.
- @drosenwasser Tweet.
- Microsoft Blog: Announcing TypeScript Native Previews.
20:53 Cursor 1.0.
29:12 TC39 Advances Several Proposals to Stage 4.
- 29:51 Array.fromAsync.
- 31:15 Error.isError.
- 32:14 Explicit Resource Management: using.
36:53 Astro Creators working on an email client.
- @FredKSchott Tweet.
39:23 Announcing Rolldown-Vite.
- Voidzero.
- Compatibility.
44:43 Vite 7 in Beta.
46:04 Angular v20 Released.
47:30 Take the State of CSS Survey!
48:40 Brought to you by Sentry.io.

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912: Why did Figma buy a CMS? Jun 17, 2025

Show notes

Wes chats with James Mikrut, founder of Payload CMS, about being acquired by Figma! They discuss building an open source business, the future of UI design, AI interfaces, and what this means for the future of Payload and Figma.

Show Notes

00:00 Welcome to Syntax.
01:06 What is Payload CMS?
01:56 The big announcement.
03:03 Why does Figma want a CMS?
05:23 This has got to be about AI, right?
09:37 Brought to you by Sentry.io.
10:02 What will the interface be?
14:02 Generative, user-specific UI.
16:17 Agents make everything look like ShadCN.
18:18 What does this mean for Payload users?
20:23 How this improves Payload.
22:31 Trying to stand out as a CMS.
23:35 Is this going to cost users?
25:12 Sick Picks & Shameless Plugs.

Sick Picks

James: Triumph Street Triple, Malört Liquor.

Shameless Plugs

James: PayloadCMS.

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911: Browsers in 2025: Whats up with Arc, Dia, Firefox, Chrome and Opera GX? Jun 16, 2025

Show notes

Scott and Wes break down the state of web browsers in 2025, from the rise and fall of Arc and the fate of Firefox to hot takes on Opera GX, Raycast, and why power users might not be profitable. They compare rendering engines, rant about dev tools, and reveal what browser stats say about Syntax listeners.

Show Notes

00:00 Welcome to Syntax!
01:37 Rendering Engines.
02:11 Arc Browser.
02:41 Microsoft Edge.
03:45 Why not Brave?
05:25 Brought to you by Sentry.io.
05:50 Google Manifest v2.
07:32 Opera.
- OperaGX.
10:13 Vivaldi.
11:23 The death of Arc Browser.
- 11:44 Dia?
- 14:43 No revenue from power-users.
- Letter to Arc Members.
- 15:38 Arc’s transition to a new browser.
- 17:02 Browser companies need to lock users fast!
19:42 Gecko.
- 19:45 Firefox.
- 21:08 Zen.
22:38 Webkit.
- There Still Arent Any iPhone Browsers With Custom Engines
29:18 Wtf is Ladybird?
34:14 Usage statistics.
- StatCounter.com.
39:32 Dev Tools experience ranked.
42:06 Tab experience.
43:37 Containers and profiles.

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