966: A Look Back at Web Dev in 2025 - Syntax

What this episode covers

Wes and Scott revisit their 2025 web development predictions, grading hits and misses across AI, browsers, frameworks, CSS, and tooling. From Temporal and AI coding agents to React, Vite, and vanilla CSS, they reflect on what actually changed, what stalled, and what it all means heading into 2026. Show Notes 00:00 Welcome to Syntax! 866: 2025 Web Development Predictions 01:26 Temporal API will ship in the browser 03:33 On-device AI becomes common 06:14 WebGPU unlocks fast local machine learning TypeGPU 07:10 Models will plateau 10:32 Is there an actual use case for video and photo gen AI? 13:27 Text to UI tools get really good 16:25 Framework choice will matter less 18:53 Web components in Standard Stack, Web Awesome takes off 21:37 AI browsers and Copilot Workspace-style tools will become normal 22:56 AI browsera will become inevitable, OpenAI will launch a browser 27:51 Relative color will feel fully “safe to use” 29:02 Vanilla CSS will make a comeback 30:33 Brought to you by Sentry.io 30:58 CSS mixins and functions spec solidifies CSS Custom Functions and Mixins Module Level 1 33:25 Container style queries will ship everywhere CSS if statements 35:40 Vertical centering jokes will stubbornly persist 36:20 VS Code will reach feature parity with Cursor 38:47 More VS Code forks will appear 39:46 React Compiler drops Babel 40:34 React server components will pop 42:17 Remix re-emerges as something new 43:17 React Native will have its time 44:21 TanStack Start and Tanstack will pop 45:46 SvelteKit gets more granular data loading 46:06 Local first apps will take off 46:43 Bun keeps doing “wild but loved” non-standard features, Bun will launch a platform-as-a-service 48:22 Vite stays king 51:07 Laravel will release a CMS 52:44 Sick Picks + Shameless Plugs Sick Picks Scott: DARKBEAM Flashlight UV Black Light Wes: WOOZOO Fan 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

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How long is this episode of Syntax - Tasty Web Development Treats?

This episode is 56 minutes long.

When was this Syntax - Tasty Web Development Treats episode published?

This episode was published on December 24, 2025.

What is this episode about?

Wes and Scott revisit their 2025 web development predictions, grading hits and misses across AI, browsers, frameworks, CSS, and tooling. From Temporal and AI coding agents to React, Vite, and vanilla CSS, they reflect on what actually changed, what...

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