966: A Look Back at Web Dev in 2025
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 Notes00:00 Welcome to Syntax!866: 2025 Web Development Predictions01:26 Temporal API will ship in the browser03:33 On-device AI becomes common06:14 WebGPU unlocks fast local machine learningTypeGPU07:10 Models will plateau10:32 Is there an actual use case for video and photo gen AI?13:27 Text to UI tools get really good16:25 Framework choice will matter less18:53 Web components in Standard Stack, Web Awesome takes off21:37 AI browsers and Copilot Workspace-style tools will become normal22:56 AI browsera will become inevitable, OpenAI will launch a browser27:51 Relative color will feel fully “safe to use”29:02 Vanilla CSS will make a comeback30:33 Brought to you by Sentry.io30:58 CSS mixins and functions spec solidifiesCSS Custom Functions and Mixins Module Level 133:25 Container style queries will ship everywhereCSS if statements35:40 Vertical centering jokes will stubbornly persist36:20 VS Code will reach feature parity with Cursor38:47 More VS Code forks will appear39:46 React Compiler drops Babel40:34 React server components will pop42:17 Remix re-emerges as something new43:17 React Native will have its time44:21 TanStack Start and Tanstack will pop45:46 SvelteKit gets more granular data loading46:06 Local first apps will take off46:43 Bun keeps doing “wild but loved” non-standard features, Bun will launch a platform-as-a-service48:22 Vite stays king51:07 Laravel will release a CMS52:44 Sick Picks + Shameless PlugsSick PicksScott: DARKBEAM Flashlight UV Black LightWes: WOOZOO FanHit us up on Socials!Syntax: X Instagram Tiktok LinkedIn ThreadsWes: X Instagram Tiktok LinkedIn ThreadsScott: X Instagram Tiktok LinkedIn ThreadsRandy: X Instagram YouTube Threads.
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!
- 01:26 Temporal API will ship in the browser
- 03:33 On-device AI becomes common
- 06:14 WebGPU unlocks fast local machine learning
- 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
- 33:25 Container style queries will ship everywhere
- 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