126: The 2025 Holiday Spectacular

Dec 22, 2025

As the holidays approach, the hosts reflect on past predictions and share bold new forecasts for 2026. They revisit their hits and misses in web development forecasts, with a spotlight on AI's evolution. Predictions include treating HTML like assembly code and concerns over internet outages. Simple routines bring joy to the hosts, from exercising to creating fanfiction audiobooks. Exciting discussions on the rise of SolidJS and the implications of LLM-driven coding add to the festive atmosphere. Tune in for a lively year-end celebration!

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ANECDOTE

AI Can Hide Design Problems

Jack recounts how AI can hide design pain by making code 'work' while masking structural problems.
He shares a TanStack AI experience where AI-driven changes fixed symptoms but created deeper issues.

ADVICE

Use AI With A Maintainability Slider

Decide upfront whether code must be long-term maintainable or can be a one-off before using AI to generate it.
Use AI for throwaway scripts, but hand-code core interfaces and vet AI suggestions carefully.

ADVICE

Validate APIs With LLM Feedback Early

Validate API designs with multiple LLMs early to avoid costly implementation pain later.
Ask models to compare old and new API versions before building the more complex option.

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It’s that time of year again: the holidays are nearly upon us and 2026 is fast approaching, so it’s time for our year end holiday spectacular! This year our past predictions for the future of web development come back to haunt us, we make some bold new proclamations for what’s in store for 2026, and of course, share what’s made us happy this year.

Our past predictions were pretty hit or miss. Although a surge in popularity for simpler frontend frameworks like SolidJS and a whole slew of new web APIs didn’t appear (as Jack and Paige predicted), AI agents evolving to be capable of implementing whole new features and debugging bigger problems in code was spot on (point goes to TJ).

Predictions for 2026? With the continued popularity of AI for coding, TJ believes we’ll treat HTML more like assembly code. Paige predicts an uptick in Internet outages and supply chain attacks, and more scrutiny of if AI features are really as valuable as we’ve been led to believe. Jack feels this is the year SolidJS takes off, and “code mode” for AI agents is going to add even more value than the creation of MCP servers last year.

Just like last year, the things that made us happiest are pretty simple: maintaining consistent routines like exercising, reading books, and stepping away from the keyboard. And using the tools often used for work for fun, creative projects like a homemade fanfiction audiobook.

And as always, thank you, Front-end Fire listeners! We wouldn’t be here without you, and we’ve enjoyed getting to know many of you more over the past year. Wishing you a wonderful holiday season, and we’ll be back in 2026 with more frontend goodness.

Timestamps:

2:36 - Revisiting old predictions
18:01 - 2026 predictions
39:26 - What’s making us happy

2024 Predictions Revisited:

Paige - New web APIs
Jack - A return to simplicity in coding frameworks
TJ - AI agents solving bigger coding problems

2026 Predictions:

Paige - More tech attacks and less AI hype, more AI scrutiny
Jack - SolidJS 2.0 and “code mode” is going to unlock even more AI agent functionality
TJ - We start treating HTML like assembly code

What Makes Us Happy this Year:

Paige - Consistent routines (as boring as that sounds): regular exercise, regularly practicing hobbies and reading books
Jack - Descript and Claude for a homemade fanfic audiobook
TJ - Reading books

Thanks as always to our sponsor, the Blue Collar Coder channel on YouTube. You can join us in our Discord channel, explore our website and reach us via email, or talk to us on X, Bluesky, or YouTube.