Front-End Fire

The first topic of conversation this week is an unexpected new area the Expo team is tackling: Expo Application Service Hosting. EAS Hosting is a new service for quickly deploying web projects built using Expo and React Native apps. It makes it easy to compile and sign apps with custom native code, upload apps to the Play Store or App Store, and push live app updates directly to users.The Interop project, which aims to improve interoperability between major browser engines, released its accomplishments from 2024 this week. The browsers took on 17 areas of focus in 2024, and went from 46% of tests passing in January, all the way to 95% of tests passing by the end of December.WordPress makes headlines once more, as Autommatic, the WordPress hosting company owned by WP creator Matt Mullenweg cuts its contributions back on the WP open-source project from 4,000 hours per week to 45 hours per week.News:Paige - Interop 2024 highlightsJack - Expo APIs (EAS Hosting)TJ - Automattic cuts WordPress contribution hours (WordPress Drama Timeline)Bonus News:Vitest 3.0 is outThe iPhone Air could be coming later this yearFire Starters:WebXR Device APIWhat Makes Us Happy this Week:Paige - Shrinking TV show and browser-based SwaggerEditorJack - fzf command-line fuzzy finderTJ - Switch 2Thanks 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 Tweet us on X @front_end_fire and BlueSky.Front-end Fire websiteBlue Collar Coder on YouTubeBlue Collar Coder on DiscordReach out via emailTweet at us on X @front_end_fireFollow us on Bluesky @front-end-fire.com

This episode begins with a cautionary tale to double check your browser extensions. Popular coupon browser extension Honey’s been caught replacing affiliate links with its own tracking codes right before checkout, as well as applying pre-selected discount codes from its business partners that aren’t always the best deals.A few weeks ago we reported Deno is petitioning Oracle to release the JavaScript trademark as Oracle’s never used it since acquiring it when it bought Sun Microsystems. This week Oracle has informed Deno they won’t voluntarily withdraw their trademark on JavaScript, and are lawyering up.And the creator of HashiCorp has built a new terminal emulator called Ghostty that’s getting a lot of buzz lately. Ghostty is written in Zig and uses platform native UI and GPU acceleration for an ultra fast terminal experience. It’s got all the expected features like split screen, key commands, and support for programs like Neovim, and is worth a shot if you’re interested in trying a new terminal competitor.News:Paige - Ghostty terminal emulator and app settings GUIJack - Honey browser extension scandalTJ - Oracle plans to fight Deno’s petition for them to release the JavaScript trademarkBonus News:Node’s experimental type stripping is now enabled by defaultFire Starters:Broadcast Channel APIWhat Makes Us Happy this Week:Paige - The Lies of Locke Lamora novelJack - Home automation and the Hue lighting APITJ - CES! Featuring things like SwippittThanks 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 Tweet us on X @front_end_fire and BlueSky.Front-end Fire websiteBlue Collar Coder on YouTubeBlue Collar Coder on DiscordReach out via emailTweet at us on X @front_end_fireFollow us on Bluesky @front-end-fire.com

The latest survey results reveal Vite as the most loved tool, while React remains the go-to for many developers. Shadcn's new resource site offers hundreds of valuable UI tools, sparking excitement among designers and developers alike. In a game-changer move, GitHub Copilot is now available for free, enticing users to explore its potential. The podcast also tackles challenges with modern web APIs and shares personal growth insights through blogging, all wrapped up with fun discussions about tech and pop culture!

We wrap up the podcast with an end of year holiday spectacular episode! Instead of the usual news, the hosts share the biggest front end stories of 2024, the most fascinating developments, and the moments that made us happiest.Thank you, Front-End Fire listeners! We couldn’t have done this without you. Wishing you a wonderful holiday season, and we can’t wait to bring you more frontend goodness in 2025.Biggest Story of the Year for Frontend Devs:Paige - Vite and void(0)Jack - React 19 drama and delaysTJ - The rise in AI tooling, and how we move forward with itMost Interesting Story of 2024:Paige - Apple’s not-so-great year: Apple Vision Pro, EU legal issues, Apple Intelligence Jack - AI app builders: v0, bolt.new, etc.TJ - Wordpress DramaWhat Made You Happy in 2024:Paige - Consistent practice of hobbiesJack - Growing this podcast and quality time with friends and familyTJ - Getting back into readingThanks 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 Tweet us on X @front_end_fire and BlueSky.Front-end Fire websiteBlue Collar Coder on YouTubeBlue Collar Coder on DiscordReach out via emailTweet at us on X @front_end_fireFollow us on Bluesky @front-end-fire.com

In our last news episode of the year, we share that React 19 is declared stable, just in time for the holidays. It’s been a long road from release candidate in April to stability now, but it was well worth the wait. React 19 is packing a lot of features, including: Actions, hooks, form actions, the new use API, and of course, React Server Components and Server Actions.OpenAI’s been busy as well, introducing ChatGPT Pro, its $200 a month subscription for unlimited access to OpenAI o1 (the “reasoning model), GPT-4o, and Advanced Voice mode. Additionally, the startup announced the ChatGPT desktop app for macOS can now read code in a handful of developer-focused coding apps, like VS Code, XCode, Terminal, and iTerm2.There’s a new challenger to Figma for styling React-based code bases called Onlook. Onlook is a browser-based product studio that lets you design React code with Tailwind CSS using an easy-to-use interface just like you would in Figma.News:Paige - Onlook, the power Figma in your React appJack - React 19 is stableTJ - OpenAI announcements: ChatGPT Pro and Work With AppsBonus News:Quantum Computing Inches Closer to RealityiOS 18.2 and Apple IntelligenceFire Starters:Customizable Selects (Wes Bos video)What Makes Us Happy this Week:Paige - Black Doves TV series and The Midnight Feast bookJack - Seestar-S50 All-in-one smart telescopeTJ - Christmas Village in Grand Rapids, MIThanks 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 Tweet us on X @front_end_fire and BlueSky.Front-end Fire websiteBlue Collar Coder on YouTubeBlue Collar Coder on DiscordReach out via emailTweet at us on X @front_end_fireFollow us on Bluesky @front-end-fire.com

Discover the innovative features of the new JavaScript package manager, vlt, which aims to challenge npm with its user-friendly interface. Explore the game-changing release of Vite 6.0, featuring an experimental Environment API for flexible framework development. Dive into Astro 5.0's content layers and server islands that enhance performance by blending static and dynamic content. Plus, enjoy a chat about favorite shows and books, along with essential tips on woodworking safety to keep those fingers intact!

Exciting updates emerge from the React Summit, including the beta launch of TanStack Start, a fresh framework competing with major players like Next.js. Framer Motion transforms into Motion, offering smooth animations for all JavaScript projects, broadening its accessibility. Meanwhile, the US government pushes for Google's breakup over alleged search monopolies, signaling significant changes for big tech. The hosts humorously discuss everyday tech innovations, from handy leaf blower attachments to the quirks of device notifications, blending insights with laughs.

We kick off this week’s episode with news that React Native framework Expo now has a developer preview of universal React Server Components. For the first time ever, you can use React Server Components & Server Actions in native apps. In a controversial move, Amazon has mandated all employees must return to offices by Jan 2025. The hosts discuss the pros and cons of working from the office vs remote, and speculate this is just another way for Amazon to conduct layoffs without actually laying more employees off.CSS masonry, a long yearned for feature, gets closer to reality. The Google Chrome and Apple WebKit teams have differing opinions about how CSS masonry’s syntax should be added to the spec (reuse CSS grid or create a whole new layout property for masonry), and they want devs to weigh in to help make the final decision.News:Paige - CSS masonry layout controversyJack - React Native has beta RSCsTJ - Amazon is making its employees come back to the officeBonus News:CSS gets a new logo that’s not a shield! - h/t to Adam Argyle for this breaking newsRegulators causing nuclear power issues for Meta and AmazonWordPress tracking sites leaving WP Engine hostingFire Starters:CSS stretch keywordWhat Makes Us Happy this Week:Paige - Unreasonable Hospitality bookJack - Lioness TV showTJ - Daisy DarkerThanks 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 Tweet us on X @front_end_fire and BlueSky.Front-end Fire websiteBlue Collar Coder on YouTubeBlue Collar Coder on DiscordReach out via emailTweet at us on X @front_end_fireFollow us on Bluesky @front-end-fire.com

The AI race continues with lots of new updates straight from the GitHub Universe conference!New features from GitHub include: the ability to choose different AI models for GitHub Copilot Chat to use (OpenAI, Claude, Gemini, etc.), Copilot Workspaces reviewing PRs, suggesting code changes, and validating fixes.In addition to the GH Universe announcements, the October VS Code release has a bunch of new Copilot additions like: Copilot Edits to change multiple files at once, Copilot Chat in a secondary sidebar, and Copilot code reviews before committing to GitHub.Next.js’s caching, which defaulted to very aggressive in the past, has been updated big time in Next.js 15. Now, when devs add a request that fetches external data, they’ll be prompted to either wrap it in a Suspense tag or explicitly mark the module or function with the “use cache” directive. This gives devs more fine grained cache control allowing some routes to have dynamic, Suspense-supported data, while others have static, cached data.In bonus news, the open source Flutter community decided to fork the project because it feels Google’s core Flutter team doesn’t have enough resources internally and isn't fast enough at reviewing PRs and implementing new features. “Flock” aims to add the bug fixes, popular community features, and generally be faster and more agile than Flutter.And today’s Fire Starter is about HTTP/3: the newest revision of the HTTP which offers better speed, security, and reliability.News:Paige - GitHub Spark and GitHub Universe updates in generalJack - use cache changes in Next.js 15TJ - VS Code 1.95Bonus News:Flutter gets forked to FlockFire Starters:HTTP/3What Makes Us Happy this Week:Paige - All Recipe’s Trends pageJack - Phone security cordTJ - The Will of the Many book series and Kindle e-readerThanks 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 Tweet us on X @front_end_fire and BlueSky.Front-end Fire websiteBlue Collar Coder on YouTubeBlue Collar Coder on DiscordReach out via emailTweet at us on X @front_end_fireFollow us on Bluesky @front-end-fire.com

In a special guest episode, Rob Eisenberg joins the podcast to talk about the role web components play in today’s web development ecosystem. Rob is uniquely qualified to discuss web components, as the former architect for Microsoft’s web component tech stack, FAST, used by about 1,500 internal MSFT teams, and creator of the Web Component Engineering course. Special Guest(s):Rob Eisenberg, Founder and Chief Software Architect at Blue Spire, former architect for Microsoft’s FAST Web Components technology, creator of the Web Component Engineering course, and Web Standards advocate. Rob on Twitter @EisenbergEffectRob’s Web Component Engineering courseRob on LinkedInRob on GitHubRob on MediumWhat Makes Us Happy this Week:Paige - Da Vinci Eye appTJ - GitHub Copilot updatesRob - Buttermilk PancakesThanks 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 Tweet us on X @front_end_fire and BlueSky.Front-end Fire websiteBlue Collar Coder on YouTubeBlue Collar Coder on DiscordReach out via emailTweet at us on X @front_end_fireFollow us on Bluesky @front-end-fire.com