Wes and Scott talk about the ins and outs of accepting payments online—from choosing processors like Stripe and PayPal to handling fraud, taxes, custom checkouts, and more.

• 00:00 Welcome to Syntax!
• 02:34 Payment processors
  • Stripe
  • PayPal
  • Square
  • Authorize.net
• 09:29 Checkouts
• 18:22 The checkout flow
• 23:10 Methods of accepting money
• 25:30 Brought to you by Sentry.io
• 28:34 Merchant of Record
  • Lemon Squeezy
  • Gumroad
  • Paddle
  • Beacons
• 32:51 Handling fraud, disputes, and refunds
• 41:25 Sick Picks + Shameless Plugs

• Scott: Parcel
• Wes: Parcels App

• Syntax YouTube Channel

Syntax: X Instagram Tiktok LinkedIn Threads

Wes: X Instagram Tiktok LinkedIn Threads

Scott: X Instagram Tiktok LinkedIn Threads

Randy: X Instagram YouTube Threads

Scott and Wes talk about the planning process for a major redesign of the Syntax.fm website. They share their thoughts on organizing tasks, choosing tech, handling styling, and the debates that come with deciding what to keep and what to change.

• 00:00 Welcome to Syntax!
• 01:36 Brought to you by Sentry.io.
• 02:48 Why we need version 3.0 of Syntax.fm.
  • Level Up Tutorials, Travis Neilson.
• 04:41 Project planning and organization.
• 05:53 The codebase.
• 09:50 The CSS changes.
  • Episode 770: Design Systems With Brad Frost.
• 12:27 Tooling.
• 15:54 Development process.
• 16:38 Mobile and responsiveness.
• 18:37 Saving VS Code extension into the repo.
• 19:56 Using a dev container.
• 20:53 AI agent rules.
• 21:35 Code styles.
• 23:42 Canadian podcast.
• 24:33 Content storage.

Syntax: X Instagram Tiktok LinkedIn Threads

Wes: X Instagram Tiktok LinkedIn Threads

Scott: X Instagram Tiktok LinkedIn Threads

Randy: X Instagram YouTube Threads

Is Vibe Coding the future of software development or just a fun way to experiment? Scott and Wes talk about coding with AI, the risks of ignoring the details, and the cool (and sometimes cursed) projects they’ve Vibe Coded.

• 00:00 Welcome to Syntax!
• 00:31 “Personal Software”.
• 01:30 What exactly is Vibe Coding.
• 02:46 The challenges of coding with AI.
  • Levelsio Airplane Game.
• 04:49 Brought to you by Sentry.io.
• 05:39 Vibe coding quality concerns.
• 07:25 Vibe Coding as a learning tool.
• 10:11 Things we’ve Vibe Coded.
  • Scott’s Piano UI on X.
  • Episode 876: MIDI & Music In the Browser.
  • Wes’ Roomba on X.
  • Wes’ Roomba on YouTube.

Syntax: X Instagram Tiktok LinkedIn Threads

Wes: X Instagram Tiktok LinkedIn Threads

Scott: X Instagram Tiktok LinkedIn Threads

Randy: X Instagram YouTube Threads

Wes and Scott talk about Infrastructure as Code and how SST makes deploying to AWS easier than ever. They dive into SST’s features, developer experience, and how it simplifies managing services like databases, email, and more. Plus, insights on Cloudflare integration, auto-scaling, and real-world use cases.

• 00:00 Welcome to Syntax!
  • Supper Club × Next.js on AWS + Serverless with Dax Raad
• 02:37 Brought to you by Sentry.io
• 04:52 Intro to SST config
  • SST
  • AWS
• 05:40 Overview of Scott’s SST config file
• 12:33 Exploring SST’s endless capabilities
  • SST’s docs
  • Cloudflare
• 15:42 The SST developer experience
  • Infrastructure for TS Devs: Kubernetes, WASM and Containers with David Flanagan
  • Supper Club × Flightcontrol with Brandon Bayer
• 19:05 SST console and GUI overview
• 22:13 Resource management and pricing
• 24:52 Secrets management
• 27:38 Tunneling and security
  • https://sst.dev/docs/live
• 30:52 Simplifying DNS
• 35:18 Sick Picks + Shameless Plugs

• Scott: Aquaphor Healing Ointment
• Wes: Magnetic Picture Hanger Frame

• Syntax YouTube Channel

Syntax: X Instagram Tiktok LinkedIn Threads

Wes: X Instagram Tiktok LinkedIn Threads

Scott: X Instagram Tiktok LinkedIn Threads

Randy: X Instagram YouTube Threads

Scott and Wes dig into the wild world of CSS fonts—covering fallbacks, variable fonts, and new tricks like text-box-trim. They also break down font-display, font kits, and how to avoid layout shifts when loading custom type.

• 00:00 Welcome to Syntax!
• 01:06 Brought to you by Sentry.io.
  • Damnit Sans.
• 02:53 @font-face.
• 03:27 Font Display.
• 07:40 Avoiding layout shift.
  • Fallbacks.
• 10:45 Variable fonts.
  • Fontaine.
  • font-kit
  • Wakamai Fondue.
  • Syntax Ep. 782.
  • Font Variation Settings.
• 16:23 Variable font sizing.
• 17:46 v-fonts.
• 19:10 text-box-trim & text-box-edge.
  • text-box-trim examples.
• 21:28 Browser support.

Syntax: X Instagram Tiktok LinkedIn Threads

Wes: X Instagram Tiktok LinkedIn Threads

Scott: X Instagram Tiktok LinkedIn Threads

Randy: X Instagram YouTube Threads

Wes and Scott talk with Anders Hejlsberg and Daniel Rosenwasser about TypeScript’s leap to native code. They discuss the challenges, trade-offs, and the decision to port TypeScript to Go, unlocking faster compilation, better concurrency, and new possibilities for AI-assisted development.

• 00:00 Welcome to Syntax!
• 00:38 TypeScript compiler goes native
• 05:24 Challenges in rebuilding TypeScript
• 08:49 How long has this been in development?
• 10:32 What does porting TypeScript to native entail?
• 16:36 Why choose Go?
• 26:48 The porting process
• 35:02 Brought to you by Sentry.io
• 35:27 Type checking and parallel compilation
• 42:36 Fixing TypeScript’s performance bottlenecks
• 49:09 Large TypeScript codebases
• 54:11 What’s the timeline for the new compiler?
• 58:39 Optimization and AI
• 01:00:32 New features?
• 01:04:15 Sick Picks + Shameless Plugs

• Daniel: pprof-it
• Anders: USB Hand Warmers

• TypeScript

Syntax: X Instagram Tiktok LinkedIn Threads

Wes: X Instagram Tiktok LinkedIn Threads

Scott: X Instagram Tiktok LinkedIn Threads

Randy: X Instagram YouTube Threads

What are Web Vitals, and why should you care? Scott and Wes break down metrics like LCP, FCP, CLS, and INP, explaining what they measure, how they impact your site’s performance, and how to track them yourself.

• 00:00 Welcome to Syntax!
• 03:26 What each web vital means.
  • Web Vitals Playground.
  • 03:38 LCP - Largest Contentful Paint.
  • 05:04 FCP - First Contentful Paint.
  • 06:07 CLS - Cumulative Layout Shift.
  • 10:58 INP - Interaction to Next Paint.
    • 13:43 Measuring the impact.
  • 14:22 TTFB - Time to First Byte
• 15:27 How to track this on your own.
• 17:42 Checking the performance of Syntax.fm.
• 21:07 Brought to you by Sentry.io.
  • Sentry Web Vitals.
• 21:49 Checking the performance of Wes’ site.

Syntax: X Instagram Tiktok LinkedIn Threads

Wes: X Instagram Tiktok LinkedIn Threads

Scott: X Instagram Tiktok LinkedIn Threads

Randy: X Instagram YouTube Threads

Wes and Scott talk with Aaron Francis about Fusion for Laravel, a new way to seamlessly integrate PHP into JavaScript. They discuss how Fusion expands on Inertia, its potential for React support, and how it simplifies full-stack development.

• 00:00 Welcome to Syntax!
• 01:22 Aaron’s background in PHP
  • Yii
  • Laravel
• 02:27 What is Fusion for Laravel?
  • Fusion for Laravel
• 09:14 How Fusion works
• 13:57 The benefits of Laravel
• 19:18 Invalidation and caching
• 25:20 Brought to you by Sentry.io
• 25:32 Optimistic UI
• 28:28 React integration?
• 31:44 Fusion’s original name (and the naming process)
• 33:30 Laravel’s approach to frontend frameworks
  • Livewire
• 37:32 Databases and scaling
• 41:27 Postgres extensibility and hosting options
  • Crunchy Data
  • Xata
• 47:44 The vision for Fusion
• 48:31 Sick Picks + Shameless Plugs

• Aaron: Better Display CLI

• Aaron:
  • High Performance SQLite
  • Mastering Postgres
  • Screencasting.com

Syntax: X Instagram Tiktok LinkedIn Threads

Wes: X Instagram Tiktok LinkedIn Threads

Scott: X Instagram Tiktok LinkedIn Threads

Randy: X Instagram YouTube Threads

Scott and Wes answer your listener questions! They debate Axios vs. Fetch, discuss whether Next.js is overkill without a backend, talk htmx and Alpine, dive into tech career transitions, and tackle everything from podcast ads to password hashing myths.

• 00:00 Welcome to Syntax!
• 00:55 Scott’s health update.
• 04:11 Submit your questions.
• 04:26 Is Axios still worth using over Fetch?
  • shiki.
  • xior.
  • ky.
• 10:17 Does Alpine.js solve HTMX’s client-side limitations?
  • Syntax Ep. 868: The State of JavaScript.
  • Server Driven Web Apps With HTMX.
  • Syntax Ep. 568: Supper Club × Caleb Porzio.
  • Alpine.js.
  • Inertia.js.
• 16:47 How should I host my database for a local-first app?
  • Neon Tech
• 22:50 Brought to you by Sentry.io.
• 24:14 Should I use Next.js if I want a separate backend?
  • Create Vite Extra.
• 32:08 Are ad networks like BuySellAds worth it for podcasts?
• 36:36 Can I transition from airline pilot to senior software developer?
• 41:23 Is Base64 encoding a valid alternative to password hashing?
• 45:43 How do I use unexported functions from a third-party package?
• 48:09 How do you stay on top of package and browser updates?
  • Syntax Ep. 425: Updating Project Dependencies.
  • npm-check-update.
• 52:38 Why are Chrome and Firefox’s mobile presets outdated?
• 57:20 Should I give feedback on bad UX/UI designs from agencies?
• 01:01:53 Sick Picks + Shameless Plugs.

• Scott: Nothing Ear (a).
• Wes: SmallRig Phone Cage.

• Wes: Syntax on YouTube.

Syntax: X Instagram Tiktok LinkedIn Threads

Wes: X Instagram Tiktok LinkedIn Threads

Scott: X Instagram Tiktok LinkedIn Threads

Randy: X Instagram YouTube Threads