The Spicy Web

This is a post I’ve been putting off for a long time, but it really is time to make a clean break and share with y’all what my plans are and where you can go to keep the dream alive of an HTML-first, indie-friendly, “vanilla” open web.

January 30, 2025 Addendum: I was further inspired to attempt squirclization (is that a word?!)

I am very sorry to inform you, but if you are a React / TypeScript frontend engineer a few years into your career, you are ground zero for getting replaced by “AI engineers”.

Use the Platform™ has become an amusing rallying cry which is essentially more of a philosophical argument than a technical one.

(Note: this content was originally intended for a new course in JavaScript programming, but with my course development on hold for the time being, it’s being released to the public for free.

I’ll breeze through the marketing-speak quickly so as to get to the heart of the matter.

I’ve been a part of “cults” before, whether that’s being a total Apple fanboy or a total Ruby fanboy or—perhaps more recently—a total web components fanboy.

One thing I’d like to get off my chest right away.

Before I give you my side of the story, I’d like to point you to Brian Rinaldi’s comprehensive take on the demise of Jamstack (or as I still prefer to call it, JAMstack) for some much-needed context on what’s been going down.

Hello everybody!