894: Open Source Matters w/ Chad Whitacre

Wes and Scott talk about the origins of Syntax, sharing how a friendly course name conflict led to a mastermind group, then a podcast, and eventually a full-blown media brand. They also reflect on key milestones, from early episodes and sponsorships to joining Sentry, expanding the team, and what’s next. Show Notes 00:00 Welcome to Syntax! 00:51 How Wes and Scott met Scott Tolinski & The Origins of LevelUpTuts LevelUpTutorials WesBos.com 09:31 How Syntax got its name Episode 001: React Tools 15:30 Getting sponsors Delicious Brains FreshBooks 18:53 Hasty Treats and expanding the show 22:36 Adding interviews to Syntax SVGs with Sara Soueidan 23:38 Syntax’s first live show Live at JAMstack_conf 27:58 Brought to you by Sentry.io 28:34 Acquisition by Sentry 600th Episode! Major Announcement and Swag Giveaway! 33:56 Hiring a producer Randy Rektor 36:39 Transitioning to video and growing the team Rating and ROASTING Coding Desk Setups CJ Reynolds Kaitlin Bloom 41:47 Launching the merch store Sentry.shop 46:01 The future of Syntax 47:23 Sick Picks + Shameless Plugs Sick Picks Scott: Crucial X10 Pro 4TB Portable SSD Wes: MONVICT Cordless Glue Gun Shameless Plugs Syntax YouTube Channel Hit us up on Socials! Syntax: X Instagram Tiktok LinkedIn Threads Wes: X Instagram Tiktok LinkedIn Threads Scott: X Instagram Tiktok LinkedIn Threads Randy: X Instagram YouTube Threads

9 Huhti 202555min

Light mode? Dark mode? Scott and Wes break down the best ways to implement theme switching in CSS, from prefers-color-scheme to manual overrides. Plus, tips on handling shadows, icons, and the dreaded flash of dark mode! Show Notes 00:00 Welcome to Syntax! 01:05 Brought to you by Sentry.io. 02:06 Light and dark mode, things to consider. 02:31 Light and dark mode from scratch. drop-in.css. 04:41 Calculations vs assigned color. 05:32 color-mix and relative color. 08:15 Foreground and background variables. –tint-or-shade: color-mix(in oklab, var(–fg), transparent 95%); –tint-or-shade-harder: color-mix(in oklab, var(–fg), transparent 90%); 09:13 Setting color scheme. 12:38 light-dark function in CSS. 15:48 Manually setting dark mode. 18:43 The challenges with shared caching. 19:33 Tailwind CSS implementation. Tailwind dark-mode. 19:52 Shoehorning in dark mode. 22:25 Other things to consider. 22:28 Color contrast. Lea Verou contrast-color. 24:39 Logos. 25:22 Icons and images. 26:20 Accessibility. Polypane. Hit us up on Socials! Syntax: X Instagram Tiktok LinkedIn Threads Wes: X Instagram Tiktok LinkedIn Threads Scott: X Instagram Tiktok LinkedIn Threads Randy: X Instagram YouTube Threads

7 Huhti 202527min

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. Show Notes 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 Sick Picks Scott: Parcel Wes: Parcels App Shameless Plugs Syntax YouTube Channel Hit us up on Socials! Syntax: X Instagram Tiktok LinkedIn Threads Wes: X Instagram Tiktok LinkedIn Threads Scott: X Instagram Tiktok LinkedIn Threads Randy: X Instagram YouTube Threads

2 Huhti 202546min

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. Show Notes 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. Hit us up on Socials! Syntax: X Instagram Tiktok LinkedIn Threads Wes: X Instagram Tiktok LinkedIn Threads Scott: X Instagram Tiktok LinkedIn Threads Randy: X Instagram YouTube Threads

31 Maalis 202529min

26 Maalis 202552min

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. Show Notes 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. Hit us up on Socials! Syntax: X Instagram Tiktok LinkedIn Threads Wes: X Instagram Tiktok LinkedIn Threads Scott: X Instagram Tiktok LinkedIn Threads Randy: X Instagram YouTube Threads

24 Maalis 202516min

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. Show Notes 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 Sick Picks Scott: Aquaphor Healing Ointment Wes: Magnetic Picture Hanger Frame Shameless Plugs Syntax YouTube Channel Hit us up on Socials! Syntax: X Instagram Tiktok LinkedIn Threads Wes: X Instagram Tiktok LinkedIn Threads Scott: X Instagram Tiktok LinkedIn Threads Randy: X Instagram YouTube Threads

19 Maalis 202539min

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. Show Notes 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. Hit us up on Socials! Syntax: X Instagram Tiktok LinkedIn Threads Wes: X Instagram Tiktok LinkedIn Threads Scott: X Instagram Tiktok LinkedIn Threads Randy: X Instagram YouTube Threads

17 Maalis 202523min