🧱 Fonts are breaking your site’s performance

Hey there.

Welcome to Full Stack Focus. 👋 

Here’s everything you need to know this week in the world of full-stack development.

Your network is hiring. You just don’t know it yet.

Indy AI by Contra helps you find opportunities through your existing network. It connects to LinkedIn and X, then quietly surfaces warm opportunities. No cold outreach. No job boards. No feed fatigue. Just opportunities that find you.

Let work find you

Programming

😢 Petition to stop Google's attack on Android devs
The petition is pushing back on Google’s proposed move to restrict sideloading, requiring developers to submit IDs and addresses just to install APKs outside the Play Store. It warns this change could cut off users in certain regions or those seeking apps no longer available on the Play Store, eroding the freedoms that made Android appealing. The plea? Keep the ecosystem open and sideloading accessible.

💀 How VMware’s Debt-Fueled Acquisition Is Killing Open Source, One Repository at a Time
The article highlights how Broadcom's acquisition of VMware, backed by an overwhelming $69 billion debt load, has led to drastic shifts, most painfully seen in Bitnami pulling its free tier and slapping a steep $72 k/year price on container images that millions relied on. Engineers worldwide are now scrambling to audit infrastructure, rewrite pipelines, or pay up. It's a cautionary tale of how open source ideals are being sidelined by corporate priorities.

👴 Vibe Coding as a Coding Veteran
A 40‑year coding veteran tried full-on “vibe coding”, building a 5k‑line Python project over two weeks using AI pair‑programming tools, with around 300 human/AI exchanges. The result? Real productivity gains, but also the realization that reviewing AI‑generated code often demands more scrutiny than writing it yourself. It’s an eye‑opening look at what shifts, from craftsmanship to oversight, come with this new way of building.

📈 The unexpected productivity boost of Rust
Rust is notorious for its steep learning curve, but Lubeno argues there’s a second, overlooked curve: developer productivity. Once you push past the initial slog, Rust starts to speed things up dramatically, compiler-enforced safety means that if it compiles, it often just works. For larger codebases, that shift can translate into massive efficiency gains you'd never expect.

➿ Anatomy of a Python Loop
Oren makes Python loops fun by comparing them to tabletop dice rolls, rolling 3d6 for ability scores or looping until you hit a critical 20 . He walks through both for loops for repeated actions and while loops for conditional repetition . Plus, he demystifies continue with a simple example: skip any die results showing a 1 to ignore bad rolls .

Front-End

😡 Next.js Is Infuriating
Next.js Is Infuriating, Dominik dives into how middleware intercepts routes before rendering, adding layers of complexity at every turn. What should be a smooth, predictable developer experience often ends up feeling like wrestling with obscure, overengineered abstractions. In short: Next.js may offer power, but its hidden intricacies can quickly turn that power into frustration.

🆕 shadcn CLI 3.0 is Live
shadcn/ui is leveling up, fast. The new CLI 3.0 just landed, and it's a beast: namespaced registry, slicker auth, smarter commands, and a full registry overhaul. On top of that? Radix UI migration is now seamless, and the Calendar component got a serious glow-up with the latest React DayPicker.

💩 Why is the web essentially shit now?
“Why is the web essentially shit now?”, The gut punch? Developers have simply forgotten there’s a person behind the screen, lost in endless abstractions and ego, not empathy. One commenter nails it: “developers have forgotten that there is a human on the other end of the http connection”.

🔤 You’re loading fonts wrong (and it’s crippling your performance)
Most websites are loading fonts the wrong way, and it’s seriously hurting performance. Jono Alderson explains how bad font loading can mess with everything from page speed to layout stability and even user trust. He breaks down common mistakes, like relying on Google Fonts without optimizing, and offers better strategies that actually respect users and devices.

📺️ Refactoring a Next.js & Tailwind app with Cursor
In this video you will get a full walkthrough of upgrading a Next.js 13 + Tailwind 3 app, updating dependencies, refactoring components, and cleaning up messy code for a smoother, modern stack.

AI

🧑‍💻 Turn off Cursor, turn on your mind

😅 Is MCP a Security Nightmare?

💪 Anthropic developing Claude Code web version to rival Codex

More Tools & Stories

😭 Uncomfortable Questions About Android Developer Verification

🍎 Writing Mac and iOS Apps Shouldn’t Be So Difficult

🧑‍🎓 Stanford study finds AI has reduced availability of entry-level programming jobs

Have a great week, see you the same time next week!

- Full Stack Focus team :)