Advertise on podcast: HTML All The Things - Web Development, AI, and Developer Careers

Improving your website's SEO doesn't always mean writing more blog posts, investing in expensive tools, or launching a massive content strategy. Sometimes the biggest opportunities are hiding in the pages you've already published. In this episode, Matt and Mike explore 10 low-hanging SEO opportunities that small businesses and web developers can use to improve their existing websites. From finding pages that are close to ranking higher to identifying missed keywords, improving click-through rates, and fixing common technical problems, it's all about making smarter decisions with the data you already have. We also discuss why Google Search Console should be one of your first stops, how to learn from competitors and Google's AI Overviews, and why improving existing content can deliver more value than constantly creating something new. Whether you're managing your own small business website or helping clients with theirs, this episode is about finding evidence before investing more effort. Show Notes: https://www.htmlallthethings.com/podcast/10-easy-seo-wins-youre-probably-overlooking Use our Scrimba affiliate link (https://scrimba.com/?via=htmlallthethings) for a 20% discount!! Full details in show notes.

As AI becomes capable of writing more software, could hand-coded apps eventually become the digital equivalent of handmade furniture or artisan jewelry? In this edition of the Web News, Matt and Mike debate whether people will ever pay a premium for software written by humans, whether users actually care how an app was built, and why the outcome may matter far more than the tools developers use. They also discuss AI backlash in gaming, open-source software, the “software is dead” conversation, and why staying close to what users actually value could matter more than ever. Show Notes: https://www.htmlallthethings.com/podcast/would-you-pay-more-for-hand-coded-software

AI coding tools are getting more capable, but learning to use them well is about more than chasing the newest model. In this episode, Matt and Mike break down the fundamentals developers need to work effectively with AI, from models, agents, and harnesses to tools like Cursor, Claude Code, and Codex. We also walk through a practical six-stage progression for building trust in AI-assisted development - starting with small tasks you verify yourself and gradually moving toward agents that can plan, build, review, and test work inside a reliable verification loop. Show Notes: https://www.htmlallthethings.com/podcast/ai-basics-for-developers Use our Scrimba affiliate link (https://scrimba.com/?via=htmlallthethings) for a 20% discount!! Full details in show notes.

Is the AI bubble finally starting to pop? In this edition of the Web News, Matt and Mike discuss OpenAI reducing usage on its $200 Pro plan, the enormous cost of AI infrastructure, and growing questions around whether businesses are actually seeing enough financial return from their AI investments. They also look at the other side of the argument: AI usage and revenue are still growing rapidly, companies continue pouring money into the technology, and the industry may simply be moving out of an era of heavily subsidized compute. Is this the beginning of an AI correction, or just the next stage of the AI boom? Show Notes: https://www.htmlallthethings.com/podcast/is-the-ai-bubble-starting-to-pop Use our Scrimba affiliate link (https://scrimba.com/?via=htmlallthethings) for a 20% discount!! Full details in show notes.

AI can save small businesses time, reduce repetitive work, and unlock capabilities that previously required more people, but where should you actually start? In this episode, Matt and Mike break down how small businesses can introduce AI without getting overwhelmed, from identifying high-frequency, low-risk tasks and protecting sensitive business data to turning successful experiments into repeatable AI workflows. We also discuss why you shouldn't automate everything at once, how your existing expertise makes AI more useful, when AI can hurt your brand, and why even a small business should consider having a basic AI policy. Show Notes: https://www.htmlallthethings.com/podcast/ai-basics-for-small-businesses Use our Scrimba affiliate link (https://scrimba.com/?via=htmlallthethings) for a 20% discount!! Full details in show notes.

Our world already has an instant gratification problem and AI has somehow made it worse. It's making skilled work faster and cheaper than ever, which in turn makes us more impatient than ever. Why should we spend a week learning a new SEO tool or a new coding method when we can just ask our AI to do it in a snap? In this edition of the Web News, Matt and Mike discuss AI-powered instant gratification, the pressure to constantly build and experiment, and the strange feeling that when almost anything can be made quickly, maybe we should be doing everything. Show Notes: https://www.htmlallthethings.com/podcast/ai-has-made-skilled-labour-almost-free-and-its-scary

Tech layoffs can happen with little warning, even when your company is doing well. In this episode, Matt and Mike discuss the warning signs that layoffs may be coming, how to prepare while you're still employed, and what to do when a layoff starts looking imminent. From building an emergency fund and keeping your resume current to documenting your accomplishments and strengthening your professional network, we cover practical ways to make an unexpected layoff much easier to navigate. Show Notes: https://www.htmlallthethings.com/podcast/how-to-prepare-for-a-tech-layoff Use our Scrimba affiliate link (https://scrimba.com/?via=htmlallthethings) for a 20% discount!! Full details in show notes.

AI models are already remarkably capable, but their intelligence doesn’t matter much if they’re too expensive, limited, or confusing to use. In this edition of the Web News, Matt and Mike discuss why cheaper and faster models, higher usage limits, and a better user experience could be more important than winning the next benchmark - and why the future of AI may be about making today’s technology genuinely usable. Show Notes: https://www.htmlallthethings.com/podcast/ais-biggest-problem-isnt-intelligence-anymore

AI is easy to start using, but getting good at it takes practice. In this episode, Matt and Mike break down the AI basics everyone should learn first, from improving your prompts and knowing when AI needs to search the web to verifying important answers and avoiding AI overload. Whether you're using ChatGPT, Claude, Copilot, or another AI tool, these tips will help you build better habits and get more useful results. Show Notes: https://www.htmlallthethings.com/podcast/ai-basics-learn-these-tips-first Use our Scrimba affiliate link (https://scrimba.com/?via=htmlallthethings) for a 20% discount!! Full details in show notes.

Is AI coding making technical debt worse, or could it help us finally clean it up? In this edition of the Web News, Matt and Mike debate how tighter deadlines, unchecked code, and AI’s context limits affect maintainability - and whether clean code still matters when AI can navigate the mess. Inspired by this r/webdev discussion: https://www.reddit.com/r/webdev/comments/1wi3mi5/is_vibe_coding_creating_a_hidden_technical_debt/ Show Notes: https://www.htmlallthethings.com/podcast/is-ai-coding-making-technical-debt-worse

Every once in a while, a new app actually sticks and changes how you work. In this episode, Mike shares the developer and productivity apps that have earned a permanent spot in his workflow, including the Aside AI Browser, Orca Agent IDE, OrbStack, Aerospace, Raycast, and Niagara Launcher. We dig into AI-powered browser automation, managing multiple coding agents, remote development from your phone, lightweight Docker alternatives, keyboard-first macOS workflows, and minimalist Android setups. Show Notes: https://www.htmlallthethings.com/podcast/my-favorite-developer-and-productivity-apps-right-now Use our Scrimba affiliate link (https://scrimba.com/?via=htmlallthethings) for a 20% discount!! Full details in show notes.

Can AI actually plan a good vacation? Matt recently used ChatGPT and Gemini to help plan a trip to the UK, from sightseeing and transportation to fitting everything into a packed itinerary. We break down what AI got right, where it completely missed the mark, and why the best travel planning still combines AI with Google Maps, social media, and advice from real people. Show Notes: https://www.htmlallthethings.com/podcast/i-let-ai-help-plan-my-vacation-heres-how-it-went

AI coding tools can generate huge amounts of functional code in seconds, but does that mean developers no longer need to learn how to code? In this episode, Matt and Mike discuss how aspiring and junior developers can use AI coding agents as both builders and tutors - following their curiosity, learning the concepts behind generated code, and deciding how much manual coding knowledge they actually need to retain. They also explore the growing challenge of balancing traditional programming skills with agentic coding skills, especially when preparing for developer jobs and technical interviews. Show Notes: https://www.htmlallthethings.com/podcast/dont-just-vibe-code-learn-while-you-code Use our Scrimba affiliate link (https://scrimba.com/?via=htmlallthethings) for a 20% discount!! Full details in show notes.

GPT-6 Astra is here, bringing another huge jump in AI capabilities - and once again raising the question: are we approaching AGI? But defining artificial general intelligence gets messy fast. If AGI means matching or exceeding humans across virtually any cognitive task, how do you actually test that? And as new benchmarks appear, are we discovering better ways to measure intelligence or simply moving the goalposts? In this edition of the Web News, Matt and Mike discuss what AGI means from a regular user's perspective, why benchmark scores don't necessarily tell the whole story, and whether the label even matters if AI can already handle increasingly complex real-world work. For most of us, the question may be much simpler: does the AI actually do what we need it to do? ‍Show Notes: https://www.htmlallthethings.com/podcast/does-agi-actually-matter-to-you

Most of us repeatedly teach our AI coding agents the same lessons: ask questions before coding, write a specification, break the work into tickets, test everything, and review the result. Agent skills let us package those instructions into reusable workflows that an agent can load whenever they become relevant. In this episode, Matt and Mike explain what agent skills are, how they differ from prompts, project rules, tools, MCP servers, and custom GPTs, and why they can make AI-assisted development more consistent. They also explore Matt Pocock’s engineering skills - including grill-with-docs, wayfinder, to-spec, to-tickets, implement, code-review, and handoff - and discuss why installing too many overlapping skills can make an agent worse instead of better. Show Notes: https://www.htmlallthethings.com/podcast/ai-agent-skills-explained-what-they-are-and-which-ones-to-use Use our Scrimba affiliate link (https://scrimba.com/?via=htmlallthethings) for a 20% discount!! Full details in show notes.