React Compiler Is Coming
React compiler is coming, according to Bytes.dev, which recently explored why React needs a compiler in the first place. The post came after React issued new documentation about the compiler.
“React’s default model is to re-render every time a state change occurs, but sometimes, you want to opt out of this behavior to improve performance,” Bytes wrote.
The post added that traditionally, this requires adding manual memoization. That works, but it’s “tedious, brittle and annoying to maintain,” the post continued.
The new documentation states that the React compiler will automatically add a more precise, fine-grained memoization than what a developer can do manually. The post compares manually coding this versus using the React compiler to do it.
“The good news is that React Compiler has already produced some significant performance gains and DX wins for various Meta apps,” the post concluded.
Vite Overtakes Webpack in Downloads
Vite, the build tool and development server, has surpassed webpack, a static module bundler for JavaScript applications, in downloads, according to a tweet by Vite and Vue creator Evan You.
“This just happened 👀” wrote You, sharing a graph that reveals Vite and webpack on a mostly parallel track, following a similar pattern of downloads, for the past year.
But starting on July 22, Vite overtook webpack by almost 500,000 downloads.
Graph from Evan You’s July 29 tweet.
Vite is a modern, next-generation build tool and development server designed for speed and efficiency in web development. It’s particularly used with frameworks like Vue, React and Svelte. Vite leverages native ES modules during development to provide a fast development server and hot module replacement (HMR). Vite uses Rollup to create production-ready bundles.
Webpack is a static module bundler for modern JavaScript applications. Its primary function is to process an application’s modules and assets — such as JavaScript files, CSS files and images — and package them into one or more optimized bundles for deployment.
Eleventy vs. Next.js: A Mini-Case Study
Etch, a UK-based web consultancy, recently published the story of its site migration off Next.js and onto Eleventy, a static site generator written in JavaScript.
The move improved site performance by 24%, according to Etch full-stack developer Dan Webb, who offers a graph comparing the site on Eleventy versus Next.js. He found that the homepage was cut from 2,161 KB to 11.3 KB, with the file count reduced from 33 to 2. Overall lines of code went from 6,877 to 4,307. The biggest change, though, was in NPM dependency count, which went from 1,115 to 13.
“Eleventy (11ty) doesn’t have some special performance-enhancing feature or a magic syntax that massively reduces lines of code,” he wrote. “Instead, it provides the minimalistic set of tools to template some HTML, bundle some CSS and lastly sprinkle JavaScript in the few places it’s needed. Then, it gets completely out the way and lets the browser do the rest.”
Webb said Eleventy’s two biggest strengths are:
- A clear separation between build and browser. It’s build-time only, Webb wrote, which means it’s not going to ship extra code to the browser after the build.
- Stability. “In busy periods where we’re focused on our clients we don’t want to spend what time we do have on our site fixing incoming breaking changes from dependencies,” he wrote. “11ty has only had 3 major version changes since 2018.”
That said, he found the developer experience wasn’t the best and it required extra work sometimes to achieve parity with Next.js features that are out-of-the-box or supported with plug-ins.
“…we could have achieved similar performance gains with Next.js, but it would have required gymnastics like running bundle analyzers and tweaking routing methods,” he wrote. “In choosing 11ty we accepted that Next.js is built for bigger problems than our little static content site has, so we opted for subtraction rather than addition.”
Angular’s Update Includes Animation Features
Angular v.20.2.0-next.2 was released last week. Among the updates was a new native API that helps with animations, according to frontend developer Netanel Basal.
The updates include animate.enter and animate.leave features. They provide a declarative way to apply CSS animations directly to elements, according to Basal.
While Angular has long had @angular/animations, that package is now outdated, Basal wrote, adding about 60kb of JavaScript. He added that popular third-party animation libraries are hard to integrate with Angular. The new API promises a lighter animation API, particularly for enter and leave animations.
“The new animate.enter and animate.leave features represent a significant step forward in making Angular animations more accessible and developer-friendly,” Basal said. “By removing the complexity of traditional animation setup while maintaining full control over the visual effects, these features make it easier than ever to create polished, animated user interfaces.”
He explained how the animations work and includes guidance for using the new features.
In April, React also added a new experimental animation feature.
Devographics Releases State of HTML Survey
Devographics is seeking web developers to respond to its State of HTML survey, which runs from July 15 to August 15, 2025. This year, the survey added 35 new features, and introduced two new sections: Graphics & Multimedia and Performance.
It should take around 10-15 minutes to complete, although developers don’t have to answer all the questions. The survey results will be released around Sept. 15, 2025.
