Frontmania 2025: My Honest Take

Back to Frontmania

Yesterday I went to Frontmania for the second time. It's a specialized frontend conference where experts talk about their craft. This year felt different though—fewer sponsors than usual, probably because companies are tightening their belts in this economy.

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The Talks

Karaoke in the Browser

The first session was about building a karaoke app using Web APIs. The speaker showed how you can create something cool with HTML5 and JavaScript without getting too complex. Here's the thing though: it got tedious. Way too much time spent on implementation details, slides packed with code. I found myself zoning out.

Don't get me wrong—it's a nice side project for your GitHub. But the presentation could've been better. Less code, more story maybe?

WebContainers—Complex but Interesting

Next up: WebContainers. Now this was fascinating! The idea is you can run an actual Linux terminal in your browser. Think of it like the Nuxt playgrounds, but everywhere.

I'll be honest—some of it went over my head. I'm not deep into backend stuff, so when it got technical, I got lost. But Jafar Rezaei (who has a pretty cool website, by the way) did a great job simplifying what he could. This is the kind of innovation that makes conferences worthwhile.

Frontend Is Dead as We Know It

This was the highlight. Nir Kaufman, a Google Developer Expert I'd never heard of, gave a keynote called "Frontend Is Dead as We Know It"—timely, given all the Cursor AI and GitHub Copilot buzz with Claude and OpenAI models.

He started with a joke and then did something brilliant: he compared frontend's evolution to human history using AI-generated images. Pure backend days (Java, .NET, PHP) = Stone Age. The Renaissance of frontend frameworks. You get the idea.

But here's what really got me: He's a master storyteller. Every section had at least one joke. Even when he stumbled, he kept you hooked. His structure was perfect—first third: context, second third: examples and visuals, final third: actionable advice.

The Core Message

We've spent years arguing about where to render: server, client, or both. We'd show users a page made of rendered pieces.

But that's changing. The new trend is chatbots.

Remember when OpenAI just launched apps that run inside chat windows? That's the future. What users really care about is the core component—not your navigation bar, not your ads, not the fluff. Just the thing that solves their problem.

His advice: optimize your apps for chatbots. Build components that work beautifully inside chat interfaces. Make it easy for users to interact with your product right where they already are.

My Takeaway

This hit me hard. The apps I'm dreaming up—maybe they don't need top navigation or footers at all. Maybe I can skip all that "medieval website" stuff and just build a chatbot with well-designed components that solve the user's need. Better UX, faster to market. Win-win.

OpenTelemetry and the Accent Problem

There was a session on OpenTelemetry for frontend. Interesting topic, but I couldn't follow it. The presenter had such a thick British accent that I (and I'm sure many others) just... couldn't understand.

Note to organizers: subtitles next time?

Debug Like a Pro

The last talk was from another Google Developer Expert about debugging in Chrome. Small room, packed with people standing in the back. The presenter was clearly nervous—really nervous. Two reasons, I think: the crowd, and her slides weren't quite ready.

She spent the first 7-8 minutes doing a poll, saying she'd customize the talk based on results. But then... she just went through her slides in order anyway. The topic was promising—"Debug Like a Pro"—but we mostly learned about a few Chrome tabs. To be fair, 2-3 of them were new to me and actually useful!

The Beautiful Part

Here's what stuck with me: the audience was amazing. From the start, people tried to give her confidence. They encouraged her, helped her keep going, reduced her stress. It was a genuinely kind gesture.

I learned something from that audience. When we can help someone, we should try to ease their nerves, lift them up. That moment was more valuable than any debugging tip.

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Was It Worth It?

Not every talk was great. Some were tedious, some I couldn't follow, some had nervous presenters. But honestly? If I get inspired by even one talk, that's enough.

And clearly it worked—because here I am, writing my first blog post after three years, three months, and nine days in the Netherlands.

I'm Keyvan Mahmoudi, and I'm hoping to write much more from now on.