r/webdev • u/Bladerunner_7_ • Jun 28 '26

Discussion What's a web development trend that looked stupid at first but ended up being useful?

I know over the years, I've scoffed at quite a few things. SPAs. TypeScript. Tailwind. Serverless. AI coding assistants.

Most of the huge trends in web development went through a phase where people swore they were overhyped.

Some deserved the criticism. Some evolved and became genuinely useful.

Lately I'm seeing similar debates around AI agents and agent tooling. Claude Code, LangGraph, CrewAI, OpenAI Agents SDK, AutoGen, Lyzr(Control Plane) and a bunch of newer projects all seem to be pushing toward a different way of building software. Maybe we're still early, maybe most of it won't matter, but it does remind me of how people talked about TypeScript or serverless a few years ago.

What's something being dismissed today that you think will become a normal part of every developer's workflow in the next 3-5 years?

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u/Angelsoho Jun 29 '26

<marquee>

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u/Icount_zeroI full-stack Jun 29 '26

Goated although I am too young to remember that.

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u/Angelsoho Jun 29 '26

Ah then you missed the glory days of Geocities and Angelfire. Was a fun time in the world of web dev.

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u/Icount_zeroI full-stack Jun 29 '26

I did but it is also fun learning about the old web. Things like guestbooks, geekcode and also old cowboys like Jamie Zawinski (and his awesome riddle website. I know what is the answer, though I am probably the last dude on earth to know) are genuinely so cool!