Ask HN: How can I ship a web project if I'm not a web dev? • Hacker News Board

Re: Ask HN: How can I ship a web project if I'm not a web dev?

#11

Post by varlock » Thu, Dec 24, 2020, 9:56 PM UTC

martinopp wrote: post #4

I think you basically have two options if you think there is still a lot to be don before launching a good MVP: Option A) Using a no-code tool as buuble.io, Webflow, or similar. The choice depends on your requirements. Option B) Hire an agency or freelancer. Probably nearshore or offshore to maximize your investment. Both are great ways of validating an idea before actually investing tons of money and time.

I wasn't aware of neither bubble.io nor webflow. Good to know they're there. Given what I've got in mind seems more to be an app rather than a website, I'd probably give a shot to the former.

Re: Ask HN: How can I ship a web project if I'm not a web dev?

#12

Post by varlock » Thu, Dec 24, 2020, 10:01 PM UTC

mrkwse wrote: post #8

quickthrower2 wrote: post #5

Probably find an open source project that has the stuff you need as a basis. There are even templates for sale to get you started too. Choose something familiar language wise. I’d try to avoid JS frameworks if you are not used to web dev. Back end, render html, use a tiny bit of JS maybe for form validation. Use bootstrap - I am recommending because it will have the most documentation and stack overflow coverage whic…

I'd second this and also add that there will be plenty of good tutorials going through a lot of this stuff. They'll be very opinionated and produce particular solutions, but if this is your first project you don't want to worry about which framework etc. to use, you just want to ship something. Netlify produce a lot of very thorough blogs that will cover a lot of the things you're yet to sort out. You'll end up in th…

I started off a template, which took away the need to think about web design. For React, I did follow quite a few tutorials - from how to route through pages, to hooks to unit tests - but the process is quite slow (though I do enjoy it).

And then there's setting up gitlab pipelines, docker images, deployments to AWS... it's a lot for a one-man band with only a few hours to dedicate.

I'll have a look at Netlify, maybe it could take some of the above away. Thanks for the suggestion!

Re: Ask HN: How can I ship a web project if I'm not a web dev?

#13

Post by varlock » Thu, Dec 24, 2020, 10:05 PM UTC

gostsamo wrote: post #3

Use for the backend something that gives you most functionality as a plugin. Ruby on rails or django. Don't reinvent the wheel. Add js on the frontend as needed.

In the beginning I actually thought about Django or Flask (my background is mainly in Python), which I wrongly dismissed because I thought the main part would have been JS - so I chose ReactJS given the wide availability of tutorial and support. Flask would have solved some issues such as login etc. As they say, hindsight is 20/20 :)

Re: Ask HN: How can I ship a web project if I'm not a web dev?

#14

Post by varlock » Thu, Dec 24, 2020, 10:06 PM UTC

p0d wrote: post #6

Your best option is to be more confident. I am 50 and do not call myself a webdev or programmer however I have made a six figure sum with my side projects down through the years. Most webdevs will never make anything they can call their own. They will make for others. Make something and put it out there.

Thanks for the confidence boost! It's always too easy to self-criticize.

Re: Ask HN: How can I ship a web project if I'm not a web dev?

#15

Post by cercatrova » Fri, Dec 25, 2020, 4:27 AM UTC

Read up on Pieter Levels. He has a shitty PHP app, by his own admission, that makes around 1 million a year, NomadList. It's about whether you can solve people's problems, not what the tech stack looks like.

There are also no code tools like WebFlow, Bubble, etc, and you can also learn more frontend by doing more sample projects.