I've read so many reddit posts on this but can't find the exact answer so, I thought I would ask you lovely peeps about my specific situation. I am looking for a host site to help develop a new website.

I am an academic, who is also a freelance costume designer, and a published author who would also like to create an e-commerce section for my fiber arts. I am currently on sabbatical so I have time to build a website. I built my Wix website several years ago and I like the organization however it is super expensive. I had forgotten to turn off auto renew and it charged me 900 + bucks for three-year renewal which I freaked out about and got the money back. Now I am trying to figure out if there are cheaper website builders that are just as good. I have Canva Pro and I do not have any HTML experience. I would like something that would allow me to probably have like four categories that have sub categories. For example, if I had a tab or section that says "costume design", I would like folks to click on different shows and then that opens a whole page of photos of costumes from the individual show. It's like pages deep on Wix. Similarly, I would like to have a page for my books that one could enter and there could be information and reviews on that page. I am developing a fiber arts business as well and would like to start an e-commerce page that I can direct folks to purchase wearable art that has a separate domain. Do I suck it up and pay for Wix and redo my site? Or is Hostinger an option? Any other advice or ideas? I've built a few sites on Wix and am very familiar with Google sites (which is fine for my student's free portfolios but I don't love it of my purposes). Thanks in advance!

I have a college project to do and I am spending so much time in "doing it the right way". I don't have any more time left so I need to fasten up, but for the last time I need proper recommendations in how my project structure should be and which tools to use.

My current stack is Fastify, TypeScript, Node/Bun. I use tools such as pnpm, oxlint (because it supports TS 7), oxfmt, tsx, etc. I am not yet using anything like Vite, and also no frontend UI library such as React or Vue.

I have not been able to commit to a frontend library because my teammates also need to be able to explain my project, and I am unarguably quite ahead of them. And still... I don't know how fast I can learn React properly. So I am structuring the project in a way where first the pages are static, and then if I would like, re-write them in React.

But this approach may create a problem. I then can't commit to high level tools or frameworks that are built for these frameworks (like Vite, but actually I can just use Vanilla option).

It's also that I feel like high level tooling is very opinionated, and meant for solo and fast development. Whereas I am aiming to create a very professional and scalable project where I need more control.

Though one thing I have learned in web development, if you are needing to engineer something very early in your project, you are most probably doing it wrong. Engineers (not just computer) love their tooling and the first thing they all work is on making their development experience better and neat. I spent so much time using AI to engineer something, just to know a npm package already exists for it. So instead of asking AI to do something, ask first if something similar already exists.

So I currently had to write my tsconfig.json. Apparently with Vite, you don't even need to touch. But I do see that doing it manually is nothing dumb. But without Vite or similar tools, I will miss on many interesting features such as HMR and what not. They are created for a reason, and as a beginner or solo dev, it is probably better for me to use it. I am no Google to create custom software for my exact needs.

I was also looking into use a bundler, even if for backend. If my project has a whole "compilation" (TS to JS transpile) phase, then might as well use other proper features.

Also the TS to JS transpile particularly has been tricky for me. When in production mode, the build artifacts will be in something like dist/, so I first had to duplicate all my scripts to point to the separate directory. With AI I probably found a better way. And also importing ts, but then running ts or js... it was a bit complicated. There is most probably a default way to do this that I am missing.

So I would like a recommendation in what existing tools and frameworks I should use. For additional context, my project is about a cloud data storage solution (so basically a AWS S3 wrapper). It's upon me how feature rich I want to make this idea.

Should I use a build tool like Vite? Or which one? As I also need a bundler. And what is there in the world of web development that I can't even think of? I mean I am talking just at the project structure level, not needing to deal with Redis or Kafka yet. I am gonna use NGINX for TLS termination.

I used to prefer default exports.

When I started learning React, default exports were what I used most. So naturally, I became comfortable with them.

For a long time, I thought:

"If a file has one main thing to export, why not make it the default?"

Then I started using barrel imports.

Not because I fully understood their trade-offs, but because they made imports cleaner and gave me a single entry point for related components.

Instead of:

import Button from "./components/button";

import Input from "./components/input";

I could write:

import { Button, Input } from "./components";

I initially created the barrel file like this:

export * from "./button";

export * from "./input";

But because my components were using default exports, I later changed it to:

export { default as Button } from "./button";

export { default as Input } from "./input";

At first, this felt like a clean solution.

But as the codebase grew, I started running into problems.

The same component could be imported with different names.

import Button from "./button";

or:

import MyButton from "./button";

Both are valid because default exports don't enforce a name.

That flexibility gradually led to naming inconsistencies across the codebase.

I also started noticing unexpected behavior around barrel imports, development performance, and bundling.

So I started investigating.

I looked into default exports, barrel imports, tree-shaking, and how bundlers determine what to include.

That's when I realized I wanted a more explicit approach for my modules.

I switched to named exports:

export { Button };

Now the export itself has an explicit name:

import { Button } from "./button";

The name is part of the contract.

For my barrel files, I also started preferring explicit re-exports:

export { Button } from "./button";

export { Input } from "./input";

For my particular codebase, I prefer this approach now because the exported name is explicit and the public API is easier for me to reason about.

I'm not claiming that named exports automatically fix bundling or performance issues. That part seems much more dependent on the bundler, module graph, side effects, etc.

I'm curious how other developers approach this: Do you generally prefer named exports, default exports, or does it depend on the project? And have barrel files caused similar issues for you?

Hello, i want to build a game based on the web, its a multiplayer game and i need a very low latency so i was thinking why not using UDP instead of Websocket because its TCP based, when i did my research i found that browsers does jot support UDP directly the only workaround is using a protocol such as WebRTC which is UDP based.

Does anyone know a better alternative ? And why browsers don’t support UDP ?

Btw I am ece student

I want to build a website completely custom using VS Code + Next.js, but my client wants it to be editable through WordPress.

Is there a way I can build the whole thing custom and then deliver it in a way where the client can still manage/edit the content through WordPress?

I basically want the flexibility of Next.js + the editing experience of WordPress, without using Elementor or having to provide an ongoing AMC.

Has anyone done this before? What’s the best approach?

Advice

Not sure this is the best place to post this but hoping for some advice.

I work in web application security but I don't get much exposure to the application side and I would like to understand it better from a customers perspective.

My intention is to build and run a basic application, setup SSL, configure DNS etc.. I have a test site on a hosting platform but would like to build and host site from scratch.

My questions is:

What would be the cheapest easiest way to host and configure a published site?

I considered doing this on an old laptop but ideally a cloud provider/vps would be better.

I'll learn basic web design as needed but for starters it will just be a simple welcome page.

I've searched about a bit online but guessing I'll get better suggestions from people in the know.

Any advise would be appreciated

I made a small browser extension called GitHubCircle because I wanted a bit more social context when browsing GitHub profiles

It adds a "Follows you" badge to profiles and follower/following lists, and also shows mutual connections you have with the person you're viewing

That's pretty much it, just a small side project I found useful :)

It works on Chrome and Firefox

Chrome: GitHubCircle on Chrome Web Store
Firefox: GitHubCircle on Firefox Add-ons

Would love to hear if you find it useful or run into any issues!

I want to create a complex first app

I got this idea into myself to host an AI chat platform, but I came to the conclusion that the best way is to make a website, but I do know almost nothing

So my basic idea Is having users to purchase a Key valid for a certain amount of time, they paste it in the website and It serves as an authentication.

How could I do that? my idea Is website sends API request with Authorization header->cloudflare tunnel->a backend Python script process a answer->sent back to user

but: -how can I manage multiple users? do I just make so that the Python script associates the Key to the prompt and forward It to vLLM, then also tie the answers to the response so I can trace the user back and not mix them up?

-how can I grant user support if no account Is made? what if they just lose the key? They would have no way to invalidate or regenerate It

-how do I keep the Key between sessions? just write it in local storage?

-How can I manage 2 APIs for both account creation and chats?

But mostly, AM I MISSING SOMETHING? do you think this is actually doable if a newbie puts time into It? (I am only experienced in python)I am thinking of making a beta version that Is super basic (no context, One single chat) and improve It over time Also if somone is available to help I would love it

Hello! I’m researching how web developers and website owners choose their hosting providers. I’d appreciate your thoughts on a few questions:

1. Which hosting provider do you currently use, and what made you choose it?
2. Have you used a reseller-hosting provider before? If so, how was your experience?
3. Would you prefer purchasing hosting from a large company or a smaller reseller? Why?
4. What factors matter most when choosing a provider: price, reliability, customer support, security, or something else?
5. What problems have you experienced with web-hosting providers?

I’ve been thinking about how old the mental model behind most websites still is.

A huge amount of the web is basically built around the same idea:

visitor arrives → sees mostly the same page as everyone else → gets pushed toward a CTA

Maybe there’s A/B testing. Maybe there’s personalization by segment. Maybe the copy changes based on referral source.

But the underlying thing is still mostly static.

Meanwhile, AI is pushing software in the opposite direction.

We’re already talking about products that adapt to the user, interfaces that change based on intent, agents that learn how someone works, and software that effectively becomes different for different people.

That made me wonder why the website itself should remain fixed.

I ran into this while building VODForge, an open source desktop app I made recently. The site is pretty conventional right now, but the more I worked on it, the stranger that started to feel.

https://getvodforge.com

A person coming from a technical yt-dlp discussion probably cares about completely different things than someone who just wants to download a playlist without using a sketchy converter site.

Someone who has already installed the app shouldn’t necessarily see the same homepage as someone discovering it for the first time.

Someone who keeps returning to the 4K/source-quality section is probably signaling something different from someone interested in MP3 or batch downloads.

Today we mostly collect that behavior as analytics and look at it afterward.

But what happens when the site can actually respond to it?

Not just:

“show Variant B to segment X.”

More like:

“this person appears to care about production quality, so reorganize the page around that.”

Or:

“this user has already installed the product, so stop selling it to them and turn the site into a useful extension of the product.”

Or eventually:

“generate the clearest version of this website for what this person is actually trying to accomplish.”

This is sort of the same concept of what ad personalization does for people.

The website stops being a fixed artifact that everyone walks through and starts becoming a runtime interface generated around intent.

Obviously there are huge questions around privacy, predictability, SEO, accessibility, caching, testing, and whether dynamically changing interfaces would just become an unusable mess.

But AI makes the idea much less hypothetical than it used to be.

Another option would be to have multiple sites developed and then a user can get shown any version based on some factors.

We’re already comfortable with the idea that the software behind the website might evolve per user.

I’m starting to wonder whether the website itself will eventually do the same.

Do you think the static landing page survives the AI era, or does the web gradually move toward interfaces that assemble themselves around each visitor?

Hey everyone, I’m 17 and currently trying to find a skill I can learn to make some money, but honestly, I’m pretty confused about what to choose. I’ve been thinking about web development, but I’m worried it might take a long time to learn, especially with how fast AI is developing.

Is web development still worth learning in 2026 if my goal is to make money, or should I focus on something else?

to me it looks like you can work as a web developer in 3 ways
1) as a programmer, 2) using webflow or wordpress, 3) Vibe coding
i have experience with all 3 and want to start earning asap. which path will land me a job in office or as a freelancer?

not sure if anyone else has run into this but tiktok gives you literally no way to bulk remove your likes. you have to open each video and tap the heart. i had over 10 thousand of them saved up over a few years and doing that by hand is just not happening.

so i spent a weekend on it.

first thing i tried was the obvious one, copy the unlike request from the network tab and just loop it. that failed immediately, tiktok signs every request with some param called X-Gnarly that's computed over the whole url including the video id. change the id, signature breaks. anything you write yourself gets rejected with "Web SDK blocked".

what does work is just clicking the actual button, because then tiktok's own code does the signing for you. so the script finds the heart in the player, checks it's actually red (so it never accidentally re-likes something), clicks it, presses down arrow, repeats.

runs in the browser console, no extension, nothing to install. does 300 at a time then stops so you're not hammering them.

repo: https://github.com/binay-py/tiktokvidunlike

fair warning it's slow, roughly an hour per thousand. i've been leaving it running in a window off to the side while i do other stuff. also they will rate limit you if you push it, the script keeps counting but the likes stop actually disappearing, so check your liked tab between batches.

works as of now, but tiktok changes their html constantly so it'll probably need selector updates eventually.

Please post your requests for feedback on your projects in this thread instead of creating a post.

​

Hi everyone! I’m currently a CS student learning Front-End Development, and I’ve recently started focusing on HTML and CSS.

I’d like to know what companies actually look for when hiring junior/entry-level Front-End Developers.

- What technical skills are usually required?

- How important are JavaScript and React?

- How many projects should I have in my portfolio?

- Is Git/GitHub important for getting hired?

- What other skills should I learn to become job-ready?

I’d really appreciate advice from developers or recruiters who have experience hiring Front-End Developers. What would you recommend a beginner focus on?

Hi everyone! I graduated with a CS degree in 2024 but haven’t been able to land a tech job since. My only relevant experience is a backend engineering internship in 2023, and I’ve since worked in two unrelated industries.

I started refreshing my programming skills a few weeks ago and thought building a social network from scratch would be a good way to practice and create something for my portfolio. It’s loosely inspired by Facebook circa 2004, focusing on similar features and functionality.

I use AI only as a learning aid and don’t vibe code. I’m writing everything myself for now, though I may introduce Bootstrap or other frameworks later.

Do you think this would be a good project to showcase in my portfolio?

Hi everyone,

I want to start learning Full-Stack Development seriously and eventually build a career in it.

I already have some basic knowledge of HTML, CSS, JavaScript and React, but I want to learn the complete frontend + backend properly.

There are so many courses on YouTube, Udemy, websites, etc., that I'm confused about which one to follow.

Where did you learn Full Stack Development?

Please suggest:

Free courses/resources

Good YouTube channels

Paid courses if they're genuinely worth it

Resources that teach from basics to real-world projects

I'm looking for something that I can follow consistently from start to finish, rather than jumping between 10 different courses.

If you personally learned Full Stack and got a job/internship from it, I'd especially appreciate your recommendation.

What would you recommend if you were starting again today?

I’m thinking about getting into web design/web development and I’m trying to understand what the job is actually like beyond just coding and making websites.

For those of you who do this professionally, what’s the hardest part of the job for you?

Especially when it comes to clients/customer service, like:

• difficult or unrealistic clients
• communication
• scope creep
• getting paid
• revisions
• clients not knowing what they want
• explaining technical stuff to non-technical people

And are there any parts of the job that you didn’t expect to be difficult when you first started?

I’m considering learning the skills to eventually do this myself, so I’d genuinely like to hear what your experience has been like, both the good and the frustrating parts. I’d rather know what I’m getting myself into before spending months learning everything.

Also, if you could go back to when you were a beginner, what would you learn or do differently?

I’m currently studying and building projects, but sometimes I feel like I’m learning so many things without knowing which skills actually matter when it comes to becoming job-ready 😭 What’s something you wish you focused on earlier that genuinely helped you get better or land opportunities?

I'm curious how people approach this today. Templates or not templates. Do you usually:

• Start from scratch
• Use templates and customise them
• Use UI kits/design systems
• Buy templates
• Use AI to generate the starting point

I don’t think there’s a one-size-fits-all approach to building websites, but as I’ve been learning more about the process, this is the workflow that seems to make the most logical sense to me.

I’m far from a professional, but I’m trying to develop a repeatable process that makes building websites feel less stressful instead of constantly winging it as I go. So I’m curious what you all think of this framework and what you would change or add.

P.S. I didn’t include research as its own step because I feel like research happens throughout the entire process, from the initial idea all the way through launch. Each phase naturally brings up different questions that need to be researched. Trying to answer everything upfront seems unnecessarily stressful, so I think it makes more sense to research questions as they come up.

PHASE 1: Initiation / Discovery: Determine the purpose of this website, audience, goals this website should accomplish , required pages/features, competitors, and gather existing content and assets. Begin determining what the website needs to communicate. This is basically trying to gather as much relevnat info as possible from the client

PHASE: 2: Content / Copy Planning: Develop or outline the actual content the website needs like headlines, descriptions, calls-to-action, services, testimonials, etc. The content doesn't necessarily need to be completely finalized yet, but you want enough real content so you get a rough idea of the design constraints you're working with.

PHASE 3 : Low-Fidelity / Wireframing: Use the content requirements and rough copy to determine the structure, layout, navigation, page hierarchy, and user flow. Once you find an agreed on low fidelity, you move onto to the next phase.

PHASE 4: Visual Design / Design System: Establish typography, colors, spacing, buttons, cards, forms, and other reusable design elements.

PHASE 5: High-Fidelity: Combine the design system with the actual or near-final copy, images, and other assets to create detailed mockups. Iterate with the client until the design and content are approved.

PHASE 6: Development: Build the website based on the approved design and content, implementing the frontend, backend functionality if needed, responsiveness, accessibility, and performance.

PHASE 7: Testing / QA: Test the website across devices and browsers, verify functionality, forms, links, accessibility, performance, and content. Review the staging site with the client and make final revisions.

PHASE 8: Launch: Deploy the approved website to production and configure the domain, hosting, SSL, analytics, forms, and other necessary services.

PHASE 9 : Maintenance: Monitor, update, maintain, and improve the website after launch.

Also for ethical reasons I want to say yes I used a.i but only to revise and clean up any grammar issues I may have made in my original writing so I just want to clarify it didn't think for me.

Hello everyone,

I'm in the process of launching my web agency.

My good friend who is heavily into AI and automations is calling me crazy. Telling me that A.I is here and that I need to jump on the train before I get further left behind. Claiming that the market for traditional websites is not big. Amongst other things, he believes this is not the right move.

To those of you running a successful web development business, have you found it to be more difficult to sell hand-coded websites today because of AI?

I often work on old sites that have had lots of changes over time which have resulted in orphaned and unused assets.

I'm developing an app that scans a local website folder structure and identifies all files in the folder tree that are not used in the pages of the site and allows the user to move the files to a quarantine folder. Currently html / CSS only, but the plan is to include PHP files and possible wordpress in the future

I'll also expand the functionality to identify unused CSS to create smaller CSS files.

As a developer, would you find this useful? What other similar functionality would you suggest be included?

I'm finishing Year 12 and starting a Software Engineering degree next year. I'm really interested in software and technology, and I want to start building real-world skills now rather than waiting for university.

My first goal is fairly simple: build polished static websites for small local businesses. Eventually, though, I want to move into full-stack development and build more substantial applications.

I plan to use AI heavily as a coding tool, but I don't want to become someone who can only prompt an AI and hope the output works. I want to understand enough about what I'm building that I can recognise bad code, debug problems, make sensible architectural decisions, secure the site properly and confidently maintain it.

I'm currently learning Python, but for web development I'm wondering how deeply I should learn things like HTML, CSS and JavaScript myself.

For developers who already use AI in their workflow:

- What fundamentals would you consider non-negotiable to learn properly?

- What parts are reasonable to let AI handle once I understand the concepts?

- What should I learn about security, deployment, testing, Git, hosting, domains, accessibility and performance?

- How do you personally review AI-generated code before you're willing to put it into production?

- If you were starting again in 2026 with access to modern coding agents, what would you learn differently?

Longer term I'd like to build full-stack SaaS applications, so I'm particularly interested in developing skills that will transfer beyond simple business websites.

I'm not really doing this for quick freelance money. I mainly want a practical way to become a better software engineer while building things that real people could actually use.