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Ask HN: I need to built a site.I am a beginner web developer. PLEASE HELP ME

3 points by dprophecyguy 10y ago

Hey i am beginner web developer. And i am a CS undergraduate. For a long time i have been thinking about writing blog. But i just couldn't start anywhere. Now i have been learning Web Development and i have reached upto an average level in Front-End. I have knowledge about : HTML , CSS JS JQuery (JSON, AJAX) So the blog idea has started ticking again. And this time i want to make it in form of a site. So that i can use my skills and test them on a real world scenario. But i have no knowledge of where to start and what extra skills to acquire so that i can work on it. Please someone suggest me anything advice, article, blog. I don't want to use wordpress or anything. I want to make a site on my own. With the help of technology and skills. So please guide me about the technologies that i have to use plus all the skills that i have to acquire. My aim is to become a full stack developer and i think there is no better way to learn rather than to do that thing.

mindcrime 10y ago
You'll need a backend of some sort - a database to store the entries, and some kind of server to serve up your initial HTML / css / javascript files. If you're a big javascript person, node.js might be a good choice. There are TONS of options here though, including probably multiple choices each, for every programming language you can name. But some obvious ones, to me, would be Ruby on Rails, or Grails, or maybe Play. For a database, either Postgres or MySQL would be a fine choice. Once you have chosen a backend, you'll have to decide how much, if any, "server side rendering" you'll want to do, or if you want to make a pure SPA that does everything via ajax calls to the backend. This might be of use to you: http://blog.hexican.com/2010/04/building-a-blog-using-7-simple-steps-in-grails/ http://blog.hexican.com/2010/04/building-a-blog-using-7-simp...
- dprophecyguy 10y ago
  Hey thanks a lot. Can you please let me explain little further about "Server side rendering" and "Pure SPA" can you tell me which would be optimum as in order to learn and apply. And a bit extra knowledge about this process.
  - mindcrime 10y ago
    Server-side rendering just means generating the HTML that will be displayed by the browser, entirely on the server, and then returning it in response to some request. This is as opposed to the model where your initial request returns a minimal bit of HTML and a big load of Javascript, and from there on the Javascript dynamically re-renders the HTML based on the response from AJAX calls. This is generally described as having a "single page application" or SPA. In reality, apps can be a blend of both approaches. Which model you use is up to you. And I'm not an expert on the front-end stuff, so I wouldn't feel comfortable making a recommendation, to be honest. All I'll say is that, to me, server-side rendering is more intuitive and straighforward to implement and it's what I usually do since I'm not primarily a front-end specialist.
    - dprophecyguy 10y ago
      Hey, I have choosen Node.js for Back-End and Express as the frame work because i am aiming for MEAN stack web application. Can you please guide me for the tools and tutorials from where i can be prepared for the Back End Stuff. And yeah i will go with Server-side rendering. Thanks in advance! You made my day !
      - mindcrime 10y ago
        I don't really know that stack. Probably some one else is better equipped to guide you there.
      - sova 10y ago
        Okay, well you can use Angular or Angular 2 (I would recommend sticking with Angular1) and let's see.. MongoDB, Angular 1, Node.js, Maybe some templating language for your css? Anyway, you can run node on your own machine. Are you using mac or linux or win? Did you mention? It's pretty straightforward no matter which platform now, which is nice. So you make a javascript file that node can run, you run it from the command-line, and on your computer you have the "server" running. It's got a port, so when you go to localhost:3000 or whatever you set it to be via browser you'll see your site. The next step after you make your site with Node is to get some webspace to run it. Basically you want a remote box that you can SSH into (securely command line access another box) and then clone your project (over github) or just upload it yourself. Then you run it, you make sure you have a web-server running (like apache2 or nginx) and you serve your website over the internet. If you want to add a domain, purchase a domain on namecheap.com and go to the DNS settings. Set an A Record to the IP address of your box. Viola, you've made an internets.
JPLeRouzic 10y ago
You could use OpenShift of Redhat or a similar product. But the simplest idea is to host your own Web server on your own computer. Install a Bitnami Lamp server and observe how it works, before making any modifications. You will access your local Web server with any browser at http://localhost http://localhost Bitnami lamp is a cool product: https://bitnami.com/stack/lamp https://bitnami.com/stack/lamp
fosco 10y ago
some spiffy templates here --> https://html5up.net/ https://html5up.net/ in regards to > Please someone suggest me anything advice, article, blog write something you are passionate and enthusastic about, otherwise it will likely not be a fun experience for you. for example, if you really enjoy hiking write about all steps of planning a long hiking trip. there are many examples of others doing something similar... in any case I would start with something I enjoy and like talking about as charisma is contagious

3 points by dprophecyguy 10y ago

mindcrime 10y ago

You'll need a backend of some sort - a database to store the entries, and some kind of server to serve up your initial HTML / css / javascript files. If you're a big javascript person, node.js might be a good choice. There are TONS of options here though, including probably multiple choices each, for every programming language you can name. But some obvious ones, to me, would be Ruby on Rails, or Grails, or maybe Play. For a database, either Postgres or MySQL would be a fine choice. Once you have chosen a backend, you'll have to decide how much, if any, "server side rendering" you'll want to do, or if you want to make a pure SPA that does everything via ajax calls to the backend. This might be of use to you: http://blog.hexican.com/2010/04/building-a-blog-using-7-simple-steps-in-grails/ http://blog.hexican.com/2010/04/building-a-blog-using-7-simp...

dprophecyguy 10y ago
Hey thanks a lot. Can you please let me explain little further about "Server side rendering" and "Pure SPA" can you tell me which would be optimum as in order to learn and apply. And a bit extra knowledge about this process.
- mindcrime 10y ago
  Server-side rendering just means generating the HTML that will be displayed by the browser, entirely on the server, and then returning it in response to some request. This is as opposed to the model where your initial request returns a minimal bit of HTML and a big load of Javascript, and from there on the Javascript dynamically re-renders the HTML based on the response from AJAX calls. This is generally described as having a "single page application" or SPA. In reality, apps can be a blend of both approaches. Which model you use is up to you. And I'm not an expert on the front-end stuff, so I wouldn't feel comfortable making a recommendation, to be honest. All I'll say is that, to me, server-side rendering is more intuitive and straighforward to implement and it's what I usually do since I'm not primarily a front-end specialist.
  - dprophecyguy 10y ago
    Hey, I have choosen Node.js for Back-End and Express as the frame work because i am aiming for MEAN stack web application. Can you please guide me for the tools and tutorials from where i can be prepared for the Back End Stuff. And yeah i will go with Server-side rendering. Thanks in advance! You made my day !
    - mindcrime 10y ago
      I don't really know that stack. Probably some one else is better equipped to guide you there.
    - sova 10y ago
      Okay, well you can use Angular or Angular 2 (I would recommend sticking with Angular1) and let's see.. MongoDB, Angular 1, Node.js, Maybe some templating language for your css? Anyway, you can run node on your own machine. Are you using mac or linux or win? Did you mention? It's pretty straightforward no matter which platform now, which is nice. So you make a javascript file that node can run, you run it from the command-line, and on your computer you have the "server" running. It's got a port, so when you go to localhost:3000 or whatever you set it to be via browser you'll see your site. The next step after you make your site with Node is to get some webspace to run it. Basically you want a remote box that you can SSH into (securely command line access another box) and then clone your project (over github) or just upload it yourself. Then you run it, you make sure you have a web-server running (like apache2 or nginx) and you serve your website over the internet. If you want to add a domain, purchase a domain on namecheap.com and go to the DNS settings. Set an A Record to the IP address of your box. Viola, you've made an internets.

JPLeRouzic 10y ago

You could use OpenShift of Redhat or a similar product. But the simplest idea is to host your own Web server on your own computer. Install a Bitnami Lamp server and observe how it works, before making any modifications. You will access your local Web server with any browser at http://localhost http://localhost Bitnami lamp is a cool product: https://bitnami.com/stack/lamp https://bitnami.com/stack/lamp

fosco 10y ago

some spiffy templates here --> https://html5up.net/ https://html5up.net/ in regards to > Please someone suggest me anything advice, article, blog write something you are passionate and enthusastic about, otherwise it will likely not be a fun experience for you. for example, if you really enjoy hiking write about all steps of planning a long hiking trip. there are many examples of others doing something similar... in any case I would start with something I enjoy and like talking about as charisma is contagious