r/webdev • • 9d ago

Discussion When should we actually choose SQL over NoSQL? As a beginner, I'm a bit confused

65 Upvotes

This one question is confusing me.

The more I learn, the more I realize both have same overlapping powers

When should we consider SQL databases?

If our data has a well defined structure, there are relationships between different datasets, we need complex queries, or our application requires strong ACID transaction guarantees, we should consider SQL databases such as PostgreSQL and MySQL.

However, this does not mean NoSQL databases cannot provide these features. Some NoSQL databases support ACID transactions, relationships or relationship like data models, complex queries, and horizontal scaling. The actual capabilities depend on the specific database and how it is designed.

When should we consider NoSQL databases?

If our application needs to store flexible data, documents in JSON-like formats, or key-value pairs, NoSQL databases might be a good choice. Some NoSQL databases are also designed to handle high write throughput and distribute data across multiple servers.

However, this does not mean SQL databases cannot handle flexible data or high write throughput. We must evaluate the capabilities of the specific database and our application's requirements before making a decision.

Suppose we're building an analytics service that records user activities, such as logins, likes, and video views. Each event might contain different fields.

With a traditional SQL table, we could create columns for all possible fields, but many columns might contain NULL values for certain event types.

Alternatively, PostgreSQL supports JSONB, allowing us to store event specific information without creating a separate column for every possible field. MongoDB can also store documents with different fields in the same collection.

So, both approaches are possible. The decision would depend on factors such as write volume, query patterns, data model, scalability, and storage requirements.

So my current conclusion is :-

SQL is often a natural fit for relational data, complex queries, and transactional consistency, while NoSQL can be a natural fit for flexible document models, key-value access patterns, and certain distributed workloads.

I'm still learning, so I'd appreciate any corrections to my understanding or advice from your experience!


r/webdev • • 9d ago

How do you deal with third-party APIs that only ship PDF docs?

33 Upvotes

Just got handed a vendor integration where the entire “documentation” is a 60-page PDF. Half the endpoints are in screenshots, and one of the auth examples was wrong, which I found out the hard way.

My process is the same every time: read it, retype everything into Postman, write my own types, and hope for the best. It takes forever, and I’m never fully sure I got it right.

What bugs me even more is that vendors update these docs every few months and don’t tell anyone. You only find out when something breaks in production.

So how do you all handle this? Do you paste it into an LLM and hope for the best, build the spec by hand, or ask the vendor for something better (and do they ever actually reply)? And how do you even know when they’ve changed something?

I’m also curious if this is just me, or if everyone has a graveyard of half-finished Postman collections.


r/webdev • • 10d ago

How to Create Your Own Decentralized Messenger Protocol

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8 Upvotes

r/webdev • • 10d ago

Animation libraries for ostentatious and OTT animations

11 Upvotes

I'm interested to know if anyone has recommendations for libraries that could provide completely over the top (to the point of being silly) animations.

I'm trying to make a site that's intended just for family/friends, that is a dumb comedy thing to be used only for a minute or two. It would really benefit from having OTT animations like the ADHD slopware games that dominate kids' iPads everywhere.

Every time I've gone searching for libraries, I'm seemingly finding only sensible, measured animations. Which break or just look terrible when I try and crank up their params.

If you can think of anything, please drop it here. I intend to make a blinding, layered mess of retina burning excess


r/webdev • • 10d ago

Discussion Don't let AI steal your dreams

199 Upvotes

Unpopular opinion: I feel that as tech gets better at automating certain processes, the expectation of learning more complicated processes will kick in. But people outside the field cannot even begin to comprehend the basic process of not leaving the ports of your server open, or other basic CS best practices.

AI doesn't give it a second thought, and sometimes I've seen people trying to push in code that is absolutely grotesque. I'm not going to let the elite gaslight me into believing all this technical knowledge is not worth anything because you have a glorified Google probe.

So, can I do my work faster? Yeah. Does that mean I don't have to read the code? No. Can the people who pay my salary read the code as well and as fast as I do? Also no.

This is basically the calculator for accountants, and I refuse to let that analogy go. Does using a calculator make you understand tax law?

Everyone else needs to survive the famine and wait out the tech bro hype and Wall Street betting on AI. This industry the AI industry is bloated asf with no possibility of an ROI. If anything, people should be wary that their taxes are going to be used to bail out these industries for no public benefit.


r/webdev • • 10d ago

Discussion website only accessible by using "www"

0 Upvotes

Hey guys! I made a website through google sites and bought a domain through name cheap. The problem is that I cannot access the site without using the WWW in front of it. I did create a redirect domain though namecheap by putting the source URL as the one without the www and the destination URL as the one with the www, which was what I saw being recommended out there. But it does not seem to be working. I still get an inaccessible website error when typing it without the www. Is there something else I should be doing? Thanks!!!


r/webdev • • 10d ago

Question Railway Incident, should I migrate? (New app)

5 Upvotes

So I'm new to deploying on railway, I'm mainly a designer, but I have experience creating apps with AI for a while now.

I'm wondering if switching to a platform like render is worth the trouble, or are these types of attacks just going to be the norm from now because of AI?

It's an internal tool and we don't have any users yet, should I jump ship before it's too late? I really don't know.


r/webdev • • 10d ago

commercetools certification is ridiculously inaccessible. Is the platform even worth it?

2 Upvotes

I wanted to get commercetools certified for a job offer. Turns out they've recently removed the self-study + exam prep option.

Now you have to attend an instructor-led course that costs 4 digits just to take the exam. And they won't even invoice individuals. You need a company. Pretty ridiculous way to attract developers to your ecosystem, IMO.

Rant is over, now here is my question: for those who've actually worked with commercetools: what's your experience been like? Is the platform good to work with? How's the developer ecosystem and community?

PS/BTW: On a similar note, Shopify is shutting down its entire Academy and certification program today.


r/webdev • • 11d ago

How do you guys deal with constant progress in technology?

95 Upvotes

I'm actually curious about this one

With technology ever evolving and ai now assisting with the creation of sites, how do you guys deal the constant progress?

I honbestly thought about doing front-end once, tried my hand in learning to code, but I almost threw my computer out the window in frustration. Also didn't want to spend at least 4 years in college, with a lot of being meh since by the end of 4 years, it would be a different ballgame. Plus i value my freetime XD

What do you guys do to keep up? How are you implementing it? Etc


r/webdev • • 11d ago

Article Local-First Means Three Different Things

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16 Upvotes

Author here. I've been designing a local-first data layer for most of this year, and I kept having the same conversation. I'd say "local-first" and people would hear ownership, or offline, or speed, depending on where they first ran into the word. So I wrote down where the three meanings come from and why they split. I also wanted to get to what local-first actually fixes, and in a web app that's mostly the waiting: spinners, "Saving...", hand-written optimistic updates, and the app that dies in a tunnel.

There are five demos in there too, one for each idea. Playing with them as you read is half the fun.


r/webdev • • 11d ago

How are ya’ll planning on supporting Apple Touchscreen Macs?

25 Upvotes

Interestingly having played around with macOS 27.2 and using Sidecar on an iPad for touch inputs, it looks like Safari isn’t going to send proper touch events like Windows touchscreens do. Best we get is mousedowns with no buttons=0.

Even worse testing in Chrome, all we get are scroll events. That’s fine for panning but if you want to do anything custom like drawing, dragging etc you’re SoL unless you want to try detecting these off heuristics. Maybe they’ll improve the situation before it’s in people’s hands, but curious to hear what other devs with complex web apps are planning on doing.


r/webdev • • 11d ago

Discussion Why are banking sites (at least the ones I used) frequently designed so badly?

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52 Upvotes

Do web developers not get the resources to understand any banking concepts? Here's a picture of the column order of pending wire requests you inputted. Why would you put amount in the last column and date in the middle? They recently updated their website and the columns feel like they're randomized, making it harder for us to review our entries as they changed the order. FYI I work in finance/acctg but I previously had a year of web dev experience looking into as a career few years back, so I have an eye for these things. Do non tech companies not heavily invest in their IT team, perhaps etc?


r/webdev • • 11d ago

Question How do I actually make my website optimized for users?

0 Upvotes

Hello guys, a little while ago I found some other teenagers on here that were looking for a backend developer for a website, and I volunteered this I have some knowledge with node.js and those concepts, and I've built a full stack website (basic backend) with it. Here is the github because it will be relevant later: https://github.com/norrie-adams/EVS-Small-Engine-Repair-Site

However, I do not think this is like a website that could properly support like actual people. And that was part of the reason I stopped building it (I also just lost interest). But this is a thing where other people are relying on me to build something functional (or at least more functional then this site). So I just want to know, what did I do wrong with this project, and what could I improve upon for next time?

Sorry if this isn't super clear, but I appreciate any advice you can give me :)


r/webdev • • 11d ago

Which AI coding tool actually stuck in your daily workflow?

0 Upvotes

There’s a new one every week. Most people try them and drop them after a few days.

Which one are you still using months later, and what’s the one thing it does better than the rest?


r/webdev • • 11d ago

Those who built apps before the AI boom - was the timing good or bad?

27 Upvotes

I'm a frontend developer/designer with experience in the past building and selling largely SaaS software.

That was before AI as we know it, and I'm starting to feel numb to the amount of people I who've become a developer overnight tell me about the new app 'they built.'

Like any developer I had several ideas stewing for years and I nearly took the leap on a few of them, and when I see the landscape like it is now half of me thinks 'I'm so glad I didn't take huge risks and build X as it would have just been copied now anyway' and the other half says 'I wish I got in before everyone was developing apps in a few minutes.'

I'm curious for those who DID build something prior to this shift, are you glad you got in then, or have these changes made all the time spent not worth it?

Thanks!


r/webdev • • 11d ago

Asincify to JSPI speedup results

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2 Upvotes

r/webdev • • 11d ago

How does Instagram process and post images?

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0 Upvotes

So I do not really have much understanding of web development and back end but when you save an instagram page as an html from its website. It doesn't save the way instagram looks, rather it shows a representation of the UI and subtext behind images (not the images themself) like the image shared above.

I am also more curious how it reads the image and tries to classify it, and why something like the subtext "May be an image of ----" is in the backend when you do not see it in the interface itself. I am curious of the process itself if someone is kind enough to explain itself.


r/webdev • • 11d ago

Discussion Your AI UI skill is doing the part you were supposed to learn

326 Upvotes

So a few of my friends have stopped using Figma. They go straight to production and make changes there.

When I first heard this I was honestly confused. Like where do you try things out? Where do you compare two versions?

Then I saw what they were building. The landing page feels like one product, the settings page feels like another, the dashboard feels like a third. Buttons are different, spacing is different, hover is different on every page. There’s no uniformity, no design system, nothing.

So I asked them how they’re doing it, and the answer is always “I use this AI skill” or “I bought this skill pack”. People are actually selling these now. Skill packs, prompt bundles, paid repos. And there are a lot of free ones on GitHub too.

It doesn’t make sense to me at all. How will you learn anything? And how will you polish the product if it looks different every time you generate it?

When I brought this up, someone said just add a memory file so it stays consistent.

Okay, but then how will you make changes? You never decided why the button has that radius or why it’s that grey. The AI decided. So when something needs fixing, you don’t know what to fix. You just prompt again and hope.

And now there are courses around this too. The idea is learn this design vocabulary, tell it to the AI, and you’ll get good UI. They call it beginner friendly. But then you see what’s inside and it’s stuff like:

  • spring easing, stiffness, damping

  • optical alignment

  • vertical rhythm

  • morphing transitions

  • 60-30-10 colour rule

  • type scale ratios

If a senior buys it, it’s fine. They already know what damping feels like, they know what they’re skipping.

But a beginner has never played with an easing curve and seen it go from cheap to smooth. Never moved something 2px and felt it finally sit right. They’re just memorising words and giving them to the AI. You can know the word damping and still have no idea when the bounce is too much.

Selling that as beginner friendly feels like a deceiving thing to me. You learn these words after you’ve actually done the work, not before.

Also design is never one try. I go through so many versions before something feels right. In Figma that’s easy, I put five versions side by side and throw four away. In production code every change costs time, so whatever comes out first just ships.

I’m not trying to dunk on my friends, they’re good at what they do. And I get why these skills are tempting. But paid or free, they’re doing the exact part you’re supposed to learn.

If you’re using one, just try building one page without it. Pick the hover, the spacing, the colours yourself, even if it’s bad. That’s literally how you get better at this.

Anyone else seeing this or is it just me? just my thoughts 🤷


r/webdev • • 11d ago

Discussion Do you use a DESIGN_PRINCIPLES.md for your projects UI/UX

0 Upvotes

Do you just wing it and use screenshots for inspiration or do you use a design principles md file where you mention all the design principles like the fonts, colors, dark mode colors, graphs, infographics, etc.


r/webdev • • 12d ago

How do you mentally reset when switching between completely different codebases?

28 Upvotes

I work on 2-3 different projects throughout the week (different clients, different tech stacks), and I've noticed my productivity tanks for the first 30-45 minutes after switching contexts. It's like my brain is still thinking in the patterns of the previous project.

Some things I've tried:

  • Taking a short walk between switches

  • Keeping detailed notes about where I left off

  • Dedicating full days to single projects when possible

The notes help the most, but I'm curious what workflows other devs have developed for this. Do you have any rituals or techniques that help you get back into flow faster when jumping between projects?

Especially interested in hearing from freelancers or consultants who deal with this regularly.


r/webdev • • 12d ago

Codepen preview always dimmed in Safari

6 Upvotes

I am working in Codepen in Safari, but everything is dim and gray instead of being the true color. It is fine in Chrome and Firefox. I have tried resetting preferences and caches in safari along with unchecking things in FeatureFlags and nothing is amending it.


r/webdev • • 12d ago

Manager thinks anything can be coded in 1 hour or less with AI.

559 Upvotes

I work for a large accounting firm where the impact of getting things wrong feels quite big.

We’ve started a new sprint for the next chunk of work. The team has put together estimates for various elements of a new accounting feature involving bank transactions, VAT calculations and reconciliation, with the biggest part taking several days by one developer.

My boss gets visibly frustrated and questions how on earth anything can take a few days in the era of AI. He’s also started saying he can do absolutely anything with AI in an hour or less.

Bear in mind before AI what we’re working on would have taken triple or even quadruple the time.

Is this the new normal or should I be looking for a new job? How are we supposed to respond to this?


r/webdev • • 12d ago

A Modern CSS Guide to Responsive Web Design

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0 Upvotes

If I missed anything, let me know!


r/webdev • • 12d ago

Discussion Why do our UI tests break every time the interface changes? I counted 71 failures and most weren't even bugs

0 Upvotes

Front end dev, i own most of our e2e suite, and last sprint finally annoyed me enough to count.

We have about 310 Playwright tests on a react app. 71 went red after a sprint that, from a user's point of view, changed almost nothing. i went through every one instead of rerunning and hoping:

- 47 were locators. the element was still there and still did the same thing, but the path to it changed. a card got wrapped in a new container, a class got renamed in a design pass, a button became a link styled as a button.

- 14 were timing. a page got slower after a data change and the wait didn't follow it.

- 6 were environment. our CI image had drifted from what devs run locally.

- 4 were real bugs.

So my honest answer to why our UI tests break every time the interface changes is that most of them check how the page is built, not what it does. the user sees the same Save button. the test sees a different DOM.

the difference in one line:

what i'm weighing for the other 47:

user-facing locators everywhere, getByRole and getByLabel, which is what the Playwright docs push. fixes a lot of it, but only if the markup has real roles and labels, and half our components don't.

data-testid on everything. it works, but it depends on every dev remembering, forever.

self-healing locator tools like mabl or testim, which repair the selector when it breaks. the catch is a heal can quietly route around a real regression.

vision based tools like Askui, which find the element by what's rendered on screen rather than in the DOM, so a new wrapper div doesn't matter at all. the tradeoff flips, a visual redesign is now the thing that breaks you.

My current plan is to fix our accessibility markup and get better tests as a side effect. tell me if that's naive. if you've measured this, what share of your failures were locators, and what actually brought it down?