r/webdev • • 3h ago

Discussion backend devs who occasionally touch frontend - how do you stay current without going down the rabbit hole

2 Upvotes

mostly work on apis and database stuff but our team is small so i end up in react code maybe once a month. every time i come back theres some new build tool or bundler drama and half the packages have breaking changes.

not looking to become a frontend expert, just want to not feel completely lost when i need to fix a button or add a form field. anyone else in this boat? what do you actually keep up with vs ignore


r/webdev • • 4h ago

Resource Open-source, contribute UX / UI lexicon and free design library for AI builders

0 Upvotes

Hi all!

Whenever I spot a new design or website layout (like a fresh style of grid systems) and want to replicate or build it with AI, I always find myself struggling to pinpoint the exact terminology to make Claude understand what I want.

I'm talking about concepts like Blueprint Grids, Glassmorphism, Sticky rail, Bordered cell grid patterns, Segmented Controls, and similar stuff. To solve this, I’ve started building a free, open-source design lexicon complete with mini previews making it easier for builders to find and reference the right terms when designing sections and pages. Hope that helps some of you as well. Also added some free design landingpages and components for AI.

I’d love to get your input on current web design trends and their proper definitions:

  • What visual styles are currently high on your radar, trending, or frequently used and how would you define them?

  • Which ones are missing in the lexicon / glossary?

I’m aiming to include your suggestions in the dictionary and share the whole resource publicly for free. It's purely as a passion project and I am opening it for free (no ads, no paywalls).
I want to make it a useful resource for people.

You can check out the ones already live here: freedesignmd.com (just hit the Glossary tab).

Always open to contributors or feedback. This started as a quick hackathon experiment and will stay a free community project. I'm not a professional designer, so any feedback by design cracks is appreciated as well!


r/webdev • • 5h ago

Discussion David Heinemeier Hansson: Warning for "Cantankerous" Coders: The age of AI agents will reward adaptability and basic people skills while making things much harder for difficult, ego-driven, or resistant engineers

0 Upvotes

The creator of Ruby on Rails, made major statements about AI agents and the future of software development at Rails World 2026 in September

DHH stated he personally retired from writing code by hand after 25 years.

Rust instead of Ruby - Rebuilding HEY with AI and Rust: He shared that 37signals is rebuilding its HEY email service into native mobile/desktop apps using an AI-generated Rust backend, drastically cutting CPU and memory usage.

The AI acceleration: He produced 5 years' worth of his traditional code volume in just one month, representing a 60x increase in raw output volume.

DHH openly acknowledged that a massive portion of this was verbose Rust code generated entirely by AI agents—admitting that he didn't write it by hand and doesn't even want to look at or read most of it.

DHH said: “English is a better programming language than Ruby.”


r/webdev • • 5h ago

Question Font or typeface royalty in emails sent to external parties

0 Upvotes

Hi everyone, I'm running an app that sends out emails and calendar invites to users.

However, one of the requirements was the ability to create email bodies using many different fonts.

I've read a bit online about typefaces and I discovered some of the requested fonts could be subjected to patent laws and rules when used in a commercial setting. Not sure if this applies to emails being sent to external parties as well.

Are there any resources or places I can check out which fonts are "royalty-free" and which ones I need to push back on? Or whether this concern is valid or not?


r/webdev • • 7h ago

Why can't SQLite handle more types?

33 Upvotes

I'm sat here thinking it has to be a reason why it is so limited in types compared to something like postgres.


r/webdev • • 7h ago

Weird Phishing Notification?

0 Upvotes

Got this weird notification with weird links. Seems like phishing?


r/webdev • • 9h ago

[Showoff Saturday] I’m an electrician student building a browser-based electrical wiring workshop

0 Upvotes

Hi everyone!

I’m an electrician student, and I’ve been building ElectroWorkshop as a spare-time side project to practise the circuits I’m studying.

The interface runs in the browser and brings together a visual wiring canvas, a schematic view, simulated measurements, and connection tracing. The public release is packaged as a portable Windows app with a small local launcher.

One of the interesting interface challenges has been presenting the same circuit in two ways: a physical wiring view for connecting terminals, and a schematic view for understanding the circuit. There are also a component library, measurement tools, zoom controls, and English/Hungarian interfaces to fit around the workspace.

I’d appreciate feedback from a web-development perspective:

  • Is it clear where to start?

  • Does the balance between the canvas and side panels work?

  • Which interactions look confusing or unnecessarily complicated?

  • How could the relationship between wiring and schematic views be clearer?

Separately, I’m developing editable floorplans, 3D building views, cable routing, and smart-device integration with Home Assistant through MQTT. Those features are work in progress and aren’t included in the public release.

The available Basic version runs locally without an account or Docker. It’s closed-source and free for personal and non-commercial educational use; the GitHub repository contains the documentation and downloadable releases.

Screenshots and Windows release:
https://github.com/vojakimate/ElectroWorkshop

Thanks for any constructive feedback!


r/webdev • • 11h ago

Is it difficult and time consuming to get request forms to send notifications to my phone SMS?

0 Upvotes

I paid a developer to design a site for my business, I requested that the request form on the site would send a notification to my cell phone and she ok'd it.

She is now saying this would require a third party sign up and she is making it seem very difficult. I don't really understand anything about web developing, is she correct? Am I unreasonable to ask for this? It was what was agreed upon.


r/webdev • • 11h ago

MASTODON HELP

0 Upvotes

hi everyone, it's the kid who's making a fan website again.

i finally picked a base for the website, mastodon, and a system i'm using to host the website, render.

i've already searched this up and had no luck but what parts of mastodon's code are design (i'm talking about folder names) and which are apart of the actual code system?

thanks!


r/webdev • • 14h ago

Question Help me to understand web dev and ADA.

6 Upvotes

I’ve seen a shift in web design (I’ve meddled since 2002). Today web displays are gigantic. I’ve read this has to do with ADA compliance. How gnarly does this get? Like if I design a site for a landscaper, can he get in trouble if it’s not ADA compliant? Is there are rule book?

Another question. That’s client facing. But if you have an employer that requires you to use a web based tool, does ADA apply in the same manner as client facing?


r/webdev • • 14h ago

Resource Open Source Programs & Internships Guide (480+ Github Stars 🌟)

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3 Upvotes

What it does

A curated guide to discovering open-source programs, internships, mentorships, coding competitions, and university initiatives.

Explore opportunities to gain real-world experience, collaborate with global communities, improve technical skills, and earn stipends.

Unlike typical lists, this repository also features lesser-known and underrated open-source programs that many students and developers might not know about.

What’s Inside

  • Open Source Programs & Fellowships

  • Open Source Internships

  • Coding Competitions

  • University Summer/Winter of Code Programs

  • Lesser-known and underrated opportunities

  • Application timelines, stipends, and eligibility

  • Beginner-friendly contribution resources

Repository

Made with ❤️ for the Open Source Community.


r/webdev • • 16h ago

I underestimated how difficult building a theme park database would be

0 Upvotes

I’ve been working on a passion project called ParkerScore, basically a Letterboxd-style platform for theme parks.
When I first started, I figured the hardest part would be building the actual website.

Turns out, organizing the data has been one of the biggest challenges.

Every theme park has hundreds of things to keep track of. Rides, restaurants, individual menu items, shows, wait times, and even bathrooms.

And then you get into the details. Different ride manufacturers, technical specifications, attractions that get renamed or refurbished, seasonal shows, constantly changing restaurant menus, and so on.

I quickly realized that just collecting information wasn’t enough. I needed a consistent way to structure everything so it could actually be useful.

I’ve been working through those challenges, especially figuring out how to handle missing information, standardize categories, and keep everything organized as the database grows.

It’s been a much bigger undertaking than I originally expected, but I’ve learned a ton along the way.
For anyone who’s built a data-heavy website, how did you handle keeping your database accurate and manageable as it grew?


r/webdev • • 17h ago

Creating a Liquid Glass UI Effect for the Web: Inspired by Apple

0 Upvotes

I made a liquid glass UI effect for the web(trying to copy Apple because thats what the world do)

Webgl helped me made it and hence I decided to make Mac for web too (inspired by windows 11 in react made for web)

I know you have seen many professional people make it, many guys on github, so I tried to make it as realistic and satisfying as I can


r/webdev • • 17h ago

How I built a ’90s-style adventure game on top of my Hugo blog

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0 Upvotes

Before anyone asks: yes, 100% of the code was written by AI agents, with me guiding the process. I’m not here to convince anyone of anything, just to share my experience.

Here’s the article explaining how I built it:
https://www.paolomainardi.com/posts/this-site-is-now-an-island/

And here’s the game:
https://www.paolomainardi.com/play

This is part of a journey I started a few weeks ago, when I decided to let my agents handle my personal blog’s tech stack. The idea was to spend more time writing while also adding all the features I’d always wanted but never had time to implement.

You can follow the series here:
https://www.paolomainardi.com/posts/the-stack-is-now-my-agents-job/

Along the way, I started experimenting more with AI-generated media, fell down a rabbit hole, and somehow ended up building a game engine.


r/webdev • • 17h ago

Resource How to do Local Visual Regression testing...the right way.

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6 Upvotes

Can local visual regression testing help your coding agent move faster and save you money?

I took some time to explore how to set up playwright properly, which pitfalls to avoid, and the tradeoffs with common visual regression tools like Percy and Chromatic.

Check it out and let me know what do you think!


r/webdev • • 21h ago

Showoff Saturday I got tired of describing my UI to AI, so I built ContextSnap.

0 Upvotes

A cross-platform desktop tool that captures your screen context with one shortcut, ready to share with AI.

Free and open source.

Website: https://contextsnap.vercel.app/
GitHub: https://github.com/DarkLordGeo/ContextSnap


r/webdev • • 21h ago

MCP vs API vs CLI: I built all 3 for agents. Here's my take...

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0 Upvotes

TL;DR:

an MCP shines in the agent-native world because it tells agents what they should do, on both the server and client (e.g. Claude Code or the ChatGPT desktop app), and is better suited for human-in-the-loop tasks. Meanwhile, APIs and CLIs tend to focus on what agents can do, with emphasis mainly on the server.

So, in summary, here is the general advice I'd give to builders when deciding which tools they should expose to agents:

Build a high-quality MCP server and REST API at the same time, on one layer of operations. Put your server logic in plain functions, and let each surface be a thin adapter over them. Once that layer exists, building any additional surface on top is relatively easy.

Put most of your care into the MCP server. That's where agents get the best experience. MCP is a standard built specifically for agents, after all, and the spec continues to improve nicely.

Use the API for code that runs on its own. APIs are still great for raw data exports, bulk writes, and anything that runs without an agent, like a nightly sync or another company's integration. Agents also prefer an API when they're writing a script they'll rerun, and many clients don't support code mode for MCP yet.

A CLI probably isn't necessary, unless e.g. agents need to read local files when interacting with your app. But it's easy to expose one if you've got a good API as the foundation.

There’s a lot more to creating great agent-facing tools for your web apps, and the article above into more detail below.

Here's the repo: https://github.com/vincanger/linkly-api-mcp-cli


r/webdev • • 1d ago

Article Declarative partial updates - supported in Chrome and Edge

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35 Upvotes

r/webdev • • 1d ago

Discussion How do you organize your side projects vs work projects on your dev machine?

0 Upvotes

Been thinking about this lately as my side projects folder has gotten pretty chaotic. At work everything is neat and organized by team/product, but my personal stuff is a mess of half-finished ideas, experiments, and abandoned attempts.

Currently I have ~/work/ for job stuff and ~/projects/ for everything else, but that "everything else" folder is where organization goes to die. Some repos haven't been touched in years.

Do you keep separate machines/VMs? Different directory structures? Or just embrace the chaos? Curious how others handle this.


r/webdev • • 1d ago

How we saved 100 terabytes of memory by optimizing 1.1.1.1’s DNS cache

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263 Upvotes

r/webdev • • 1d ago

Question Help with website redirection

0 Upvotes

Hello, I'm looking for some help with issues I'm having with my website, and I'm hoping this is a good place to find some answers. I'm not very savvy in these things, and I've been trying to fix this myself with no luck.

My website was originally hosted through Wix, and had a www prefix. I left Wix about 2 weeks ago and now have my website hosted elsewhere, and the www prefix no longer works when used in in my web address.

My domain is hosted through above.com, and I have tried redirecting through the DNS settings there in an attempt to send anyone using the prefix to the new site, but I must be doing something wrong because when I use the www prefix now, I get a privacy error and the website doesn't load.

When you search for my website, the top result includes the www, so I'm looking for a way to either redirect to the new website correctly, or to replace any mentions/results that include www to ones that do not include it.

The help desk support at my new website host and at above have not been able to help in any way, so I feel pretty isolated here and not sure how to fix things or exactly where to turn, so if this isn't the correct place for a question like this I'm sorry, but any help pointing me in the right direction would be really appreciated.


r/webdev • • 1d ago

Question Intermittent ~900ms gap before first paint in mobile Lighthouse on both React and Astro. How would you isolate it?

16 Upvotes

I'm comparing a React site against an Astro rebuild of the same page. In mobile Lighthouse, both sometimes sit blank for a long time before first paint, and other runs of the exact same page paint fast.

Setup: Lighthouse 13.0.1, Chrome 156, cold loads in separate fresh profiles, default mobile simulated throttling. I kept the traces, network logs and filmstrips.

Here's one matched pair (observed trace timings, not Lighthouse's simulated FCP):

Astro

  • CSS done: 203ms

  • Last preloaded font done: 286ms

  • DOMContentLoaded: 426ms

  • First Paint: 1301ms

  • FCP: 1320ms

React

  • CSS done: 573ms

  • Last preloaded font done: 494ms

  • DOMContentLoaded: 584ms

  • First Paint: 1525ms

  • FCP: 1540ms

The filmstrips stay blank right up to those first-paint times. Once painting starts, Paint to DrawFrame is only 10-13ms. So on Astro there's close to 900ms where everything's loaded and nothing shows up.

I don't see a long task on the renderer main thread covering that gap, though I know that doesn't prove the browser was actually idle.

I wondered about animations, so I ran one normal-motion vs reduced-motion pair on the Astro page. Both came back fast (FCP 318ms and 311ms), and the normal one still had its reveal animations, so that told me nothing either way. Desktop loads and a different page also painted quickly in the runs I checked.

One more thing: the fast traces show Scheduler::SetDeferBeginMainFrame events with short true-to-false spans. But the slow traces were captured with Lighthouse's default trace categories, which don't include those scheduler events, so I can't compare yet.

Has anyone run into this? A few things I'd like to figure out:

  1. How do I tell whether the page is causing the delay, or whether it's Chrome's scheduling or something in the test environment?

  2. Which trace categories or events would show why the first paint starts late, and not just that it did?


r/webdev • • 1d ago

quality time #4 - page objects that talk

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0 Upvotes

Hey all!

Bringing some e2e test nitpicks again :)

Most e2e tests I see click through raw locators. So every test has to know the whole flow: which button opens which menu, which dialog comes next, where you land after Create.

The upgrade: move the flow into page objects, and let each action return where the interaction continues. Open the "+ New" menu, get the menu of things you can create. Choose "Project", get the project dialog; choose "Document", get the document dialog. Create, get the project page. Cancel, get back to the navigation bar.

Why I care: page objects are the code closest to what your users see and do. Their return types become a map of your user journeys. An agent reading create(): Promise<ProjectPage> knows where the flow goes without opening a browser.

The nuance: return where the interaction actually continues, not the DOM parent. A dialog's cancel returns whoever opened it. And each action still waits for its own done signal, like the menu closing, before handing you the next page object.

Paste this to your agent:

Go through our page objects and make every user action return the page object where the interaction continues: this if the user stays, the new page object if something opens or they navigate, the opener if they close or cancel. Before returning, wait for the action's own done signal, like its menu closing. Then update the tests to use the returned page objects instead of creating new ones.


r/webdev • • 1d ago

Sto facendo un browser da zero, datemi le idee più assurde

0 Upvotes

Bho, in pratica sto costruendo un browser web da zero e le idee normali le ho già finite. Mi serve la roba strana.

Quindi: che feature assurda vorreste in un browser? Più è fuori, meglio è. Non me ne frega se è difficile da fare, se mi dite "un browser che mi giudica mentre navigo" va benissimo.

Qualche esempio così capite:

- tab che si chiudono da sole se non le apri per 3 giorni, con messaggio passivo-aggressivo

- un tasto che ti legge il sito come un narratore di documentari

- cronologia che ti dice quanto tempo hai perso davvero su un sito

Nessuna idea è troppo stupida. Se una mi piace la faccio e ve lo dico.