Why would anyone hand code website in 2023? | Hacker News Reader

Why would anyone hand code website in 2023?

8 pointsjohnrushx29 comments

I recently did, mostly for learning purposes. I hand coded pure-todo[1] (the latest state has not been pushed yet, I'm ironing out some things) with the intention of having a single minimal PHP file (including styles, fonts and JavaScript).

Went pretty good so far, maintenance might be a nightmare but deployment is easy ;)

What I learned so far:

- PHP 8 features (Enums, better Type-Hinting, etc.)

- Inner workings of JWT and how to build them yourself

- JavaScript native event handling (e.g. element.dispatchEvent(new CustomEvent('click')); )

- JavaScript Drag & Drop even for safari on iOS

- How to build my own custom Icon font with the icomoon app[2]

- CSS Grid basics

I think it has turned out to be a pretty good idea to do something by hand from time to time :-)

[1]: https://github.com/sandreas/pure-todo [2]: https://icomoon.io/app/

that looks good good job

To have tight control over performance, usability and privacy. To make purpose-built websites instead of adapting what I can find. To host it all on very little hardware.

"Why would anyone hand code a website?" - a FrontPage user in the 90s

Frontpage is hot garbage.

DreamWeaver is way more powerful.

Most websites I build outside of work are for fun / personal projects. There's no faster toolchain to setup than vanilla HTML. As a professional frontend dev I am good enough at JS / CSS to build whatever pieces I need sans tooling. It's easy, pretty instantaneous, completely free and dependency free.

I like making the site but hate maintaining it when it's coded. When you start mixing code and content. prefer either nocode or headless cms

It's like growing your own food. In the Age of AI, hand coding websites brings you closer to nature.

haha I like this take it made me think for a moment

Because have been doing so in the last 25 years and it is less fuss to continue than to convert.

Have you tried to use once popular CMSs recently?

At the other end of the spectrum, compiling a website to get a result I need to learn a static site CMS for but without the benefit of having a dynamic website is not user friendly nor is it feature full.

I mostly use NoCode tools now. And sometimes code site using Tailwind CSS. Every time I hand code a site, I regret later, when the maintenance stage kicks in

What do you mean by hand code?

I guess he means simply punching out the hex code onto a cardboard?

cat > index.html

Because it's fun?

If I need a new website or app for whatever reason, I might as well learn a new tech stack and have some fun while doing so.

still fun? I lost that feeling after 50th site

Iconoclasts love Orion. It makes site building fun again.

A few reasons, but I admit that doing so is becoming less attractive as tools grow in capability.

1. to think through information architecture and content structure, especially for accessibility 2. to stay familiar with the basics and foundations of what I do 3. semantics

Anything else requires learning a new tool. Tools change. Tools don't allow as much control. And if you want to create a backend for your site you're going to be doing some coding anyway.

is control needed in an average case? most sites are pretty basic

Last website I coded was 10 years ago. Good to catch up with latest html/css practices

people use Tailwind CSS mostly now

What complexity of site do you mean? What alternatives do you have in mind?

I mean regular landing pages and multi page sites

Because its a fun creative outlet that keeps skills and knowledge fresh.

Ask HN:

true, if there is ask HN for this and Show HN for promos, what's the user of regular HN?

Just tagging it for future search

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