Experienced coders: What do you think is the best framework to create a web app like this?

[GoodluckChuck]

There's a cool app on Android called Do it Now. It's like am activity tracker with elements of an RPG.
You can check it out here


I've been using it to track certain skill sets I'm building and regulate certain behaviors I want to limit.

I like the app, but its missing a lot of things I would like to have. That's why I want to create one as a web app that can be used from a browser.

I want a lot of the same functionalities such as charting and customization. I also want people to be able to create their own profile and log their own activities/track skills.

I am proficient with HTML/CSS and I know some Python so I was thinking Django might be good, but I'm open to whatever language is the most suitable to this sort of thing.

I would also like it to be able to be used from a mobile phone as well. Even being able to link a smart watch app in the future could be a feature I might want to implement if I decide to keep developing it.

What do you think would be the best framework for this?

Thanks for your time.

 

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[Nick M.]

First of all, every coder has their own preferred language. So you're probably going to get several different answers here. That's OK.

After looking at the app you linked, my suggestion would be to use the Ionic framework:

Ionic Framework - The Cross-Platform App Development Leader

Ionic empowers web developers to build leading cross-platform mobile apps and Progressive Web Apps (PWAs)

ionicframework.com

With one codebase, you can deploy a responsive website and mobile apps for iPhone and Android. I believe it also deploys as desktop apps. Perfect in since you want to make it cross-platform.

It's been a while since I've used Ionic, so a lot has probably changed. Definitely check it out at least.

Note: There's a difference between the Ionic framework and the Ionic platform. The first one is free and has everything you need to build your app. It's the actual codebase. The second one is paid and is used for deployment and similar problems. You don't need both, and their website can be confusing about which is which.

 

[dshalev]

Hi,
For the front end of this app i would have used react if web based and react native for mobile apps.

For backend such as user management and databases i would have gone with managed services, for example AWS have a great free tier so you will start for free and only pay when you have a significant amount of users.

 

[softwareRules]

If you want to develop a prototype quickly, React-Native with Expo is probably your best bet: Expo

What's interesting is that you can pop your app out from Expo later on so you can do more advanced things yourself, or you can upgrade to a paid plan on Expo that will produce iOS and Android builds in the cloud (that's very appealing to me, for instance, because I use Linux at home and can't compile iOS apps)

 

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[GoodluckChuck]

Hi,
For the front end of this app i would have used react if web based and react native for mobile apps.

For backend such as user management and databases i would have gone with managed services, for example AWS have a great free tier so you will start for free and only pay when you have a significant amount of users.

Thanks for your suggestion. I didn't know about AWS free tier so I'm looking into DynamoDB to see if that's what I need. The first app I'm making won't require very much bandwidth and it's going to be used by people for free, so free = perfect. Cheers.

 

[GoodluckChuck]

After looking into suggestions it's clear that the language doesn't matter much. Since asking this question I've learned a lot more and found out that Django can be used for everything I need, so that's what I'm learning.

I am prototyping on my computer and will have to figure out what to do with the production site later.

 

[Nick M.]

Thanks for your suggestion. I didn't know about AWS free tier so I'm looking into DynamoDB to see if that's what I need. The first app I'm making won't require very much bandwidth and it's going to be used by people for free, so free = perfect. Cheers.

AWS is great. Just be careful about pricing. Their "free tier" is completely free. However, there are many services with AWS and not all of them are free. They don't always warn you when you are using something that's not free. For instance, you can get an IP address for an instance for free. However, if you then remove the instance and not the IP address, they charge you for having an unused IP address. Several months back I was playing around with AWS using their free tier and accidentally racked up $20 in charges. Is that a lot? Not really. But I can imagine scaling rapidly and racking up thousands of dollars in costs for services you didn't know about.

Other than that, AWS is great. And the pricing is clear when you do your due diligence.

 

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[GoodluckChuck]

AWS is great. Just be careful about pricing. Their "free tier" is completely free. However, there are many services with AWS and not all of them are free. They don't always warn you when you are using something that's not free. For instance, you can get an IP address for an instance for free. However, if you then remove the instance and not the IP address, they charge you for having an unused IP address. Several months back I was playing around with AWS using their free tier and accidentally racked up $20 in charges. Is that a lot? Not really. But I can imagine scaling rapidly and racking up thousands of dollars in costs for services you didn't know about.

Other than that, AWS is great. And the pricing is clear when you do your due diligence.

Thx for sharing.

It's like a job in itself just education ones self about all the stuff aws offers...

I'm looking for a host that I can host the website and database on like I do with WordPress. For the small app I'm making it should be fine.

 

[JohnForte]

My frameworks of choice are reactjs and node. That is cause I enjoy the node package manager and how I can use webpack to crush down both my react and node code to very small files. I also am a big user of docker, lambda, and any serverless technologies.

Those are my weapons of choice usually. Unless I have to do something where I need to use a C lib then I use python. I hardly use java anymore.

 

[DaRK9]

MEAN stack. Easy to deploy, tons of developers, tons of info online and has treated me well with my projects. My SaaS is MEAN + REST API for native apps.

It’s also easy as hell to learn.

 

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[GoodluckChuck]

My frameworks of choice are reactjs and node. That is cause I enjoy the node package manager and how I can use webpack to crush down both my react and node code to very small files. I also am a big user of docker, lambda, and any serverless technologies.

Those are my weapons of choice usually. Unless I have to do something where I need to use a C lib then I use python. I hardly use java anymore.

What kind of stuff do you build?

 

[GoodluckChuck]

MEAN stack. Easy to deploy, tons of developers, tons of info online and has treated me well with my projects. My SaaS is MEAN + REST API for native apps.

It’s also easy as hell to learn.

Jeeze. After reading about this I'm tempted to jump ship!

 

[JohnForte]

What kind of stuff do you build?

I build PWAs (Progress Web Applications, basically offline and online web apps), RESTful APIs, connection bridges IE: AWS lambdas that don't require web input and kick off other functions or services.

For specific projects, most of my time is focused in the eCommerce space.

 

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[GoodluckChuck]

I build PWAs (Progress Web Applications, basically offline and online web apps), RESTful APIs, connection bridges IE: AWS lambdas that don't require web input and kick off other functions or services.

For specific projects, most of my time is focused in the eCommerce space.

I had to look up PWA but that's exactly what I want to do. I like apps that live in the browser and can be used from any device.

REST API's is something I'll be diving into real soon.

 

[JohnForte]

I had to look up PWA but that's exactly what I want to do. I like apps that live in the browser and can be used from any device.

REST API's is something I'll be diving into real soon.

Yeah, reactjs is my weapon for that, I like it cause I also use react native for apps and switching context for that is easier. As well as the way reusable components are handled when approaching a new build and abstracting the API layer.

What is REST – Learn to create timeless REST APIs read this and you be writing best practice REST APIs in no time

 

[DaRK9]

Yeah, reactjs is my weapon for that, I like it cause I also use react native for apps and switching context for that is easier. As well as the way reusable components are handled when approaching a new build and abstracting the API layer.

What is REST – Learn to create timeless REST APIs read this and you be writing best practice REST APIs in no time

My only issue with reactjs is it can get unwieldy at enterprise level. For small to mid size it’s perfect. More lenient and open.

 

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[dshalev]

Thanks for your suggestion. I didn't know about AWS free tier so I'm looking into DynamoDB to see if that's what I need. The first app I'm making won't require very much bandwidth and it's going to be used by people for free, so free = perfect. Cheers.

Good luck, let me know if you need some advice

 

[alexkuzmov]

I

There's a cool app on Android called Do it Now. It's like am activity tracker with elements of an RPG.
You can check it out here


I've been using it to track certain skill sets I'm building and regulate certain behaviors I want to limit.

I like the app, but its missing a lot of things I would like to have. That's why I want to create one as a web app that can be used from a browser.

I want a lot of the same functionalities such as charting and customization. I also want people to be able to create their own profile and log their own activities/track skills.

I am proficient with HTML/CSS and I know some Python so I was thinking Django might be good, but I'm open to whatever language is the most suitable to this sort of thing.

I would also like it to be able to be used from a mobile phone as well. Even being able to link a smart watch app in the future could be a feature I might want to implement if I decide to keep developing it.

What do you think would be the best framework for this?

Thanks for your time.

Alot of good advice in the thread.

My advice is go with React or Vue + NodeJS.
That way you'll be learning JS and you'll be able to apply it in every area of your app.
On the server side make a REST API.
Its just way too useful to ignore making it.

Spend a little time learning about webservers, the http/s protocol and the request verbs.
Thats good knowledge to have and it'll help you with managing the servers initially. Dont forget to add a valid SSL certificate for your domain, its a must. If you've no experience with this, I can help.

Finally, publishing the app in the stores can be frustrating so arm your self with patience.

 

[GoodluckChuck]

I


Alot of good advice in the thread.

My advice is go with React or Vue + NodeJS.
That way you'll be learning JS and you'll be able to apply it in every area of your app.
On the server side make a REST API.
Its just way too useful to ignore making it.

Spend a little time learning about webservers, the http/s protocol and the request verbs.
Thats good knowledge to have and it'll help you with managing the servers initially. Dont forget to add a valid SSL certificate for your domain, its a must. If you've no experience with this, I can help.

Finally, publishing the app in the stores can be frustrating so arm your self with patience.

I was thinking I want to make a browser app that works on all devices with a browser. Would you make the same recomendations in this case?

 

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[JohnForte]

My only issue with reactjs is it can get unwieldy at enterprise level. For small to mid size it’s perfect. More lenient and open.

I think that is more a design pattern issue from what I have seen. If you abstract the right way and use NPM to be able to link modules, you can make it pretty large but maintainable.

 

[alexkuzmov]

I was thinking I want to make a browser app that works on all devices with a browser. Would you make the same recomendations in this case?

Yup,

React for web: Tutorial: Intro to React – React
React for mobile: React Native · A framework for building native apps using React

 

[Val Okafor]

I know you are leaning towards a web app because of your background. However, I encourage you to check out Flutter if you are building targeting apps. The app you pointed to, I checked it out and it seems to me as a native app. If you are planning to compete of offer similar functionality, then you may want to consider something that you can publish to the Play/App Stores.

Just my thoughts! I am a native app developer so I may be biased. Good luck.

 

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[GoodluckChuck]

I know you are leaning towards a web app because of your background. However, I encourage you to check out Flutter if you are building targeting apps. The app you pointed to, I checked it out and it seems to me as a native app. If you are planning to compete of offer similar functionality, then you may want to consider something that you can publish to the Play/App Stores.

Just my thoughts! I am a native app developer so I may be biased. Good luck.

That's a good point. If I were trying to compete with that app I would certainly be making an app for android. What I want to do is be able to have a similar app on my computer with added functionality and the ability to save and share profiles with other people.

At this point I want it to be free, but that's how a lot of things start and end up becoming something else.

My main goal right now is to learn how to program and to make an app I want to use.

Flutter is a new one. I'm going to check it out nonetheless. Cheers

 

[scottmsul]

I'm surprised nobody's mentioned Flask.

Its main selling point is that its lightweight, while Django is much more heavy-duty. Neither is "better" but depending on your current skills/needs it might be a better choice. Django definitely has a steeper learning curve (it's more of a DSL inside of Python) while Flask is more of a Python library. I've used both and really like Flask since I can just setup routes for each directory on the site and handle other logic myself (such as the database). Django is much more powerful though once you get over the learning curve.

For plotting I highly recommend Bokeh. Since it's a Python library you can use it with either Flask or Django. One super-nice feature is it can output html/javascript and create embeddable interactive plots , without having to tweak any javascript manually.

 

[GoodluckChuck]

I'm surprised nobody's mentioned Flask.

Its main selling point is that its lightweight, while Django is much more heavy-duty. Neither is "better" but depending on your current skills/needs it might be a better choice. Django definitely has a steeper learning curve (it's more of a DSL inside of Python) while Flask is more of a Python library. I've used both and really like Flask since I can just setup routes for each directory on the site and handle other logic myself (such as the database). Django is much more powerful though once you get over the learning curve.

For plotting I highly recommend Bokeh. Since it's a Python library you can use it with either Flask or Django. One super-nice feature is it can output html/javascript and create embeddable interactive plots , without having to tweak any javascript manually.

Thanks for bringing it up. I've heard people mention Flask on some Python podcasts I've been listening to but haven't checked it out yet. I read that it's more "Pythonic" which might be good for me at this stage since I'm still learning a lot about how Python works.

I'm going to find a good Flask tutorial and give it a try so I can decide how to progress.

I started building another small app last night for another site I run and quickly realized how much practice I still need to be able to do it without returning to tutorials to see examples of code. Practice practice practice.

After looking up Bokeh, I think it sounds perfect. I want users to be able to plot their stats in many different ways. This will be a good transferrable practice for doing things related to data science.

 

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[DaRK9]

I think that is more a design pattern issue from what I have seen. If you abstract the right way and use NPM to be able to link modules, you can make it pretty large but maintainable.

That is true. Just takes more planning and a strict PM.