The hottest Web Development Substack posts right now

And their main takeaways
Category
Top Technology Topics

No sacred masterpieces

Basta’s Notes • 753 HN points • 15 Sep 23
🕹 Technology Software Development Data science Engineering Project management Web Development
  1. Sometimes, valuable projects end abruptly without much recognition or lasting impact.
  2. It's important to focus on creating business value with your work, rather than building impressive but ultimately unnecessary solutions.
  3. Every piece of code you write as an engineer is legacy and may not last forever, so focus on learning from each project's outcome.

Improving the product

André Casal's Substack • 19 implied HN points • 31 Jul 24
🕹 Technology Product Development Web Development User Experience Software Engineering
  1. Getting user feedback is really important. Talking to customers helps understand their needs, especially beginners in tech.
  2. Watching a seasoned developer use the product can reveal issues and areas for improvement. It's a great way to learn about friction points.
  3. Making things easier for users is key. Simplifying processes and providing good documentation can really help users get started faster and reduce confusion.

Landing page improvements

André Casal's Substack • 19 implied HN points • 29 Jul 24
🕹 Technology Web Development User Experience Product Design Market Strategy Analytics
  1. Improving color contrast on a landing page helps make it more accessible for users. Clearer visuals can attract more visitors and keep them engaged.
  2. Adding logos and use-case sections to a landing page can help communicate what the product is about. It makes it easier for potential customers to understand if the product fits their needs.
  3. Getting feedback on a landing page and iterating on it is essential for creating a successful product. Regular updates based on user input help build trust and improve overall user experience.

JWTs - Use Responsibly

Permit.io’s Substack • 59 implied HN points • 23 May 24
🕹 Technology Web Development Cybersecurity Authentication APIs Data Structures
  1. JWTs are great for authentication but should be used carefully. They are not meant for detailed permission checks and can create security issues if misused.
  2. They are static once issued, meaning any changes to a user's role won't be reflected until the token expires. This can lead to potential security risks.
  3. JWTs are suitable for stateless, distributed systems and coarse-grained authorization, but for fine-grained control, other tools should be used.

The Monday Media Diet with Ahmed Al Omran

Why is this interesting? • 301 implied HN points • 04 Mar 24
🎭️ Culture Media Books Apps Travel Web Development
  1. Ahmed Al Omran shares his diverse media diet, including newspapers, RSS feeds, newsletters, podcasts, and social media platforms like Twitter and Instagram.
  2. Al Omran recommends 'Endel,' an AI-generated personalized soundscapes app, and expresses a preference for trains over planes due to the unpleasant aspects of flying.
  3. Japan is highlighted as a must-visit destination known for its attention to craftsmanship across various aspects of culture, providing unique experiences.
Get a weekly roundup of the best Substack posts, by hacker news affinity:

Console #189 - Interview with Elia of Opal - a Ruby to JavaScript source-to-source compiler

Console • 413 implied HN points • 24 Dec 23
🕹 Technology Programming Open Source Web Development Software Tools Debugging
  1. Opal is a source-to-source compiler that converts Ruby to JavaScript.
  2. Opal leverages the underlying JavaScript engine for speed, size, and debugging benefits.
  3. The project Opal aims to continue improving by exploring features like dead-code-elimination and better module support.

💥 Tech Talks Weekly #27

Tech Talks Weekly • 19 implied HN points • 15 Aug 24
🕹 Technology Software Development Conferences Programming Languages Tech Talks Web Development
  1. This week features new talks from 12 tech conferences, which can help tech enthusiasts stay updated on the latest trends and ideas.
  2. Tech Talks Weekly is a free email service that simplifies finding tech talks by gathering them in one place.
  3. Subscribers can give feedback through a short form to help improve the content and community around tech talks.

WebVoyager AI Agent

Cobus Greyling on LLMs, NLU, NLP, chatbots & voicebots • 19 implied HN points • 23 Jul 24
🕹 Technology AI Software Web Development Autonomous Systems Machine Learning
  1. AI agents can make their own choices and decide how to reach a goal. They don’t just follow a set plan; they create their own steps as needed.
  2. These agents can try different actions and learn from the results until they find the right answer. They go through a thinking process to solve problems.
  3. While AI agents have some tools to use, they also have limits. If they can't find an answer after trying a few times, they might ask a human for help.

Testing a book's code, part 6: Testing a Django project

Mostly Python • 314 implied HN points • 15 Feb 24
🕹 Technology Programming Software Testing Web Development
  1. Testing a Django project in a book involves creating a copy of the project, setting up a separate virtual environment, and ensuring it functions correctly on new Django versions.
  2. When testing a Django project, focus is usually on internal code, but the priority here is verifying functionality on new Django versions due to its frequent updates.
  3. The post discusses developing a single test function for a Django project named Learning Log, emphasizing the importance of testing project functionality as intended.

From Rails to AI: Lessons in Open Source for the AI Era

Gradient Flow • 199 implied HN points • 14 Dec 23
🕹 Technology Open Source AI Web Development Community
  1. Prioritizing simplicity and ease of use in open source projects attracts a wider range of contributors and drives faster adoption and innovation.
  2. Optimizing for developer happiness in frameworks creates a positive environment that fosters adoption and contributions in open source projects.
  3. Consistent leadership, adherence to core principles, and engagement with the open source community are crucial for the long-term growth and integrity of projects.

chainEDGE 3.0 Is Live

Onchain Wizard's Cauldron • 137 implied HN points • 02 Feb 24
🕹 Technology Data Analysis Cryptocurrency Web Development User Interface Trading
  1. The chainEDGE 3.0 update brings significant improvements for users, including enhanced UI and filtering options.
  2. The new version features tools like auto-filtering of low liquidity tokens and detailed insights into smart money swaps.
  3. chainEDGE 3.0 offers optimized token and wallet pages, along with a Portfolio God dashboard for sorting and filtering smart money holdings.

Agentic AI: Creating An AI Agent Which Can Navigate The Internet

Cobus Greyling on LLMs, NLU, NLP, chatbots & voicebots • 19 implied HN points • 17 Jul 24
🕹 Technology AI Web Development Machine Learning Multimodal models Automation
  1. WebVoyager is an AI agent that can browse the web by analyzing screenshots and deciding what to do next. It works like a human browsing the internet, using both visual and text information.
  2. The agent interacts with webpages by performing actions like clicking, scrolling, and typing. This allows it to complete tasks on websites without needing help from humans.
  3. WebVoyager's ability to handle complex web navigation shows the potential of AI agents to perform useful tasks autonomously. It learns to navigate better by using real-world websites rather than just simplified models.

Exploring recent Python repositories, part 2

Mostly Python • 628 implied HN points • 29 Jun 23
🕹 Technology Programming Open Source Software Development Data Analysis Web Development
  1. The post explores new Python repositories that have gained just a small number of stars, filtering out the projects with no attention.
  2. Over 300,000 Python repositories are pushed to GitHub each month, showing the challenge of getting noticed among the vast amount of projects.
  3. Projects with a few stars can still be interesting and worth exploring, like a Pygame project inspired by Factorio.

Data At Depth 13: Substack Love Affair, On Reading, Python Plotly Bubbles and Bars

Data at Depth • 39 implied HN points • 16 May 24
🕹 Technology Data Analysis Python Data Visualization Web Development
  1. The author shares insights on their data analysis for the past 2 weeks, highlighting significant growth on Substack, experiences on Medium and LinkedIn, and struggles with Twitter-X.
  2. The author emphasizes the importance of taking time to read and detach from the pressure of creating content, as well as the value of ownership and direct engagement through Substack newsletters.
  3. A tutorial is provided on creating interactive Python Plotly dashboards for data visualizations, specifically focusing on a bubble map and bar chart to showcase data on global undernourishment.

#93

The Nibble • 4 implied HN points • 13 Jan 25
🕹 Technology Software AI Web Development Crypto Mobile Apps
  1. Meta plans to adopt a less strict approach, promoting more political content like Twitter, aiming for a more open community environment.
  2. Salesforce will not hire more software engineers in 2025 due to increased productivity from AI tools, suggesting a shift in tech job dynamics.
  3. React has added a new feature called <ViewTransition> to improve how elements transition in the user interface, making updates smoother.

Console #170 -- An Interview with Alex of DocuSeal - Open source DocuSign alternative

Console • 413 implied HN points • 13 Aug 23
🕹 Technology Open Source Programming Web Development Software Development AI
  1. DocuSeal is an open source platform for digital document signing as an alternative to DocuSign.
  2. Ruby on Rails is used as the backend for DocuSeal, offering an easy and efficient development process.
  3. The developer of DocuSeal is motivated by community interest, aims for wider adoption before monetization, and plans to prioritize user feedback for future project development.

Python Streamlit Spotlight: An Interactive Look At UNHCR Refugee Data

Data at Depth • 39 implied HN points • 09 May 24
🕹 Technology Data Visualization Data Analysis Coding Web Development
  1. Python Streamlit is a powerful tool for creating interactive data visualizations packaged neatly into applications that can be displayed in a browser.
  2. The project highlighted step-by-step modular development to create an application with dropdown menus, radio buttons, and choropleth maps for visualizing UNHCR refugee data.
  3. The interactive Streamlit dashboard allows users to explore both where asylum seekers are going to and where asylum seekers are coming from, offering a detailed look at global refugee movements.

Explore Your Modeling Mindset With A Quiz

Mindful Modeler • 179 implied HN points • 20 Jun 23
🕹 Technology Modeling Web Development Machine Learning Programming
  1. Modeling assumptions affect how the model can be used. For instance, causal considerations lead to causal claims.
  2. Revisiting and understanding our modeling assumptions can help us tackle problems more effectively, beyond our usual mindset.
  3. Creating simple static websites can be made easier with tools like GPT-4, especially if you have some understanding of HTML, CSS, and JavaScript.

HCF EP 007: Prototyping with imported data

Hasen Judi • 35 implied HN points • 17 Jan 25
🕹 Technology Software Development Programming Data Management UI Design Web Development
  1. The project aims to develop a conversation view that displays threaded replies in a linear format, improving user experience compared to platforms like Twitter or Reddit.
  2. A data model is proposed to track parent-child relationships between posts and replies, allowing for efficient retrieval of both ancestors and descendants of a post.
  3. The author emphasizes using the same 'Post' type across different system layers, arguing that this reduces code complexity and increases productivity compared to using separate representations for each layer.

Combining Data Visuals: An Interactive Python Plotly Dashboard For Deeper Storytelling

Data at Depth • 79 implied HN points • 15 Feb 24
🕹 Technology Data Visualization Python Web Development
  1. Creating an interactive Python Plotly dashboard can help in deeper storytelling by combining data visuals like bubble charts and horizontal bar charts.
  2. Python's Plotly Dash framework allows developers to easily create web-based applications directly from Python code, without needing additional web development skills.
  3. By using the UN food security dataset, the tutorial demonstrates step-by-step how to load, filter, and visualize data, as well as set up dropdown menus for interactive exploration.

All the bullshit I did as a kid (part 1?)

Basta’s Notes • 204 implied HN points • 17 Jan 24
🕹 Technology Programming Web Development Operating Systems Software Development Tech industry
  1. The author reflects on the interesting and ambitious projects they worked on as a kid, showcasing a strong interest in technology and programming.
  2. Despite lacking mentorship, the author taught themselves valuable programming skills, such as building their own web browser and writing complex code like a CSS parser.
  3. The journey from tinkering with personal computers to winning a programming contest and earning internship opportunities highlights the author's growth and passion for technology.

what's all this then

eieio games • 119 implied HN points • 04 Dec 23
🕹 Technology Gaming Web Development Audience Building Creative Writing Internet culture
  1. The author, known as 'eieio', enjoys creating unique games and projects on the internet. They like using strange platforms to make fun experiences.
  2. They have a new project called stranger.video that pairs users for short, video-only chats. The call ends quickly, adding a fun twist to the experience.
  3. The author wants to build an audience but finds the process of audience-building uncomfortable. They promise to keep their communication genuine and low-key.

HCF EP 005: Cursor based pagination

Hasen Judi • 35 implied HN points • 04 Jan 25
🕹 Technology Software Development Web Development Data Storage Programming User Interface
  1. Cursor-based pagination lets you skip to the next set of results easily. It's better for large lists because it doesn't waste time reading and ignoring lots of entries.
  2. This method is more stable, as it remembers where you left off even if there are changes to the list. It's like using a bookmark to continue reading later.
  3. However, it has some downsides, like not being able to jump to a specific page directly, which might be less convenient for users wanting to skip ahead quickly.

Introducing The Shake V2

The Shake • 137 implied HN points • 26 Mar 23
🕹 Technology Blockchain Web Development Data Analysis
  1. The Shake V2 is a brand new version of The Shake that has officially launched.
  2. The Shake is now more than just a newsletter and has evolved into a data provider, resource hub, and product lab.
  3. The Shake V2 will continue to offer on-chain analysis, interactive educational tools, and expand into the greater DWeb ecosystem.

Google Correlate alternative: Similiarity search of Wikipedia Pageview Statistics in Python

Franz likes to code • 1 HN point • 16 Sep 24
🕹 Technology Programming Data science Machine Learning Web Development
  1. Google Correlate was a tool for finding related search patterns, similar to Google Trends, but it was shut down in 2019.
  2. You can create a personal alternative using publicly available data, like Wikipedia page views, by scraping and analyzing it with Python.
  3. Using methods like similarity searches and cosine distance, you can identify articles that have similar view patterns to a given topic.

💥 Tech Talks Weekly #20 (React Summit, JSNation, PyCon Sweden, PyData London, Voxxed Days Trieste, Spring I/O, CITYJS, ...)

Tech Talks Weekly • 19 implied HN points • 28 Jun 24
🕹 Technology Software Development Conferences Programming Languages Web Development Data science
  1. The Tech Talks Weekly shares new tech conference talks each week, so you can catch up on the latest ideas without scrolling through messy video lists.
  2. This week features talks from major events like the React Summit and PyCon, covering a variety of topics in programming and tech.
  3. You can help grow the Tech Talks community by sharing it with friends and filling out a short form to provide feedback.

Exploring recent Python repositories

Mostly Python • 314 implied HN points • 22 Jun 23
🕹 Technology Programming Open Source Web Development Software Engineering APIs
  1. Use the GitHub API to explore popular new Python projects and find potential projects to contribute to.
  2. Consider filtering out AI-focused projects when exploring Python repositories to discover a variety of coding projects.
  3. Pruning repositories using specific terms can help identify non-AI Python projects to work on, providing valuable learning opportunities.

HCF EP 004: Indexing and Querying

Hasen Judi • 35 implied HN points • 13 Dec 24
🕹 Technology Software Programming Databases Web Development APIs
  1. You can create a simple forum with posts that track who made them and when. Each post can include basic content, like a Tweet.
  2. Using indexes helps you quickly find posts by user or hashtags. This makes searching through posts much faster and easier.
  3. Automated testing is a great way to ensure everything works as expected without needing to manually check each part of your code.

#91

The Nibble • 4 implied HN points • 30 Dec 24
🕹 Technology AI Cryptocurrency Software User Interface Web Development Home Automation
  1. Apple is working on a video doorbell with Face ID, which is a new direction for the company that mostly makes money from AirPods and iPhones. This could change how people think about home security.
  2. In the AI world, several new tools and models are being released, like Goodfire's Ember, which helps shape AI responses. This shows the rapid growth and innovation happening in artificial intelligence.
  3. There is a rising interest in decentralization within the Ethereum community, but concerns are growing about groups forming that may stray from its core values. This raises important questions about the future of the community.

Our first Substack!

Permit.io’s Substack • 59 implied HN points • 01 Feb 24
🕹 Technology Identity Management Access Control Web Development Open Source
  1. Authentication and Authorization are often confused but are important parts of any app. Understanding how they differ helps ensure your app is secure.
  2. Many developers struggle with HTTP error codes 401 and 403, which can cause confusion. It's essential to know what these errors really mean in the context of your app.
  3. Using best practices in API design for Authentication and Authorization is crucial. There are many helpful tools and resources available to make the implementation process smoother.

Nano-GPT: access GPT-4, DALL·E 3 and other models using Nano (and other crypto)

Senatus’s Newsletter • 58 implied HN points • 27 Jan 24
🕹 Technology Cryptocurrency AI Blockchain Web Development
  1. Nano-GPT allows access to advanced AI models like GPT-4 and DALL·E 3 for a fraction of the usual cost.
  2. The service is affordable, charging just cents for various uses like creating content, programming help, and medical advice.
  3. Users can pay with various cryptos through Nano-GPT, promoting accessibility and privacy.

Why I moved from Rails to Node.js

Implementing • 78 implied HN points • 10 Dec 23
🕹 Technology Programming Web Development Career growth Frontend Development
  1. Transitioning from Rails to Node.js can provide a deeper understanding of how things work by allowing more control over configurations and avoiding excessive abstractions.
  2. Opting for Node.js can bring more job opportunities and choices due to its market demand, especially in medium and large enterprises.
  3. Using JavaScript for both Node.js backend and frontend frameworks like Vue.js can empower developers with a versatile skillset and broaden job prospects.

Push it to the Limit EP. 2—GPT Engineer

Prompt’s Substack • 1 HN point • 13 Sep 24
🕹 Technology Software Development Programming Languages Web Development Artificial Intelligence Database Management
  1. Using GPT Engineer with Claude Sonnet 3.5 can help build complex web applications. The right prompts can generate backend logic and React components more effectively.
  2. Integrating a large database with many tables can be challenging. Using tools like Supabase and Claude to auto-generate code can simplify this process, especially for handling data and API calls.
  3. It's important to carefully manage UI changes and prompt adjustments. Even small updates can lead to unexpected results, so being specific in requests can help maintain stability while developing.