Coding for No-Coders: JavaScript Editing

What is HTML All The Things?

HTML All The Things is a web development podcast and discord community which was started by Matt and Mike, developers based in Ontario, Canada.

The podcast speaks to web development topics as well as running a small business, self-employment and time management. You can join them for both their successes and their struggles as they try to manage expanding their Web Development business without stretching themselves too thin.

Learn Web Development with Scrimba

We're super excited to partner with Scrimba to give you a 10% off discount on their monthly and yearly course subscriptions!

We've been recommending Scrimba as a learning platform for over a year. Their advanced course platform allows you to code alonside the instructor right in teh browser!

10% off Scrimba

What's This One About?

No-code platforms are useful tools for those that don't have the expertise to code up a web app, website, or mobile app themselves, but what if we told you that they can be useful for programmers too? No-code tools can save web developers time by offering a quick and easy creation platform that can typically be expanded upon with code (usually JavaScript). This week Matt and Mike discussed the importance of no-code being used alongside code to help teach new developers and assist veteran programmers with their tight deadlines.

Show Notes

No-Code's Purpose

Makes creation accessible to those that don't know how to program their own websites, web apps, mobile apps, and more
Lowers the barrier to entry to anyone that has basic computer skills
When you use no-code you avoid needing to know: \
- Coding in HTML, CSS, JS, PHP, etc. \
- Hosting (setting up servers, load balancing) \
- Backend Infrastructure (user authentication, data storage, etc.)

Why Use No-Code

Programming takes time and skill to learn
Engineering solutions properly (even if you have programming skills) can be challenging, especially when multiple technologies are being meshed together - no-code alleviates all this need
Most no-code platforms are an all-in-one offering for your use case (ie blog + ecommerce) which is convenient and easy to budget for

The Problem with No-Code

Limited to what the no-code platform offers or is compatible with (ie they may allow for connections with third-party services, but only some)
"Walled garden" affect
If you need to scale outside the platform's offering you're left with a potentially very difficult and expensive migration (ie you may need to hire a dev team)

Expanding No-Code

Many no-code platforms already allow for embedding scripts and custom code (commonly JavaScript at least)
As you expand your no-code project you're learning programming while still being able to fall back on a tried and true platform
When you become more familiar with coding the no-code platform becomes less of a necessity and more of a tool
You'll be more prepared for scaling your project should you outgrow the no-code platform (even if you're not capable enough to make a custom app yourself you can still pitch in to keep dev costs down, or at least have a better understanding of what it is you need to have made)
You can personally start making more money as you gain more skills