I’m learning backend development and want to build a website as a project. I’ve written down the features, but now I’m stuck on what to tackle first. How would you break it down?
I have the features planned, but where do I actually start?
Asked by
kestrel+4
Answers
Start by shrinking the feature list to one useful path through the site. Write down what a person does, what information they enter, and what they should see afterward. Then build just that path from page to backend to database and back. It gives you a working base instead of a pile of disconnected features.
Reply to this answer
Since your goal is backend practice, begin with the data model. Identify the main things the site stores, how they relate, and which actions can create or change them. You do not need to design every table perfectly on day one. Sketch the core entities, then build one endpoint that reads or updates one of them and test it.
Reply to this answer
Don’t let the frontend become a reason to stall. Make a plain page with a form and a results view, even if it looks rough. A backend project still needs some way to exercise the flows, and a small amount of HTML and JavaScript is enough to start connecting things.
zuzu_61:
Keeping the first screen plain also makes it easier to tell whether the feature works before spending time polishing the design.
Reply to this answer
Pick a stack you can stick with and use its normal conventions rather than assembling every tool yourself. Build one small feature, add a test for the behavior, and get it running somewhere outside your own machine. That will teach you more than trying to plan the entire site in advance.
Reply to this answer
Add your answer
Answers are reviewed before publication.
kestrel+4:
So I should leave the other features alone until that first path works?
soupindex:
Pretty much. Keep the full list as a reference, but only add the next feature once the first one works end to end.