Tag: nocode

Date: 01/25/2025

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Okay, this Expo DOM Components video looks seriously interesting. Essentially, it’s showcasing a way to bridge the gap between web development and React Native by letting you use familiar web DOM components directly within your Expo apps. If you’re like me, constantly looking for ways to streamline cross-platform development, this is gold.

Why is it valuable? Well, think about it. We often build components that have to be re-written (or heavily modified) when moving between web and native. This aims to let you reuse more of your existing web skills and code in React Native projects. The promise of faster prototyping and potentially less platform-specific code is huge. It is a practical way to cut down on dev time and maintenance overhead. It also aligns perfectly with the no-code and AI-assisted trends since the promise is that we will be doing less code writing.

For real-world application, imagine building a complex UI with intricate layouts. Instead of wrestling with React Native’s layout system from scratch, you could leverage CSS and HTML-like components that you already know. Plus, with LLMs generating more and more UI code, the ability to directly import that into a React Native environment could be a game-changer. I’m definitely keen to experiment with this – the potential for accelerating cross-platform development and reducing the learning curve is worth exploring.

Date: 01/23/2025

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Okay, I’m watching this video, and it’s speaking directly to the challenges I’ve been tackling! Basically, it’s about using 21st.dev to grab UI components and drop them straight into Lovable apps (which is a no-code platform that integrates well with Bolt.new – another low-code tool). The key takeaway is that it addresses the common problem of making no-code/low-code apps look *good*. Let’s be honest, a lot of the UI you get out-of-the-box can be, well, a bit bland.

For someone like me, who’s moving from traditional Laravel development into an AI-enhanced workflow, this is huge. We spend so much time hand-crafting UI, tweaking CSS, and ensuring responsiveness. The promise of instantly importing well-designed components and focusing on backend logic and automations? That’s the dream. I can see using this to prototype new app features incredibly quickly. Imagine using an LLM to generate the functional logic for your Laravel backend, and then rapidly prototyping the frontend with imported UI components. Plus, this could be a game-changer for internal tools where I don’t want to spend hours on design but still need a professional look.

What makes this video worth experimenting with is its practicality. It offers a tangible solution to a very real problem: UI design bottlenecks in no-code/low-code environments. It’s not just theoretical fluff; it’s a concrete tool (21st.dev) being used in conjunction with other platforms (Lovable) to create something better, faster. Honestly, anything that lets me shift my focus away from pixel-pushing and towards high-level problem-solving gets a big thumbs up from me. I’m going to play around with this and see if it can cut down my UI development time!

Date: 01/22/2025

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Okay, this Fireship video on open-source alternatives to popular SaaS tools is *exactly* the kind of content that gets me excited right now. It’s essentially a rapid-fire showcase of FOSS options for things like MS Office (LibreOffice), Notion (Appflowy), Heroku/Vercel (Coolify, Dokku) and even Zoom (Jitsi). Why is this relevant to AI coding? Because it highlights the shift towards more control and customization, which is exactly what you get when you start integrating LLMs and no-code tools into your workflow. We’re talking about building our own solutions, not just relying on pre-packaged SaaS.

For me, the value is in the mindset shift. Instead of thinking, “I need X feature, let me find a SaaS that offers it,” you start thinking, “I need X feature, how can I build it, or adapt an existing open-source project, using AI to speed up the process?” For example, let’s say I need a custom CRM. Instead of Salesforce, I could use NocoDB (a no-code database) and leverage an LLM to generate custom APIs or workflows. This video plants that seed of possibility. And hey, the mention of self-hosting with Coolify and Dokku? That’s pure gold for anyone who’s ever felt locked into a specific cloud provider.

Ultimately, it’s worth experimenting with because it unlocks possibilities. Suddenly, that complex internal tool you were dreading building feels less daunting. You see a path to building a tailored solution instead of settling for something off-the-shelf. Plus, the open-source angle means you can contribute back to the community and learn from others. It’s not just about saving money (though that’s a nice perk!); it’s about taking ownership of your tools and workflows, which, in my book, is where the real magic happens when you combine traditional development with the power of AI.