DEV Community: Arslon Erkinov

Today's Progress — Building My Django Food Blog

Arslon Erkinov — Wed, 15 Jul 2026 20:49:45 +0000

Today I implemented one of the features I wanted for a long time: "You May Also Like" recommendations.

The goal was simple—help users discover more recipes without leaving the recipe page while keeping the implementation clean and maintainable.

🍽️ What I built today

✅ Added a "You May Also Like" section on the recipe detail page.

The feature automatically:

Finds recipes from the same category
Excludes the current recipe
Limits the results to three recommendations
Displays the section only when similar recipes are available

⚙️ Backend Improvements

I updated the recipe_detail view to:

Query recipes by category
Exclude the current recipe
Pass similar_recipes to the template

🏗️ Better Template Architecture

While implementing the feature, I discovered a recursive template include issue.
To solve it, I reorganized the templates:
recipe_detail.html is now responsible only for the recommendation section
recipe_card.html contains only a single reusable recipe card

This makes the project much cleaner, easier to maintain, and more scalable.

🐛 Bug Fix

I also tracked down why recipe cards were being duplicated.

The problem turned out to be an incorrect template structure that caused nested includes.

After refactoring, everything renders correctly.

🎨 UI Improvements

The recommendation cards now match the rest of the website with:

Responsive grid layout
Recipe image
Rating
Hover animations
Consistent design system

💡 One thing I enjoy about Django development is that building a feature often leads to improving the architecture as well. Today's work wasn't just about adding recommendations—it was also about making the codebase cleaner and more reusable.

Every feature is another step toward turning this project into a production-ready application.

Python #Django #FullStack #BackendDevelopment #WebDevelopment

SoftwareEngineering #SoftwareDeveloper #Programming

OpenSource #BuildInPublic #Tech #Coding

TailwindCSS #JavaScript #HTML #CSS

ResponsiveDesign #UIUX #FoodTech

GitHub #Developer #LearningInPublic

Google #Microsoft #Amazon #Meta #Netflix #Spotify #OpenAI

Rebuilding My Django Food Blog: A Complete UI/UX Redesign

Arslon Erkinov — Sun, 12 Jul 2026 20:52:02 +0000

Today wasn't about adding new features.

Instead, I made one of the biggest decisions for my Food Blog Platform—to completely redesign the application from the ground up.

As developers, it's easy to keep adding functionality, but sometimes the best decision is to stop and rethink the user experience.

🎨 A New Design Philosophy

The previous version worked well, but it had become visually heavy and difficult to maintain.

So I decided to move to a completely different approach:

🌞 Light theme instead of a dark interface
✨ Minimalist design
📱 Mobile-first responsive layout
🧹 Cleaner HTML templates
🔧 Easier long-term maintenance

The goal wasn't just to make the application look better—it was to make the codebase cleaner and more scalable.

🏠 Homepage

The homepage received a complete redesign.

Improvements
New navigation header
Modern recipe cards
Simplified Featured Recipe section
Compact category blocks
Cleaner pagination
Better responsive behavior

Everything now feels lighter and much easier to navigate.

📖 Recipes Page

I completely redesigned the recipes page.

Changes
Modern recipe grid
Simpler category filters
New recipe cards
Compact pagination

The page is now cleaner and puts the focus where it belongs—on the recipes.

👤 Profile Page

The profile page also received a complete makeover.

New features
Minimalist profile layout
Redesigned user card
Better social links section
Improved mobile responsiveness
⚙️ Settings

The settings page was rebuilt with usability in mind.

Improvements
Cleaner layout
Better form styling
Improved avatar section
Responsive design
📄 About Page

I rewrote the About page from scratch.

Added:

Better project description
About Me section
Features overview
GitHub & LinkedIn links
New Call-to-Action section

Removed:

Large hero sections
Heavy gradients
Unnecessary visual effects

Sometimes removing elements improves the product more than adding new ones.

📊 Dashboard

The dashboard received one of the biggest updates.

What's new?
New dashboard header
Redesigned statistics cards
Better Saved Recipes section
Better Favorite Recipes section
Much cleaner HTML templates
Fixed markup issues
Unified design language

The dashboard is now much easier to maintain and extend.

❤️ Favorites

I also prepared the Favorites system to replace JavaScript actions with standard Django POST forms.

This keeps the application closer to Django's philosophy and reduces frontend complexity.

The only remaining task is updating the toggle_favorite view so the new Remove button works correctly.

📱 Mobile Experience

One of the biggest architectural decisions today was removing the traditional hamburger menu.

Instead, I decided to implement a Bottom Navigation for mobile devices.

The mobile navigation will include:

🏠 Home
📖 Recipes
❤️ Saved
👤 Profile
⚙️ Settings

Desktop users will continue using the top navigation.

I believe this will provide a much better mobile experience.

💡 What I Learned

Today reminded me that software development isn't only about adding features.

Sometimes the biggest improvement comes from simplifying the interface, reducing technical debt, and making the application easier to use and maintain.

A redesign isn't just about aesthetics—it's about creating a stronger foundation for everything you'll build next.

🚀 What's Next?
Finish the Favorites POST workflow
Continue polishing the new design system
Improve mobile navigation
User authentication improvements
Prepare the project for deployment

Thanks for following my journey.

Every commit brings this project one step closer to becoming a real production-ready application.

Happy coding! 🚀

Daily Dev Log — Building My Food Blog Platform

Arslon Erkinov — Tue, 07 Jul 2026 14:03:49 +0000

Today I continued working on my Food Blog Platform, a Django project that I'm building to improve my full-stack development skills while creating a real-world application.

Instead of focusing on adding a brand-new feature, today's work was dedicated to improving the existing foundation.

Today's work
Refined backend architecture for better maintainability
Improved recipe browsing and overall usability
Optimized performance in several parts of the application
Fixed bugs discovered during testing
Continued polishing the user interface

Today's lesson

One thing I've learned from this project is that software development is rarely about writing thousands of lines of new code every day.

Many productive days are spent improving code quality, fixing small issues, and making the application more reliable.

Those improvements may be invisible to users, but they are essential for long-term success.

Next milestones
User authentication
Favorite recipes
User profiles
Deployment to a production server

Final thoughts
The goal isn't simply to finish a project.
The goal is to build something maintainable, scalable, and enjoyable to use.

One improvement at a time.

See you in tomorrow's dev log!

Food Blog Platform — Daily Dev Log

Arslon Erkinov — Mon, 06 Jul 2026 21:56:20 +0000

Another day, another step forward on my Food Blog Platform.

Today's work was focused on strengthening the project's foundation rather than introducing new features.

What I worked on
Improved backend code structure and readability
Optimized recipe search and filtering
Fixed bugs and edge cases found during testing
Improved UI consistency throughout the application
Continued refining the overall user experience
What I learned today

As projects become larger, maintainability becomes just as important as functionality.

Spending time on refactoring and optimization may not be the most visible work, but it pays off every time you add a new feature later.

Clean code is an investment in the future of the project.

Next goals
User authentication system
Favorite recipes
User profiles
Production deployment
Final thoughts

Building software isn't about making giant leaps every day.

It's about making small improvements consistently, learning from each challenge, and creating something that becomes better with every commit.

See you in the next dev log! 🚀

Food Blog Platform — Daily Dev Log

Arslon Erkinov — Mon, 06 Jul 2026 15:15:22 +0000

Today's development session wasn't about adding a big feature—it was about making the project stronger.

As the application grows, I find myself spending more time improving the existing architecture than writing brand-new functionality. And honestly, that's where a lot of real software engineering happens.

What I worked on today
Improved backend organization and readability
Refined recipe search and filtering logic
Fixed small bugs and edge cases
Improved UI consistency across different pages
Continued optimizing the overall user experience
What I learned

Building software is a balance between creating new features and maintaining existing ones.

Every refactor makes the next feature easier to build.

Every bug fixed makes the application more reliable.

Every optimization improves the experience for future users.

What's next?
User authentication
Favorite recipes
User profiles
Production deployment
Final thoughts

It's easy to celebrate new features.

It's harder—but just as important—to celebrate cleaner code, better architecture, and a smoother user experience.

Those are the improvements that transform a side project into a real product.

Thanks for following along on this journey! 🚀

Building a Food Blog Platform with Django — Day by Day

Arslon Erkinov — Wed, 01 Jul 2026 22:27:20 +0000

Today's development session was all about improving the quality of the project rather than adding flashy new features.

As the application grows, I'm spending more time polishing the existing codebase and preparing it for future functionality.

What I worked on today

Refactored backend code to improve readability
Optimized recipe search and filtering
Improved UI consistency throughout the application
Fixed several small bugs and edge cases
Continued improving the overall user experience

What I learned

One thing I'm realizing during this project is that writing maintainable code is an investment.

Every refactor completed today will make future features easier to build and much easier to maintain.

Good software isn't just about adding features—it's about building a strong foundation that can grow over time.

What's next?

Authentication system
Favorite recipes
User profiles
Deployment to production
Final thoughts

Some of the most valuable development days are the ones where users won't immediately notice the changes.

Those improvements are often what make an application feel reliable, fast, and professional.

See you in tomorrow's dev log! 🚀

python #django #webdev #fullstack #buildinpublic #devlog #100DaysOfCode #softwareengineering

Food Blog Platform — Today’s Results

Arslon Erkinov — Fri, 26 Jun 2026 17:20:13 +0000

Today I continued working on my Food Blog Platform 🍰 built with Django.

The focus was not on new features, but on improving the core system quality, performance, and user experience.

What I achieved today

Improved recipe search accuracy and speed
Fixed pagination issues combined with category filtering
Refactored backend code for better structure and scalability
Improved UI consistency across pages
Enhanced overall UX flow between search, filter, and results

💡 Key takeaway

Real progress in software development often happens under the hood.

Refactoring, fixing edge cases, and improving structure are what turn a prototype into a real product.

🚀 Next steps

User authentication system
Favorites / saved recipes feature
Deployment preparation

🧩 Final thoughts

Small improvements every day lead to a strong and scalable system over time.

Consistency > speed 🚀

python #django #webdev #fullstack #buildinpublic #devjournal #100DaysOfCode

Food Blog Platform — Daily Dev Log

Arslon Erkinov — Tue, 16 Jun 2026 13:46:16 +0000

Today I continued working on my Food Blog Platform 🍰 built with Django.

Instead of focusing on new features, I spent the day improving the core system stability, structure, and user experience.

🔧 What I worked on today
Improved recipe search logic for more accurate results
Fixed edge cases between category filtering and pagination
Refactored Django backend for cleaner and more maintainable code
Improved UI consistency across pages
Enhanced UX flow: search → filter → results

💡 Key insight
A lot of meaningful progress in software development is invisible.
Refactoring code, improving structure, and fixing edge cases often have more long-term value than adding new features.

🚀 Next steps

Authentication system (login/register)
Favorites / saved recipes feature
Deployment preparation

🧩 Final thoughts

Consistency matters more than intensity.

Small daily improvements compound into a strong, scalable product over time 🚀

python #django #webdev #fullstack #buildinpublic #devjournal #100DaysOfCode

Building a Food Blog Platform with Django — Daily Dev Log

Arslon Erkinov — Mon, 15 Jun 2026 20:39:55 +0000

Today was another step forward for my Food Blog Platform project 🍰.

Rather than focusing on adding major new features, I spent time improving the foundation of the application and making the codebase more maintainable.

What I worked on today
Improved recipe management functionality
Enhanced search and filtering behavior
Refactored backend logic for better readability
Improved UI consistency across different pages
Fixed several bugs and edge cases
Continued optimizing the user experience

What I learned

As projects grow, technical debt grows with them.

Taking time to refactor code and improve architecture may not look exciting from the outside, but it often has a bigger long-term impact than adding another feature.

Good software isn't only about what users can see—it's also about the quality of the code behind it.

Next steps
User authentication system
User profiles
Favorite recipes feature
Comments and interactions
Deployment preparation

Final thoughts

Every day doesn't need a massive feature release.

Some days are about making the project stronger, cleaner, and easier to scale.

Those days matter just as much.

python #django #webdev #fullstack #buildinpublic #devlog #100DaysOfCode #softwareengineering

Food Blog Platform — Daily Dev Log

Arslon Erkinov — Mon, 08 Jun 2026 21:06:26 +0000

Today I continued working on my Food Blog Platform 🍰 built with Django.

The focus today was not on adding new features, but on improving the stability, performance, and overall user experience of the existing system.

What I worked on today

Improved recipe search logic for more accurate and stable results
Fixed edge cases between category filtering and pagination
Refactored Django backend for cleaner and more scalable architecture
Improved UI consistency across recipe cards and pages
Enhanced UX flow: search → filter → results

Key insight

A lot of real progress in software development is invisible.

Refactoring code, fixing edge cases, and improving structure are what make a project production-ready and scalable in the long run.

Next steps

Authentication system (login/register)
Favorites / saved recipes feature
Deployment preparation

Final thoughts

Consistency beats intensity.

Small improvements every day compound into a strong and stable product over time 🚀

Food Blog Platform — Daily Dev Log

Arslon Erkinov — Sun, 07 Jun 2026 20:42:13 +0000

Today I continued working on my Food Blog Platform 🍰 built with Django.

Instead of focusing on new features, I spent the day improving the stability, structure, and user experience of the platform.

🔧 What I worked on today

Improved recipe search logic for more accurate results
Fixed edge cases between category filtering and pagination
Refactored Django backend for better maintainability
Improved UI consistency across recipe cards and pages
Enhanced UX flow: search → filter → results

💡 Key takeaway

Real progress in software development is not always visible.

Refactoring and improving architecture is what makes a project scalable and production-ready.

🚀 Next steps

Authentication system (login/register)
Favorites / saved recipes feature
Deployment preparation

🧩 Final thoughts

Small improvements every day compound into a strong product over time.

Daily Dev Log — Food Blog Platform

Arslon Erkinov — Tue, 02 Jun 2026 21:45:44 +0000

Today I continued improving my Food Blog Platform 🍰 built with Django.

The focus today wasn’t on adding massive new features, but on making the existing system cleaner, more stable, and easier to scale in the future.

🔧 What I worked on

Optimized recipe filtering and search behavior
Improved pagination handling with dynamic categories
Refactored Django backend logic for better maintainability
Improved UI consistency and responsiveness
Enhanced overall user interaction flow across the platform

💡 What I realized today

One thing I’m learning during this project:

Good software is not built only through features.
It’s built through continuous improvements, refactoring, and polishing the user experience.

A stable foundation makes future development much easier.

🚀 Next goals

Authentication system
Favorites / saved recipes feature
Deployment preparation