Should You Use Code or No-Code?

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.

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What's This One About?

This week, Matt and Mike discussed the difficult decision on whether you should use a no-code platform or code up a custom solution. The duo go over the differences between custom code and no-code, comparing project types and where they'd create these projects.

Topics and Timestamps

Choosing whether or not you should code up a completely custom code solution for a project versus using a no-code tool to quickly spin it up can be a major roadblock for project managers and freelancers alike. This week we discussed the difference between code and no-code solutions and how those differences lend themselves to different types of projects.

To Code or No-Code: Analysis Paralysis

• Introduction: code versus no-code | 00:01:41
  • Custom code can be used to create virtually anything you want - limited mostly by skill, budget, and time
  • Coding is hard to learn and can take a long time to get even a basic project off the ground
  • No-code solutions are typically more expensive than coding up a project yourself due to hosting/usage fees
  • No-code solutions offer a way for non-coders to quickly spin-up "basic projects" like blogs, marketing sites, and landing pages

When To Use Code

• Common scenarios that require a custom coded solution | 00:07:45
  • When making something completely unique, like a cutting-edge web app that has never been made before (ie very advanced photo editor)
  • Performance heavy applications may require the use of custom coded solutions to manage their heavy compute load on hosting servers and/or client machines
  • If you need an extreme amount of control over your app, custom code is the only way to control almost every facet of what you're building
  • Sometimes you need to manage the budget down to the dollar, self-hosted solutions are often cheaper than the hosted solutions that many no-code platforms offer
  • Security conscious projects may require self-hosted options (ie intranet site)
  • When you need to really dial-in your project on all sides (scaling features & hosting, developing only features you need & cutting what you don't, manage technical debt)
• Is there a technical debt crisis? | 00:25:48
  *- Dialing-in your project responsibly can help you save your developer's time on maintenance and refactoring *- Hashnode article: A Technical Debt Crisis Is Brewing in the Land of Software -- And Here's Why (hashnode.dev)
  

When To Use No-Code

• Common scenarios that are ripe for a no-code solution | 00:44:48\
  • Projects that need to be spun up fast, beyond all else\
  • Standard websites (ie blog, landing pages, marketing sites)\
  • Projects that need maintenance, but the budget doesn't allow for it\
  • Testing if an idea is viable before diving in on a massive custom solution\
  • Projects that will not scale out of a no-code tier that you have the budget for (ie a local event website will primarily get traffic from local sources)

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