r/webdev • u/SUNSET_TOWERcoffee • 4h ago

Question help with code

hello wonderful people! i'm building a social service for fans of my favorite artist (conan gray) based on a original one that shut down after 3 months. i'm using mastodon as the base for the code (as i am a beginner) and am using github to code. i have done some research and i'm trying to figure out:

a. how to see a preview of what i'm working on

b. what files i need to use

c. what to use (in terms of code)

and some bonus ones if you'd like to answer

d. do i have to buy a domain

e. is coding easy?

f. how does mastodon really work?

alrighty, awesome and thank yall so much.

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u/Foreign-Chain-3924 3h ago

For a and b you need to get a local dev environment running on your machine first. Grab something like XAMPP or just use VS Code with the live server extension so you can actually see your changes without pushing to github every time. Mastodon is a full Ruby on Rails app so the file structure is gonna be pretty overwhelming if you’ve never touched a framework before.

Domain question is the easy one. Yes you need one if you want anyone else to access it, plus hosting. And no coding is not easy, especially not when you’re jumping straight into a federated social network as your first project.

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u/SUNSET_TOWERcoffee 2h ago

ok but i’m saying if i’m using mastodon, do they give me a domain or not

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u/ShawnyMcKnight 2h ago

I’ll go ahead and answer question e. If you have to ask these things instead of just googling the answers then no, coding is very much NOT easy.

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u/SUNSET_TOWERcoffee 2h ago

i just want answers from real people, not from ai

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u/ShawnyMcKnight 2h ago

So much to unpack. First off if you think every user on reddit is real and not AI I got bad news for you. Second, AI would likely provide more accurate answers on factual questions like this, if you were asking opinion questions that may be different. Lastly, Google isn’t just AI and we’ve all been googling for answers for decades. And lastly, AI is a part of web development and you are gonna have a hell of a time finding a job if you are anti-AI… I’m not saying rely on it and learn nothing, but you need it as a tool.

So I stand by my answer, if you can’t learn to google for answers to your questions then programming is going to be incredibly difficult.

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u/CaffeineLiker 3h ago

Yeah, you don't want to own this. Find existing software or make this work with an existing platform. Yeah, AI can help kick start a lot now, but you still have to run and maintain it. It's endless headaches.

But, hey, if this is your passion, just keep the feature scope small. Aim low.

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u/SUNSET_TOWERcoffee 3h ago

if you didn’t read, i’m using mastodon

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u/CaffeineLiker 2h ago

Oops, missed that

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u/glimmer_joy_spark 1h ago

mastodon requires Ruby on Rails and PostgreSQL, so VS Code live server won't work. Use the official Docker image to get a local preview running today without needing a domain or buying anything.

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u/CappuccinoCodes 3h ago

You'll either have to hire a pro or if you're passionate enough to endure endless headaches, look at learning how to code and you'll be comfortable with running your platform after a couple of years.