diff options
Diffstat (limited to 'memos/WM-031.txt')
| -rw-r--r-- | memos/WM-031.txt | 111 |
1 files changed, 111 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/memos/WM-031.txt b/memos/WM-031.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..fdb3d13 --- /dev/null +++ b/memos/WM-031.txt @@ -0,0 +1,111 @@ + + + + + + + +Document: WM-031 P. Webb +Category: Project 2018.04.17 + + Socii Dispatch 04 + +Abstract + + If you want something done right… + +Body + + In the almost two months since my last dispatch I moved my life from + New England to Tennessee, started working on a new product, and + learned of a couple other social networks in development. This might + be a long read, make yourself comfortable. + + 1. Why Move? + + The rent was too damn high! Also, with my skills I can work + anywhere. Why not live in a place where the weather is (generally) + better and the price of living is more agreeable? + + 2. New Product + + While working on Socii, I made the conscious decision not to add + an analytic script for two reasons: + + 1) *I* use ad blockers and it is safe to assume that the people + who would join Socii do too. Therefore, my analytic script + would be blocked. Why bother adding one in the first place? + 2) Gauges (the analytics provider for all my other sites) has been + sold at least three times. They could get sold to Google or + Facebook at some point and I am fundamentally opposed to using + their products. + + However, this became a hindrance at some point because Socii would + error on a route and crash (unhandled promise rejections are + bad!). I started thinking about having a service that could plug + into my codebase with *minimal change* while also showing me where + things happen. + + Enter Chew (analytics you can count on)! + + 📸[Homepage of Chew][IMG1] + + It works by capturing the request object in your (Express 4) + middleware and sending the relevant data to Chew. I spent a couple + weeks working on this and it's *just about* ready for private + testing (basically, me using it on my own sites and fixing bugs + that occur). All you need to get started is a free Chew account + and two lines of code in your Express-based app: importing the + Chew npm package and a single line in your middleware. + + As usual, I learned some things along the way and I look forward + to applying these new learnings to Socii. I tend to refactor (and + write more code comments) as I develop so I can help my future + self when something needs fixing (or removal, I love when I can + remove code). + + Naturally, I used Socii as a base for Chew and came up with a very + basic SaaS boilerplate: + + 📸[My SaaS boilerplate, 1.0][IMG2] + + The left side refers to self-explanatory services while the right + side shows you the URLs each service would be reachable at. + + The admin console is new to me and I haven't actually created one + yet but I like the idea of a master interface being made available + to admin users, instead of embedding admin controls inside the + app. Separation of concerns, yes. More stuff to manage? Of course! + The tradeoff is worth it to me. + + Thanks to the power of Nginx and reverse proxies, you can run all + of these on the same physical server! Probably shouldn't have the + CDN there though. For Socii, I have a service that optimizes + images before placing them in storage (DigitalOcean Spaces, their + version of Amazon S3). + + Once I have Chew launched and the notifications feature launched + in Socii, I'll start working on open-sourcing my SaaS boilerplate. + I just realized this is a great time to segue. + + 3. Social Networks + + I frequent HackerNews and commented on a post[1] where someone + listed their social network feature wishlist. Of course, I plugged + Socii because it will match (most of) what they want when it is + feature-complete. I fully expect downvotes and was pleasantly + surprised to see the opposite occur! Furthermore, other people + working on social networks reached out to me via LinkedIn and + email. Unfortunately, aside from initial introductions I haven't + conversed with these folks. I hope that changes soon, we could all + learn from each other. + + It is quite obvious that "social" is on the mind of everyone and + I'm glad that people are trying their hand at improving + the Internet. 🕸 + +References + + [1] <https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16821172> + [IMG1] <https://🔥.pixels.wtf/blog/image/2018/socii-dispatch-04-a.png> + [IMG2] <https://🔥.pixels.wtf/blog/image/2018/socii-dispatch-04-b.png> |