Iâll answer with some technical recommendations, as Iâm not personally interested in a dating app (I love the name, thoughđ).
Iâd suggest staying away from easy-site-builders like Wix or Wordpress. These could seem very attractive to not-yet web developers and maybe you could build some kind of (really) minimal prototype in no time, but on the long run you will most probably be missing some crucial features you need.
I might be wrong, because Iâve just used those tools (Wix and Wordpress) very rarely. But in my short experience, itâs like building with Lego: you can build anything⊠as long as the pieces you need actually exists. And youâll never be able to build a Lego sphere (again, I might be wrong with this methafor. Itâs been some years since the last time I played Lego).
What Iâd recommend is building your MVP using:
a framework like Angular, React or Vue for the front-end: the âvisible partâ of your webapp.
That approach will require coding, and if you donât know how to code (and donât plan to learn) you might need to seek help from someone who is. Otherwise, reading your âI am not a web developer (yet)â, I suposse you might either already have some coding experience on a different field or feel confident to be able to learn whatever skills you need. In either case, if I was to recommend you a learning path itâll be something like:
Learn HTML5 and CSS. Just the basis. You donât need to be a pro to start creating something. You can go through the free tutorials at W3Schools.
Learn Javascript. At W3Schools youâll find high quality tutorials too.
Choose a framework and learn the basics. My personal favourite is Vue, but I donât have any reason to recommend it to you. Have a look, try and, when youâve chosen one, learn to use it. There are so many talented people sharing their knowledge on Youtube, so Iâm sure you can learn the basics there.
Atlas or Firebase? Not sure whatâll be best for your application. I might go for Firebase for a quick prototype, as it can easily handle all the autethication stuff, wich seems to be crutial with the kind of app youâre planning to build.
Play. Try to use all of these newly learned skills and mix them together. Start by something simple and stupid, so you can easily spot the bugs. Keep playing building increasingly less-simple stuff (even if itâs still stupid). Try combining things youâve learn in interesting ways.
At some point, you might feel confident enought to start building the first prototype of your app from scratch.
I based these recommendations on my personal experience as a solo developer for the last few years. Being self-taught I might be missing some important points.
Courage!
Disclaimer: When I say stupid I donât mean to scorn. I just mean you donât need to build anything useful while learning. Itâs much more important youâre having fun. Its usefulness lies in the fact that it helps you to learn.
Iâll answer with some technical recommendations, as Iâm not personally interested in a dating app (I love the name, thoughđ).
Iâd suggest staying away from easy-site-builders like Wix or Wordpress. These could seem very attractive to not-yet web developers and maybe you could build some kind of (really) minimal prototype in no time, but on the long run you will most probably be missing some crucial features you need.
I might be wrong, because Iâve just used those tools (Wix and Wordpress) very rarely. But in my short experience, itâs like building with Lego: you can build anything⊠as long as the pieces you need actually exists. And youâll never be able to build a Lego sphere (again, I might be wrong with this methafor. Itâs been some years since the last time I played Lego).
What Iâd recommend is building your MVP using:
a framework like Angular, React or Vue for the front-end: the âvisible partâ of your webapp.
some service like MongoDB Atlas or Google Firebase for the back-end: to store the user data.
That approach will require coding, and if you donât know how to code (and donât plan to learn) you might need to seek help from someone who is. Otherwise, reading your âI am not a web developer (yet)â, I suposse you might either already have some coding experience on a different field or feel confident to be able to learn whatever skills you need. In either case, if I was to recommend you a learning path itâll be something like:
Learn HTML5 and CSS. Just the basis. You donât need to be a pro to start creating something. You can go through the free tutorials at W3Schools.
Learn Javascript. At W3Schools youâll find high quality tutorials too.
Choose a framework and learn the basics. My personal favourite is Vue, but I donât have any reason to recommend it to you. Have a look, try and, when youâve chosen one, learn to use it. There are so many talented people sharing their knowledge on Youtube, so Iâm sure you can learn the basics there.
Atlas or Firebase? Not sure whatâll be best for your application. I might go for Firebase for a quick prototype, as it can easily handle all the autethication stuff, wich seems to be crutial with the kind of app youâre planning to build.
Play. Try to use all of these newly learned skills and mix them together. Start by something simple and stupid, so you can easily spot the bugs. Keep playing building increasingly less-simple stuff (even if itâs still stupid). Try combining things youâve learn in interesting ways.
At some point, you might feel confident enought to start building the first prototype of your app from scratch.
I based these recommendations on my personal experience as a solo developer for the last few years. Being self-taught I might be missing some important points.
Courage!
Disclaimer: When I say stupid I donât mean to scorn. I just mean you donât need to build anything useful while learning. Itâs much more important youâre having fun. Its usefulness lies in the fact that it helps you to learn.