Build a Website without any Back End Knowledge

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Hi my name is Waswa. I am currently learning front end web development and I am now doing the advanced projects on the free code camp front end certification program

I wanted to start building and designing the front end for a few of my friends as side projects and I was wondering if there was a way to get the back end functionality like being able to get information from forms or analytics from site users without necessarily coding it myself but using an online platform

Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!!!

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For forms try Formspree.

As for analytics AFAIK they don’t need back-end since it’s usually javascript.
For example Google’s gtag.

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Thanks that helps a lot!!

1 Like
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You could also go for WordPress. It’s easy to get around, and there are plugins for everything

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With Wordpress can I fully code the front end though or would I have to follow a theme??

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Both.
You can go for a theme and then customize it, or you can build one from the ground up, and then add some plugins to it.
You’ll have to learn some new things, but it’s not that hard, and nowadays a lot of people want a WordPress website.

But you would probably have to have some kind of knowledge of PHP to understand the structure and where you are and all of that, so maybe it’s a no-go for you.

If you want something simple @Implaier seems to have given you a good answer.

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Another alternative (there are many) is Google’s Firebase hosting + firestore

Most of the services focus on android and ios development, but the key parts of hosting and backend are offered for web too.

TLDR: A single command to deploy your front-end to firebase hosting, and an API backend that interacts with different things such as a realtime database, and authentication services.
But because the database is realtime it requires some different approaches to handling the data (observables instead of promises)

also its free for moderate usage

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Thanks Firebase looks like a really good option for what I want to do!!

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I just recently did a project for a cleaning company and we did a Feasible study on what is best for him Technically, Operationally and Economically. Since the cleaning company doesn’t want to send any of their employees to any type of training in learning new technologies, and they need a form for their online business, we decided they use Google Forms. It’s customisable, you can simply embed it to the website, the data is stored in google drive using google spreadsheet which can be downloaded to excel and use analytics to sort and filter the information they gathered. any time a potential client fill in the form, an email can be sent for notification to the email address of their choice.

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Thanks for sharing, didn’t know about Google Forms!