A growing collection of articles, ideas, comparisons and useful resources about PHP development, UX design, SEO, websites and digital products.
Thoughts, experiments and observations from developing PHP applications, improving websites, creating content and building self-hosted software.
Where does a website end and a web application begin? After building Cordinant beyond simple public pages into databases, admin tools and structured content systems, the distinction became much less obvious. This article explores the difference between websites and web applications - and the large grey area between them.
I built My Budget because I wanted a clearer picture of where my money was going and how close I was to my savings goals. What started as a personal need gradually became a self-hosted PHP and MySQL application — and eventually a finished source-code product.
An MVP can help you test an idea quickly, but releasing the smallest possible product is not always the best approach. This article explores MVPs, full products, prototypes, hidden development work, early launches and the difficult question of how much really needs to exist before version one is ready.
Building software alone involves far more than writing code. It means moving between development, design, documentation, SEO, content and product decisions -often within the same day. This article explores the reality of solo product development, including its freedom, invisible work, limitations and constant trade-offs.
Self-hosted software and SaaS often appear to solve the same problems, yet they represent very different approaches to ownership, responsibility and product development. This article explores how both models work, why each has strengths and limitations, and why the right choice depends more on business goals than technology.
Laravel and pure PHP aren't competing technologies—they're different approaches to building applications with the same language. This article explores where each shines, compares their trade-offs and explains why I chose to build Cordinant in pure PHP despite Laravel's impressive ecosystem.
A collection of practical articles, product ideas, and resources on technical research, development, SEO and content for anyone interested in creating websites, apps and digital products.
PHP architecture, project structure, deployment and reusable solutions.
Explore articlesIdeas, planning, validation and product strategy.
Explore articlesDesign decisions, usability and user experience.
Explore articlesSearch visibility, content structure and growth.
Explore articlesUseful services, libraries and development tools.
Explore articlesThoughts, comparisons and new approaches.
Explore articlesThe principles discussed in these articles are applied in real self-hosted products, not only described in theory.
A self-hosted PHP and MySQL personal finance application with transactions, reports, goals, exports and an installer.
View My Budget →An offline-first marine operations PWA with voyages, fuel, maintenance, crew records, checklists and optional PHP backup tools.
View Captain's Toolkit →Browse installable PHP applications, self-hosted starter kits and practical developer tools created with the same principles discussed in the blog.