Websites and apps are starting to look and feel the same. Clean layouts, straightforward navigation, minimal distractions - the epitome of clarity. Well, to me, it's getting way over clarity into being sterile. While clarity is important, this focus has led to a sea of almost identical, forgettable projects. Meanwhile, game developers are crafting interactive, memorable worlds that captivate users.

I have proven and justified things we can learn and use in our field.

You launch a new website or app, and the first thing you do is slap on Google Analytics (or any other analytics service) to start "tracking users." Well, we call it just "statistics," right? Yeah, that sounds way less dystopian. It's become almost a reflex at this point.

I'm here to present the point that there's a better and simple alternative. If you're a freelance developer or a studio, keep reading.

Many front-end developers, including me and my company, have grown accustomed to using SVGs in our web projects. They're incredibly convenient - no resizing needed, no optimization hassles. Just grab the code and use it however you want. But lately, I've started exporting decorative illustrations and icons as PNGs again. And you know what? It really makes a difference!

An SVG can be around 1 - 2 KB if it's well-made by a designer. But a PNG of the same image? It can be as small as 500 bytes. Yes, bytes. That's a significant reduction in file size. So if you can, why not?

First, there were punch cards. Then we had notepads, and then we had fancy notepads. Software started as something a single person could finish in a few days. Then we had programs that teams of 20 people could complete over two years. Now, we have systems that a company of 500 developers can barely put together after 10 years of development. You can see how we're way overdue for the next evolution of software development.

We've become too comfortable accepting whatever our tools give us as the final result. Many of us have lost the "muscle" that drives intentional work—the active pursuit of a goal with purpose and clarity. This lack of intent is why we're flooded with mediocre, time-wasting "entertainment" and why so many people feel stuck, merely existing rather than truly living.

The advent of mobile devices hasn't just changed how we interact with our phones and tablets; it's fundamentally altered how we use technology across the board—including traditional computers with keyboards. This shift is more profound than most people realize, affecting user behavior, interface design, and even the way we think about computing.

Remember when everything was all about the cloud? It seemed like every tech solution was pushing us to offload our data and processing to some distant server farm. But lately, there's been a noticeable shift. More and more, we're harnessing the power of our local devices—our laptops, our phones—to handle tasks that used to be the exclusive domain of massive cloud servers. Even complex AI computations are finding their way back home. And you know what? I love it.

Plugins in websites, apps or generally in software - what are those? Those are pieces of code, usually entire enclosed functions that work independently of the basic system. They are downloadable for free or paid with little time to setting it up.

As a client, you like the sound of that, am I right? I would. But I have the experience and it’s not as great as it sounds.

Having worked in the industry for over 15 years, as a developer, manager and growing business owner, I've seen firsthand how overreliance on plugins can lead to a multitude of problems. Here's why developers should consider writing custom code instead of downloading third-party solutions, and why you, as a client, should care.

A single list of criteria? No, not that. Every category of products is different.

A list for each category? Maybe - but then it's filled with vague phrases like "well-built" that tells you nothing specific.

No, it's way more contextual. It has to be. There's a saying: you can't please everyone. And it's true. For one person, a metal casing on a phone screams "well-built"; for someone else, it's too heavy, unusable, and therefore low quality. You can argue all day until you realize the other person doesn't give a damn about the device's longevity.

As the owner of a B2B company specializing in digital products like websites and apps, I can tell you that what "high quality" means differs from client to client - even from project to project.

Quality is a perception, not an absolute truth.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) has taken the world by storm. From chatbots that mimic human conversation to algorithms that predict our next purchase, AI is everywhere. But let's get one thing straight: AI itself isn't dangerous. It's a tool—a remarkably powerful one—but just a tool nonetheless. The real threat comes from how we choose to use it. And frankly, we're screwing it up.

Have you ever sent an important email and wondered why you never got a reply, only to find out later it was sitting in someone's spam folder? Lately, I've been noticing this happening more often, and it's got me thinking about how spam emails are messing with our genuine communications.

Software bugs baffle and frustrate us, and we often lay the blame on developers. But have you ever stopped to think that bugs might just be a natural outcome of diverse thinking and complexity?

"Wow, why didn't I think of that earlier?" Ever found yourself stuck in a creative rut, only to stumble upon an idea that seemed so obvious in hindsight? Yeah, me too.