Want to learn web development from the comfort of your chair, car, when you're out for a run, or doing some random house work? This is the show for you. Every week, in 20 - 40 minutes, I help you improve your web development skills with new knowledge, tips, pointers, random facts, inspiration, and some general chit chat. Tune in to have a fun, engaging, and friendly conversation about web development.
I know that I said that I was going to step through building a web app in this episode. But, after quite some experimentation, a podcast doesn't seem to be the best format for hands-on building.
So, in this episode, I'm sharing with you why SQLite is the database you should start with. Yes, I've been using SQLite for years, and love doing so each and every time! But, there are some serious, tangible benefits to choosing it - even for larger, more sophisticated projects. In this episode, I share each of them, with loads of references to back them up.
Links from the episode
What is SQLite? (https://www.sqlite.org/about.html)
Appropriate Uses For SQLite (https://www.sqlite.org/whentouse.html)
Why you should probably be using SQLite (https://www.epicweb.dev/why-you-should-probably-be-using-sqlite)
Everyone Is Wrong About SQLite (https://dev.to/shayy/everyone-is-wrong-about-sqlite-4gjf)
How to Build Your First Web App in 2026: A Complete Beginner’s Guide: The Overview (https://matthewsetter.com/blog/item/how-would-I-teach-building-a-web-app-overview)
Want to grow your knowledge further?
Check out the books below, where you can grow your web development skills in a very focused, very hands-on way.
Deploy with Docker Compose (https://dockeressentials.com/)
Mezzio Essentials (https://mezzioessentials.com/)
Hosted and produced in Bundaberg by: Matthew Setter (https://twitter.com/@settermjd).
Website: https://matthewsetter.com (https://matthewsetter.com).
Follow me on: LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/MatthewSetter).
If you like the podcast, and want to support it, how about buying me a coffee? (https://www.buymeacoffee.com/webdevwithmatt)
★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★ (https://patreon.com/webdevwithmatt)
7 Oct 2026
How to Create Your First Web App: The Seven Steps Follow-up (+ some AI thoughts)
In this episode, I'm quickly recapping the previous episode (and the accompanying blog post) before stepping through building a web app in the next couple of episodes. What did you think of the seven steps outlined for building your first web app in the previous episode? Do you think that they're the essential ones that you need, or did I list too many?
I also have a brief discussion about whether it's still worth learning the foundational skills of web development, now that AI tools are so readily available. I believe (and suspect that I will for a long time to come) that foundational skills will always be both necessary and valuable. Do you agree?
Links from the episode
How to Build Your First Web App in 2026: A Complete Beginner’s Guide: The Overview (https://matthewsetter.com/blog/item/how-would-I-teach-building-a-web-app-overview) (The accompanying blog post)
Want to grow your knowledge further?
Check out the books below, where you can grow your web development skills in a very focused, very hands-on way.
Deploy with Docker Compose (https://dockeressentials.com/)
Mezzio Essentials (https://mezzioessentials.com/)
Hosted and produced in Bundaberg by: Matthew Setter (https://twitter.com/@settermjd).
Website: https://matthewsetter.com (https://matthewsetter.com).
Follow me on: LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/MatthewSetter).
If you like the podcast, and want to support it, how about buying me a coffee? (https://www.buymeacoffee.com/webdevwithmatt)
★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★ (https://patreon.com/webdevwithmatt)
23 Sept 2026
How to Create Your First Web App: The Seven Steps You Need To Take Before You Start Building
In this week's episode, I want to share with you the seven steps you need to take - BEFORE you build your first app. Sure, it's exciting to get in and start building, but don't. Do these things first to set yourself up for success.
Step 0: Always remember the KISS (Keep It Simple Silly) principle (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KISS_principle)!
Step 1: Set up your development machine
Step 2: Build an ultra simple web app, using a Sinatra-inspired framework, on your local development machine
Step 3: Start learning about HTTP, i.e., the different request types, request methods, etc, HTML (https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/HTML), and CSS (https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/CSS)
Step 4: Augment the application with different request types, i.e., POST, PUT, PATCH, and DELETE requests
Step 5: Build your first CI/CD pipeline and deploy your application to a remote server
Step 6: Add database support to your application
Links from the episode
GitHub Actions (https://github.com/features/actions)
GitLab CI (https://docs.gitlab.com/ci/)
PHP Deployer (https://deployer.org/)
Capistrano (https://capistranorb.com/)
The Sinatra framework (https://sinatrarb.com/)
The Slim framework (https://www.slimframework.com/)
The HTTP: Hypertext Transfer Protocol (https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/HTTP)
Want to grow your knowledge further?
Check out the books below, where you can grow your web development skills in a very focused, very hands-on way.
Deploy with Docker Compose (https://dockeressentials.com/)
Mezzio Essentials (https://mezzioessentials.com/)
Hosted and produced in Bundaberg by: Matthew Setter (https://twitter.com/@settermjd).
Website: https://matthewsetter.com (https://matthewsetter.com).
Follow me on: LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/MatthewSetter).
If you like the podcast, and want to support it, how about buying me a coffee? (https://www.buymeacoffee.com/webdevwithmatt)
★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★ (https://patreon.com/webdevwithmatt)
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