Choosing an article topic
Cliched topics that we avoid
There are some projects that are used so often in tutorials and example projects that they have become cliched. We avoid these (this is a non-exhaustive list).
Micro blog site or Twitter clone
- A twitter clone or other simple microblogging site where people can post messages
To do list or Trello clone
- A todo list or Kanban board
Temperature / other conversion tools
- a way to convert celsius to fahrenheit or similar conversions (inches to cm, etc)
Making 'evergreen' articles
Nothing lasts forever, but we should attempt to ensure that our projects are long-lived. Therefore those based around time-specific events (e.g. COVID-19, a specific sports match, etc) should be avoided
Using free software
Ideally, we only demo free and open source software. We should avoid things like the Twitter API, the Google Maps widget, and Firebase as these are known for changing (both in functionality and pricing) and breaking example projects.
We should also avoid relying on software or APIs that have not been around for at least 5 years.
These are guidelines - in some cases, it is necessary or preferable to use proprietary software or APIs. In these cases, we should ensure that our demo works on a free tier or similar.