A comprehensive 10-part series documenting my journey of building a complete website using AI tools. Learn from real-world experience, challenges, and practical solutions.
Follow along as I document every step of building a full website: MiniBreaks.io with AI assistance. From initial concept to final deployment, learn the real challenges and solutions. Hopefully this can encourage anyone to give AI a try to build a complete website. (A complete website means a website with multiple pages, navigation, authentication, email, APIs, database, SEO, etc.)
Set expectations about what AI can and can't do. Share your personal journey, highlight how it's not fully magical, but absolutely empowering when used correctly.
Read Part 1Understanding my motivations for using AI in development and setting realistic expectations for what AI can and cannot do in a real-world project.
Read Part 2Introduce the minimal set of tools needed: ChatGPT, GitHub Copilot/Cursor, and Hugging Face. Walk readers through creating a GitHub account and setting up their first repository, even if they're non-engineers.
Read Part 3Guide readers through brainstorming ideas with AI and defining a Minimum Viable Product (MVP). Show how to prompt AI to focus on what matters most. Homework: Write down your MVP in one paragraph.
Read Part 4Explore how to use AI for wireframing, generating page layouts, and writing user-facing copy. Homework: Draw or describe your main page's layout based on AI suggestions.
Read Part 5Dive into the actual coding process with AI. Cover best practices for prompting, code review, debugging, and maintaining quality while letting AI do the heavy lifting. Build your foundation before adding advanced features.
Read Part 6Learn how to enhance your website with authentication, email functionality, and database integration. Step-by-step instructions and examples for wiring these features to your UI.
Read Part 7Essential questions to ask, key areas to test, and what to pay attention to before going live. Explore different deployment environments and preparation strategies.
Read Part 8Be honest about the failures, frustrations, and limitations. Share what you'd do differently and what surprised you about working with AI.
Read Part 9Wrap up with reflections on where AI development is heading, your recommendations for others, and how to continue learning and growing in this space.
Read Part 10Join me as I share the complete process of building a real website with AI tools. Learn from both successes and failures along the way.