Codestuff

Codestuff.io is changing it's tech stack

It's 2026 and Codestuff is now using a new stack for it's main website. Originally the site was built on a SSG (static site generator) called Gridsome, but that project hasn't had any updates in 4 years now, so it was time to start fresh.

What is new

The new site is built with tech that is a bit closer to the production stack that I use for my work or for other projects.

React

We all know and "love" React, and although I started my journey many years ago with jQuery, that wasn't an option for this site. In all seriousness, I've been working within React for about 7 years now, so that is the frontend library that is easiest to work with. I love Vue and that was the first frontend library that I used for project, but since my work is all React it is better to stick with what I know and use everyday. For those that are starting their frontend journey though, I generally don't recommend React as a first thing to learn. Understanding the fundamentals of JavaScript is the most important when it comes to starting off with any frontend learning path, and after that I would suggest Vue for it's easy learning curve. Something about the mental model of Vue just seems to make more sense when you are first working with a declarative frontend library.

Tanstack Start

I never loved working in NextJs, React Router is a bit fractured for me (although I still use it often for SPAs), and now that Remix is part of React Router, it seemed like a good time to jump into some more Tanstack packages. The Tanstack Start docs seem pretty good, and overall it has been pretty easy to get a site up with it. I like Tanstack Router, Query, and the other packages from Tanner and Co, so figured I would get going with it for my main site.

TypeScript

Enterprise level frontend is almost always TypeScript and I think it would be hard to find serious companies that have not invested in TypeScript. At my previous job we used TypeScript, but I am actually not using it at my current role. The reason for not having TypeScript at work, is that we are working on the Veteran's Administration's VA.gov website, and it unfortunately was started in vanilla JS many years ago, and the effort has not been made to convert the 8+ years of code and 90+ React applications yet. There is talk of start to get TS integrated, and I'm hopeful that I can contribute to that work soon. For now I will keep using TypeScript on my personal projects and this website.

TailwindCSS

Tailwind is usually my preferred styling solution. It scales well, is familiar once you learn it, and there are tons of resources to learn it and get inspiration from. I have even purchased the Tailwind UI product, although I mostly used that to learn the best practices of tailwind classes, since it is made by the Tailwind folks themselves.