Building websites in the age of AI
Not too long ago, building a website meant crafting mockups in Photoshop, hand-coding HTML and PHP, wrangling CSS. Then came page builders, no-code and low-code tools. Now, with the rise of AI, the ground is shifting again. What does it possible mean for us? This is my unprofessional opinion.
Computers are like a bicycle for our minds.
-Steve Jobs
AI based site builders can generate code, content and design layouts in seconds. Everybody can ask an AI to 'make me a website for my bakery' to get a decent looking result. The barrier for launching a website has never been lower. AI-generated sites are just 'good enough' for many scenarios.
Today, any fool can use a computer. Many do.
-Ted Nelson
Creation of websites
It's die or adapt for the classical web developer working for clients directly. Your job is at risk. Shift competences if you want to keep your skills a profession and not an esoteric hobby.
I'd say: Embrace and level up. Invest in strategy and user experience, where human creativity, taste, and empathy still matter. Pursue higher-value, custom design, complex integrations, unique experiences.
Consumption of websites
Humans may not look at the website you are building right now, but for sure some AI bot will happily scrape it. AI will eat the web we know for breakfast. People will consult AI instead of the old fashioned searching and surfing. Plummeting activity on StackOverflow is just one visible sign for this.
But hey, the web today is already broken. Search engines are increasingly unusable. Content is stretched to maximize ad impressions, designed to benefit business interests. I often find myself searching on Reddit when looking for an opinion. Meanwhile AI will flood the web with more homogene websites, further diluting content quality and destroying trust.
The idea of the web as a vast, open sea of free quality information has been fading for years. There are still unique websites, but finding them get's harder and harder.
As AI will become more commercialized and VC funding dries up, it too may become just bloated. Just think about YouTube in the early days and now. AI is in the early fun days now. Enjoy.
Vinyl diggers
I'd like to keep my quirky web.
About 30 years ago I was looking amused at my dj friends. They were still buying vinyls instead of CDs. Fast forward to now. The CDs are long gone. But you can still play vinyls from the 1960s. New vinyls are still getting in produced, not in big numbers though. Maybe classical web development can become such a craft too. Loved by some.
bilsbie: Someone should make a new internet modeled off of around 2002.
chasd00: Bind to port 81 and go for it.
Our business here depends on professional PHP web developers in need for web hosting. We are not aiming for world domination. A small niche is fine for us. But it will be harder to find that niche.