goldtag

  Looking Back on a 20-Part Journey "I want to build a webpage that does tarot readings." One sentence. That's where this project started. Designing data for 78 cards. Setting the mood with dark navy backgrounds and gold text. Creating animations where cards float as if breathing. Solving dozens of mobile issues. Twenty installments documenting the entire process. In this final part, I want to step back and view the project from a high altitude. The moments AI genuinely helped and the moments it didn't. The collaboration methodology this project crystallized. And the fundamental value of building a side project with AI. The Full Project Timeline Here's the Tarot Master development process in chronological order. Idea refinement and tech stack selection: one day. Card data and interpretation text for 78 cards: two days. Core reading functionality and UI: three days. Animations and micro-interactions: two days. Real-time AI interpretation and serverless API: two day...

  The Sweet Temptation of "Just Let AI Do Everything" "GPT can build that in five minutes." Whenever I hear this, I feel conflicted. It's not wrong. Tell an AI "build me a tarot app" and you get working code. Cards appear on screen. Click one and it flips. An interpretation shows up. Five minutes is an exaggeration, but thirty minutes is realistic. The problem comes next. "I want to change the card animation." "I want to add reading history." "The layout breaks on mobile." The moment these requests arrive, a developer working on top of code that AI produced in five minutes can do almost nothing. They don't understand the code. That's the vibe coding trap. And this post is about the core theme running through the entire Tarot Master project: the difference between vibe coding and intent-based collaboration. What Is Vibe Coding? Vibe coding means "letting AI write the code and checking the vibe -- whether the ou...

  When a Desktop-Perfect App Falls Apart on Mobile "It works fine on desktop, though." This might be the most dangerous sentence in frontend development. The first time I opened Tarot Master on my phone, the bottom of the screen was cut off. Card flip animations stuttered. Text was too small to read. Where did that elegant desktop experience go? Over half of all web traffic comes from mobile devices. For a lightweight entertainment app like Tarot Master, that proportion is even higher. On the commute, in bed, during coffee with a friend -- "Want to try a tarot reading?" happens on a phone. A bad mobile experience means losing the majority of your users. Bottom Tab Bar: Borrowing Native App Sensibility The most natural navigation pattern on mobile is a bottom tab bar. Instagram, WhatsApp, practically every native app uses bottom tabs. Placing primary actions where the thumb naturally rests is the foundational principle of mobile UX. I added a bottom tab bar to Tarot ...