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Comment by markasoftware | Hacker News Reader

I know this post isn't about vibecoding frontends, BUT...

Many of my coworkers and friends are rejoicing that they don't have to write frontends anymore. I actually think that frontends are the last thing that should be vibecoded. It's the part that faces the user. It's what helps the user form their first impression of your product. If your landing page looks like it was made in 30 seconds by Claude, they'll assume the rest of your product was too. Use AI assistance on the parts of your codebase where only raw functionality matters (eg, the backend), and put real human effort and care into the frontend that reflects the effort put into the rest of the system.

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Shocking take: you shouldn't really vibecode any part of a serious application!

Definitely use coding agents to write code, but carefully and thoughtfully review any important backend or heavily user-facing components of the software you're developing.

everyone is rejoicing the other part of the stack can be vibecoded.

a backend developer would tell you the backend is much more important to focus on, performance, security, data integrity etc. not losing or exposing customer data is a lot more important than what it looks like.

truth is, it's all still important, preferably no one is vibe coding any part of a serious product.

Fwiw I am a "backend" developer and have never in my professional career written a frontend except for internal tooling.

> It's the part that faces the user. It's what helps the user form their first impression of your product.

Same for the README on a GitHub project. Alas, plenty of those are now just voluminous AI spew.

>if your landing page looks like it was made in 30 seconds by Claude ....

This is very true, I 'walked' away from a material coating website just yesterday because it looked too Claude.

Haha, until you figure out the entire frontend is one large dump of esoteric jQuery, with 15 years of accumulated terrible decisions

I gave your resume to the B-9 HR bot and it said you should be escorted off the premises. "DANGER DANGER!"

Here's another prediction in the ocean of them we're swimming in right now: websites won't matter. When you have a general interface that can present data however you wish, being restricted by the whims of designers will seem prehistoric.

you can&should use AI to help you with frontend (css,js).

doesnt mean you tell it: make it look nice.

i find it is great if you want to apply your creativity and ideas.

how to add borders, gradients, animations, positioning, etc.

its a great time for everyone to build things, just how they want/imagine them.

Truth be told, marketing is the only truly non-fungible function we have.

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