Having a good component library to move quickly

Don't switch tools and ship your SaaS!

Still hard at work on my new Markdown to API micro SaaS!

I’ve started building the main UI bit where you can see the list of your markdown snippets and add new ones.

The thing I’ve found has the most impact on my development speed to date have been switching over to Material UI for feature work along with my usual yup + react-hook-form for validations.

I’m using https://makerkit.dev (affiliate link before I love it and want to keep plugging them). I still think it’s great and I agree with most of the built-in choices, but I’ve worked with that UI stack for almost two years know, and the habits and memory I have around it are too valuable to throw away since the goal is to ship quickly.

I don’t mind too much having the bits from Makerkit build in ShadCN UI since they work and they are nice. I’ll make sure the colors and styles fit well enough together before I release and I’ll migrate them eventually if the app does well enough.

If I migrate, I’ll throw away TailwindCSS too since Material UI has a complete design system with default colors palettes, spacing and typography.

I think every maker looking to move quick should have one component kit they understand very well so they can build UIs from parts without fiddling too much with custom components.

In my previous job a few years ago, I was working on either old code or our own custom component library: even if I was doing frontend work, there was very little stuff I could reuse on my own projects. I find myself moving a lot faster now!

Ways I can help you

• Get your cozy, handmade wool socks at https://manibas.com.

• For my Canadian friends preparing their garden, I have a nano business selling seeds from my garden at https://sentiersperdus.com/en. Sorry, due to various phytosanitary concerns, it’s hard to ship those outside Canada.

Also, don’t hesitate to reply to this email if you want to chat, or connect on Twitter.