10 Full-Stack Project Ideas For Web Developers
Already working but looking for an interesting full-stack project to focus on outside of your day job? Or maybe you’re looking for your first job, and you need a shiny new project to bolster your CV/resume?
Look no further, here are some interesting full-stack project ideas for your consideration.
Let’s get started!
The full-stack project ideas
1. A SPA (single page app) blog
Let’s get this one out of the way right away, the most obvious one.
Given you’re reading this article, it can probably be assumed that you’ve built some websites before. Either that, or you’re interested in doing so.
Regardless, building a SPA (or a single page application) blog is an interesting project to undertake. Particularly if you’re not as well-versed in the creation of SPAs in general.
Building a SPA is a considerably different experience to doing things the more traditional way. One idea may be to build a WordPress theme using the WordPress REST API. Failing that, you could go for the classic React + node combination to build out your single page app.
2. A digital postcard creation system
The postcard creation system would allow its users to upload images then customize them with text overlays and other such visual elements.
The digital postcards would then be downloaded and/or emailed out to the intended recipients.
There’s a good opportunity to create some really nice tooling within this project. Specifically when dealing with the actual postcard creation system itself and the interface from which it is accessed.
Manipulating and modifying images in this way is not something that most web developers typically deal with on a day-to-day basis, so a side project of this nature could prove to be a great learning experience.
Having an intuitive, user-friendly drag and drop system could be key regarding the front end aspect.
3. A quiz creator app
At the core, implementing this full-stack project idea revolves around some basic CRUD operations on the backend.
However, you’ll want a really nice user experience and you’ll want to make it as seamless as possible to create and edit the quizzes.
The tool itself could either sit behind a user registration/login process, or be more “quick and easy” — allowing users to quickly create and share quizzes with one another right away.
After creating the quiz, there would be an option to email the intended recipients in bulk, providing each of them with a link from which to complete the quiz.
Answers would then be tracked and recorded, and the user would have a full admin-panel style page to view and filter this data.
4. A forum/message board solution
There are many forum solutions out there already, but I think this is a particularly interesting project for web developers to embark upon.
As with the blog idea above, a single page application approach to this could be of particular interest.
There are a lot of aspects to grapple with when building a forum, as well as a lot of opportunities to demonstrate your flair on the frontend with your user experience and design abilities.
This is one of the more involved and potentially time-consuming full-stack project ideas.
You’ll need to construct the actual forum aspect itself, but also all of the relevant admin sections and functionalities to allow the necessary control and management of the users.
Building out a complete forum solution on your own is definitely a good indicator that you’re well-versed with full-stack development in general.
5. A CV or resume creator
The CV/resume creator is another classic side project idea.
The tool would allow the user to input the relevant content blocks and other required details, then churn out a completed CV in their desired file format.
The MVP (minimum viable product) here would simply include the ability to dictate the CV content as well as modify and adjust the layout of the CV as required.
Then, the ability to preview and download the final product.
As with some of the other full-stack project ideas, the front-end work is arguably the most mission-critical part here.
The interface to actually create and preview the given CV would be the crux of the task, and provide the most challenging aspect. But there are definitely important aspects to consider on the back end, too.
6. A poll creation tool
A simple registration/login process would provide access to the poll creator tool.
Then the users would have the ability to share the poll out with the intended recipients.
The polls could be time-gated, expiring after a given amount of time. You could also include image-based polls as well as the standard text-based format.
One of the more popular poll creation systems out there is strawpoll.me. How would you go about improving this app? How would your own version differ to this one?
As far as full stack project ideas go, the poll creator certainly provides a nice balance of front end and back end challenges.
7. A freelancer invoicing system
This full-stack project idea is a simplified invoicing system, aimed specifically at freelancers.
The system would allow users to register, then they’d gain access to the tools required to build up and email out their invoices periodically.
All invoicing and payment information would be collated and stored, and viewable/filterable/searchable from within the admin interface.
It would be possible to modify the layout of the invoice templates, provide a different logo, input all of the required details (such as the freelancer’s trading name, their address) — and so on.
8. A HTML form generator
The HTML form generator would be a handy tool for other developers.
Creating forms can be tedious, particularly long ones.
A tool to take the laborious aspect out of this could certainly be beneficial to the application’s users (other developers!)
There would be a swish and satisfying UI, providing a seamless form-creation experience. Preferably utilizing a drag-and-drop approach.
After the user selects and defines the fields, the validation configuration per each field, the layout and so on — they are provided with the necessary HTML mark-up (and maybe JavaScript) to drop into their own project easily and efficiently.
These kind of utility app ideas are great to showcase your full stack prowess, with the added benefit of being able to provide something (potentially) useful for your day-to-day requirements as a developer.
9. A mood-board creator app
This full-stack project idea is another image-intensive one!
Mood-boards can be useful to people in lots of different niches.
The intention being to demonstrate a particular aesthetic or represent a particular feel and flavour with regards to the subject at hand.
The mood-board creator app would provide an interface from which the users can create and edit mood-boards. This would entail positioning, resizing and overlaying images, text and other appropriate media in the required manner.
The resultant mood-board would then be saved and/or downloaded for print, or simply shared via email.
10. A mood tracker or diary
This mood tracker would be used to track and monitor the mood of the individual users.
The users would have the option to input their mood — or other details relating to their mental health — on a daily basis.
This kind of project could make great use of the various chart/graph packages available within the JavaScript ecosystem.
This kind of diary or tracking/logging app isn’t only relevant to the mental health niche, as suggested here. The format can be utilized for countless different needs and requirements.
I think a project such as this one gives a lot of scope to “show off” various aspects of your skill-set.
For instance, collating and compiling data into useful graphs and other formats that the user can easily interpret and filter. There are a lot of things you can do to provide some sort of tangible benefit in this regard.
Why do I need a full-stack project?
Firstly, you don’t need one. But you may want one (or more)!
Having a side project to focus on is a great way to sustain motivation for your craft and pick up new skills along the way.
In terms of full-stack projects specifically: those who can work on the front end as well as the back end tend to be quite appealing to employers in general.
For those already working in the field
Even if you currently work as a web developer, it can become easy to get bogged down and lose sight of your passion. The working week is long, so it’s good to have something to consistently focus on outside of work!
Enjoying your work and not getting disillusioned with the grind is a solid way to increase your overall productivity.
It’s good to get back to basics and create something from scratch again, both front-end and back-end. Not all developers have that luxury during the working week!
For aspiring web developers
If you’re not currently working as a web developer, but aspire to be — some of the full-stack project ideas listed above would look great on your CV/resume!
(Note: I have a separate article dedicated to teaching yourself web development should this be of interest).
If you can demonstrate the ability to create professional, refined products from scratch — that’s a really valuable asset to have and it will really help you on your journey.
Not only that, if your side project takes off, it could become your new job eventually (should that be your aim). Plenty of developers make passive income via their side projects. It takes some dedication and the ability to locate an appropriate niche, but it can be done!
A note on passive income…
As a side-note, on the topic of passive income – I’d highly recommend a book called The 4-Hour Work Week. This isn’t specifically web development or technology related, but it’s definitely worth checking out if you are curious about how generating passive income could work.
Our niche can certainly provide great opportunities in this regard, should that be your focus.
As a worst case scenario, however, working on your side project could be an invaluable learning experience — as well as simply a means to have some fun and enjoy yourself via coding!
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