Let’s say you want to build the next Startup Dope. Technically speaking, there would be two areas you’d work on: the client facing front-end which deals with content presentation, interaction and relaying user specific information to the server facing back-end where all the data (user accounts, articles, comments…) and its related logic (user account already exists, recommended articles, commenting requires account…) resides. That’s your Web Development 101 right there!
Moving on, each of these ‘ends’ have its own set of tools and frameworks to aid development. The final code is packaged together and deployed or hosted on a server that takes up its back-end duties and pushes the front-end data to anyone that knows its address — www.NextStartupDope.com for example!
You can test your site locally but for the world to see your work, you have to pay up. First, for getting an address (domain name) and then to find your code a home (hosting server). Or you can use Divshot! It is a front-end hosting service as well visual bootstrap builder that is going up against the likes of Heroku and Amazon Web Services (AWS). How does it compare? Read on!
The founders, Jake Johnson and Michael Bleigh, met at a hackathon in Kansas City in 2012, where they had the opportunity to pitch their idea to a few accelerators. They were creating a rapid development and deployment solution for front-end apps, which is fast becoming a separate entity given the complexity and features that can now be packed thanks to frameworks like Twitter’s Bootstrap, Google’s Angular.JS, Ember.JS, Backbone.JS and many others. In the same year, they were inducted in the famed Launchpad LA startup accelerator and started working on the initial release. Divshot started out as a visual editor for Bootstrap but with the induction of five more members to the team – Scott Corgan, Robert Willard, Collin Miller, Kevin Chau, and Mary Best – the service transitioned into a platform for developers to easily and quickly deploy their apps built on front-end frameworks. The transition wasn’t smooth though, explains Jake, “Because our drag-and-drop Bootstrap builder tool catered to the beginners crowd, it was extremely difficult to build traffic comprising of a completely new audience of seasoned developers. Our numbers weren’t the best for months but things are looking up now.”
Targeting AWS and Heorku
The go-to PaaS (Platform as a Service) for web developers has been AWS and Heroku and while their back-end support is robust, front-end deployment is comparatively cumbersome. Divshot is a new entrant in this space with great features focused mainly on front-end apps. Says Jake, “AWS is painful and time-consuming to set up. Heroku is expensive for this purpose as it costs $20/month just to do SSL per site, not to mention your app going to sleep periodically!”
With Divshot, you can deploy your project to a fast CDN in a matter of seconds. No configuration necessary. The service is technically well equipped to offer a very compelling alternative to the established players and the addition of a WYSIWYG Bootstrap-infused website builder with production ready code generation gives it leg-up.
You can get started for free with access to 100MB of storage and support for custom domains for a single app. Other plans with more features are offered on a monthly subscription basis.
Special Offer Worth $150!
Startup Dope readers can avail free 3 months of one of the paid plans, “Fleet” — a $50 per month plan that lets you host 8 apps with unlimited storage and access to many other advance features. Claim this offer before 30th April: https://divshot.com/offers/startupdope
