The Journal
Field notes from a
one-person studio
Plain-English writing on the things I actually build — hand-coded websites, native iOS apps, programmatic SEO, and the numbers that decide whether any of it ranks.
Why I still hand-code websites in 2026
Page builders sell speed and hand you a slow, bloated site you can barely change. Here is why almost every AppanDesign build is still written by hand — and what that actually buys you.
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What a programmatic landing page system actually is
You serve 40 towns but rank in three. A programmatic system builds one honest, fast page for every town-and-service you offer — from one template and one spreadsheet. Here is how it works, in plain English.
7 min read
Native iOS or cross-platform: what NJ businesses should build
React Native and Flutter promise one codebase for both phones. Sometimes that is the right trade. For most of the apps I build, native Swift wins — and the reason is not performance, it is longevity.
6 min read
Core Web Vitals: the numbers that quietly rank your site
Google grades every page on three measurements most business owners have never heard of. They are not hard to understand, and they decide more of your ranking than any keyword. Here is the plain-English version.
5 min read
One person, the whole stack: how a solo studio ships
No account managers, no handoffs, no "let me check with the designer." When one person does the strategy, the design, and the code, something changes about how the work comes out. Here is the honest version — trade-offs included.
5 min readGot something to build?
Tell me what you have in mind and I'll come back with a plan, a price, and a timeline — usually within one business day.
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