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Yehezkiel Gunawan
Yehezkiel Gunawan

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Why Making A Starter Template Matters?

Introduction

Oh man I'm very exhausted. Every time I initiate a new project, I have to configure the following setup or config from the beginning.

That's my thoughts when I was a beginner even until now, LOL. I often felt wasting my time when I have to configure the following configuration every time I started a new project, especially in frontend development.

But this thing changed when I know a friend who is a pro in React Development. I ever work with him as a team in a freelance project. Suddenly, I saw his newest personal site and found several starter templates made using Next.js, Vite, and other else.

I asked him, Why you made this? This is just a basic starter template.. Then he answered, Yes of course. So I don't need to overthink about the configuration every time I initiate a new project using that framework or library..

For me it's a brilliant idea. Instead of wasting time to setup the configuration from scratch every time I initiate the new project, why I don't make a starter template for myself so I can focus on the development process?

Since that, I started to make the starter template for myself. Seem useless at the beginning but for the long term, it's worth it and increase my productivity. Here's the benefit of making your own starter template.

You Can Focus on The Development Process

It's very exhausting when you have to configure the ESLint and Prettier every time you make a new project, right? That's redundant process can be cut by this base starter template.

If you're using a UI Library like Chakra UI or Tailwind, you maybe feel depleting if you have to install it multiple time and setup the configuration again and again. By making and having the starter template, you can just initiate a project based on it and use it forward.

Increase Your Productivity

If you can more focus on the development process, so it can also boost your productivity. Many times I found that the most confusing moment is not when I found an error because of my code fault, but it's because I made the wrong configuration and it's time consuming.

By having your own starter template, you can define the config like ESLint and Prettier since the beginning. Then, you can reuse it along along with the new project that you initiated.

You Can Use It as Portfolio

As a beginner developer, I assure that the starter template can be used as a portfolio when applying a job. It seems a simple thing, but maybe you didn't realize that you're not only helping yourself, but also other people who has the same thoughts like you regarding this.

Imagine when you made a starter template. Actually you made it for yourself, then other programmers found your Github repository and use your template then they feel satisfied and helped. You're such a life saver.

Bonus and Closing

So, how can I made my own starter template? You can check my previous article about it at https://yehezgun.com/articles/post/how-to-make-your-own-nextjs-starter-template.

As a bonus, you also can use my starter template as a reference. It can be accessed at https://github.com/yehezkielgunawan?tab=repositories&q=template.

Thanks for reading. I hope it can motivates or inspire you. Sorry if my contents still like an amateur, I'm still learning on making tech articles using English. I'm open for feedbacks. Thank you.

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