Rather than choosing a boring brochure-ware website as my first project, I've decided to do something more ambitious. I will build an add-on to Google Sheets that allows users to import data from various relational databases.

As you can see from the picture, I have to build most of my user interface in the Google Sheets sidebar. At around 300-400 pixels wide, the sidebar is approximately the size of a mobile screen.

I was initially going to hand-craft the HTML and CSS but decided against it as that would be much too fiddly. So, having read around a bit, I've decided to choose Svelte as the app platform, and Bootstrap as the CSS library.

Reasons for choosing Svelte

My UI has to be as lightweight and performant as possible. Google has some restrictions on the size and responsiveness of an app. Seeing as Svelte is a compiler rather than a framework, I won't have to ship huge framework files as part of the solution.

Reasons for choosing Bootstrap

Having spent 40+ years working on the backend, I'm a klutz with anything visual. I need as much help as I can get. Sure, I'll be limited to Bootstrap's designs, but they are MUCH better than I could achieve by myself. The UI has to fit in the equivalent of a mobile screen so the ability to design mobile-first is essential.

What's next?

I don't even know if it's possible to serve a Svelte app in the sidebar so I will be experimenting with that.