From Dream to Reality: My First Resizable Sidebar UI

Source: Dev.to

Introduction

Today, I am beyond excited. I started building something I had only dreamed about three to four months ago. It’s not a massive project by industry standards, but for me, it feels like a huge achievement.

Progress

I began creating a resizable sidebar, the kind you see in VS Code. The idea had been in my mind for months, pushing me every day to try and build it. Today, I finally took the first real steps. Even though I haven’t completed it yet, I now fully understand how it will work. Every workshop I studied and every concept I learned finally started making sense. That feeling of clarity—“I can do this”—is unbelievably satisfying.

Tools and Learning

The journey wasn’t easy. A few months ago, my toolbox didn’t even have useRef or proper event handling. Today, I used those tools and started implementing the UI myself. I feel proud that I understood the logic and began building it with my own hands.

Next Steps

I wanted to finish the entire UI today and write a full blog about it, but my duty time came. InshaAllah, I’ll complete it tomorrow and share the full walkthrough.

Update Status

I’m updating the full UI of an app using CSS Modules, which is why I haven’t posted on dev.to for the last two or three days. The update is coming very soon, and I can’t wait to share it with everyone.

Advice

For anyone trying to push themselves: start small, start now, and even if you don’t finish today, understanding the workflow and starting implementation is already a massive win.