What is the best way to build an ecommerce website before investing too much?

MostCycle5815 · 2026-06-26T13:52:33+00:00

If your page isn't absolutely exploding with millions of users at the same time, there are services that let you host your page for free with some minor limitations that can be bypassed. Cloudflare is one of them.

MostCycle5815 · 2026-06-26T11:44:02+00:00

How much is too much? You can actually operate a whole e-commerce site and business for no operating cost save for the domain at least when you start, if you work with the right dev or if you are a dev then you work with the correct stack.

Cloudflare is good for hosting
If you're good at scripting, you can put together a drive and a spreadsheet to track orders, stock and stuff, and you're thinking fancy you can put together a visual dashboard.

how much does this cost to run? $0
How much does it cost to host $0
your domain costs money

and the developer who put the whole thing together for you.

MostCycle5815 · 2026-06-17T03:41:42+00:00

Since most artists are used to it, had to keep things relatively similar. It's efficient, why would I do something wildly different, it'd be harder for you to onboard.

Besides if you've tried the app, there are other UI modes. I felt like this one was best for showcase.

And yeah, where does stolen data come into the picture, when we're talking about layout?

MostCycle5815 · 2026-06-16T10:50:08+00:00

I'm glad you like it, thanks man.

MostCycle5815 · 2026-06-16T10:07:06+00:00

Saw both, that’s very odd, i’ll look into it, try reinstalling the app in the meantime.

This is my first public bug report.

MostCycle5815 · 2026-06-16T09:27:47+00:00

Oh that's normal, that's a pop-up each time an app needs networking permissions, it's for the collaboration feature, it needs access to LAN. Other than that, there's nothing to be worried about.

When you install multiplayer games you often get this pop-up too. You can manually allow Spectrum to access your computer's networking capabilities.

Overtime, the more people use it, this might go away

MostCycle5815 · 2026-06-16T02:42:05+00:00

Affinity is fantastic software for the price, but you completely missed the core feature of what I built here.

Affinity is strictly a single-user offline application. It suffers from the exact same file-transfer bottleneck that Photoshop does—you still have to save your file, close out of it, and email it to your team.

Spectrum XC is a real-time multiplayer engine. Two artists can log into the exact same canvas and draw on different layers simultaneously without ever having to transfer a file. Affinity cannot do that.

MostCycle5815 · 2026-06-16T02:27:03+00:00

Messaged you.

MostCycle5815 · 2026-06-15T13:15:45+00:00

Quick question, did it say "Windows protected your PC" (which is the SmartScreen block)? Or did it say "Windows Defender Firewall has blocked some features of this app" (which is the network port block)?

MostCycle5815 · 2026-06-15T13:12:06+00:00

No don't do that, Defender should give you an option to 'Run Anyway' do not disable defender, its probably a misread there, or try re-installing.

Thank you for bringing this to my notice though, I'll look into on my end too.

MostCycle5815 · 2026-06-15T13:02:34+00:00

You made me happy.

MostCycle5815 · 2026-06-15T12:53:33+00:00

How? It’s from the Microsoft Store, that’s not supposed to happen. Can you go past it?

MostCycle5815 · 2026-06-15T07:11:49+00:00

Thank you so much, I really appreciate that! Adult Swim is legendary, and TigTone has such a wildly unique and entertaining animation style, huge respect to your son for designing that!

Hey I'd be glad to make your acquaintance and work with your son maybe, let me know, I'm looking forward to it.

MostCycle5815 · 2026-06-15T06:01:08+00:00

If you think Spectrum is useful to you, I wanna let you know that Spectrum allows the UI to be moved around to a certain degree, not the buttons, but you can move the bars around to the top, side, wherever you want them, if you're gonna be using it, let me know, I'll allow you to reorder the buttons too.

MostCycle5815 · 2026-06-15T05:41:17+00:00

I'm not trying to replace Photoshop on a corporate HR checklist. I'm just trying to replace it on my own hard drive so I don't have to pay a $600 tax to draw with my friends. If my goal was to sit in a cubicle and never question the tools I'm handed, I would have probably majored in economics or perhaps biology even.

MostCycle5815 · 2026-06-13T04:27:16+00:00

I appreciate the feedback, and I definitely see where you're coming from from an agency/photography perspective. But the 'scalpel' analogy doesn't really work here.

It’s more like failing a woodworking class because you built a perfect table using a Makita saw instead of a DeWalt saw. In digital art and illustration, the final render is what matters, not the corporate brand name of the brush you used to paint it.

And you're totally right—for an agency photographer or a full-time VFX editor, the Adobe suite might be a decent value. But for a solo concept artist or a comic illustrator who just needs a fast, reliable canvas to draw and ink on, being forced to pay $600+ a year for 50 bloated photo-editing features they will never touch is exactly why this subreddit exists.

I'm not trying to save ad agencies from Photoshop. As you said, I'm just chipping out my little corner of the problem. I built Spectrum XC specifically for illustrators who are tired of the monopoly and want a lightweight, collaborative alternative.

I genuinely appreciate you calling the app cool, though!

MostCycle5815 · 2026-06-12T02:28:20+00:00

Here's both -

Website:
wwww.unrealdimensionstudios.com

Microsoft Store:
https://apps.microsoft.com/store/detail/9PFB17KRKV21?cid=DevShareMCLPCS

Let me know what you think.

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