I've gone as far as making a Node.js server and I still have no idea why I would ever need to use Node. EVER.

Whilst I have not reached the Node.js part of my studies yet, but I know once you start getting onto the server side of things it can get more confusing. I did learn some of the Ruby On Rails basics to help get me into understanding the server side of things (and I need it for my website), as it is one of the less complicated frameworks to get started with, because it does a portion of the work for you, in that it favours convention over configuration (so it just assumes a number of things instead of saying "come configure this for me"). I don't know if it's worth looking up tutorials to help get your head around something like Ruby On Rails? Or PHP or something similar. If the concept of server side programming is not getting in. Though sometimes worth pursuing to see if you do get that "ahah" moment where the rest makes sense.

As pointed out, doing things on the client side can be so much of a risk of security. I tend to do things both on the client and on the server side. On the client, so users get a fluid experience of the site, for example, if "admins" are the only ones able to post articles on my site, they won't see any option to do it if they're not one, but at the same time, the server still says "no" if somebody figures out a way around that. For a number of people out there, it's not too difficult of an attack on a website and when the server tells them to go away, it's much harder. Same reason you hash your passwords, people will try and pull a lot to break through your security.

Fortunately, Node,js is just one of many choices, so you can end up choosing what works best for you. But still worth knowing as it is sometimes used with other frameworks.

Node.Js is extremely important in the current web architecture. It allows among other things for JavaScript to act as the back-end for a website, something you would have to do with a language like PHP, Ruby On Rails, Python, etc.

Now with Node.Js we have a much more versatile way of handling and creating web applications using a single language: JavaScript.

Node.Js has also paved the way for many new frameworks (Angular, React, etc. ) and allows better sharing and installation of those frameworks (among others) with the node js package manager.

Here I advise you to read these articles:

https://dzone.com/articles/what-nodejs-and-why-should-i https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/why-nodejs-more-important-than-you-think-nexus-software-systems https://www.quora.com/What-are-the-benefits-of-Node-js

Because in the real world we render on the server side by bundling multiple libraries together and then push it all to the client. It helps to understand how a server works and an api is structured. Plus it will help you make more money.

That's all useful information but I cannot proceed because of this issue, which nobody will respond to. I cannot proceed until this is dealt with. I didn't write this one, but I'm having the same problem:

https://teamtreehouse.com/community/nodejs-workspace-not-working

PLEASE someone make the workspace for this course work again! https://teamtreehouse.com/library/build-a-simple-dynamic-site-with-nodejs

When I try to preview the workspace, I get a page that says "Workspace Unavailable This is a preview link for a Treehouse Workspace that is not currently active. If you are the workspace owner, you can launch it again via the Treehouse site."

Here is what it looks like: https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B9ENONF87ob1bUhCS2MyaHdMUGM