Some questions just don’t fit on Web Applications Stack Exchange. Many of these happen to fall under what we call recommendations and/or comparisons. The questions are similar at their core. “I like using X, are there other web apps like it?” or “What’s a good web app to help chart how many hours I’ve drained into my favourite TV shows?”

Often they’ll be shuttered, closed under one of the following reasons:

• Off topic – application recommendation
• Too broad
• Primarily opinion-based

Don’t fret though. The Internet is a wide and roaming palace of many other websites. Of which some are perfect for the kinds of questions that just don’t fit the format and/or scope outlined in our brand of Q&A.

Two that we like are Slant and AlternativeTo. They’re a little same-same, but different.

If you want to see a list of web apps that are similar in function and/or features, AlternativeTo will serve your needs. If it’s a bare-knuckled ladder seeing which web app is better than another, voted and edited on by other users, try your eyes at Slant.

Yes, you can always edit and rephrase your question so that it’s finite and laser sharp, asking instead for a solution from within an app you’re already using instead of what you might be. But don’t dismiss sites such as the two mentioned here. Horses for courses, of course, of course.

And once you’ve chosen and played around with a web app from your travels, we’ll be here, ready to answer the questions you may have tinkering it to your likes and needs.

Because that’s the type of questions we do well. And that’s the type of answer that lives in the castle of Web Applications Stack Exchange.

Three years ago, Web Applications graduated publicly from Area 51 Stack Exchange, and what a journey it was from that time. Starting from a small beta site out of Area 51, many questions, many visits and many answers have been attainted since private beta started on June 30th 2010. One of the first SE 2.0 sites to launch, we didn’t know a lot of what we were doing. It really was a learning process for everyone involved including SE Inc. Naming was hard and we at one point were going the route of the unwanted fourth addition to the trilogy

webapps.stackexchange.com

For programmers  

For system administrators and desktop support professionals  

For computer enthusiasts and power users  

For everyone else on the internet

The one that came but at first it didn’t really seem there was a need, then there was always that problem in the right corner that wouldn’t go away…

In any event, we overcame and stomped out the kinks, still kicking providing support for many applications that exist on the web today. At this point, Web Applications has over 12,600 questions though, which may seem small compared to the Trilogy (Stack Overflow, Super User, Server Fault), these are questions being seen by 1,600,000 unique users per month.

And that isn’t the awesome part, these questions are actually getting answered by regular users. This is what it’s all about, making the internet a better place, and that’s something to be happy about for the last three years.

Happy Anniversary Web Applications!