Practical technology guides, built from real Ethiopian projects
Ab Tech is run by a working software developer in Addis Ababa. We publish clear, tested explanations of the problems site owners and developers here actually face: hosting that fits the budget, local payment flows, security, speed on mid-range phones and bilingual interfaces.
Latest articles
Original tutorials, explainers and case studies.
Designing for Amharic: Fonts, Unicode and Bilingual Layouts That Work
How to make Ethiopic text render correctly on real devices: choosing fonts, setting line height, declaring language, and keeping English and Amharic layouts consistent.
Web DevelopmentHow to Choose Web Hosting for a Small Business Website in Ethiopia
A practical checklist for comparing shared hosting: PHP versions, backups, SSL, support, performance and what to check before you commit.
Web PerformanceWebsite Speed Basics: Practical Improvements for Mobile Visitors
Images, JavaScript, caching and layout stability: the changes that make the biggest difference on mid-range phones and slower connections.
Web SecurityPHP Security Basics for Small Websites
Prepared statements, output escaping, password hashing, sessions, uploads, secrets and backups, with code you can adapt.
Software DevelopmentFirebase or MySQL? How to Choose a Backend for a New Project
A decision guide based on data shape, cost behaviour, real-time needs, hosting limits and long-term maintenance.
TutorialsHow to Write a Useful Technology Tutorial
A structure for tutorials that people can actually follow: clear outcomes, prerequisites, tested steps, troubleshooting and upkeep.
What we write about
Four areas, each grounded in work we have shipped.
Web development & hosting
Choosing shared hosting, static Next.js on cPanel, and building sites that clients can maintain.
Performance & security
Making pages fast on slow networks and keeping small PHP sites safe without a security team.
Payments
TeleBirr and CBE Birr flows, reconciliation, failed transactions and protecting customer data.
Apps & product
Android, Firebase and the product decisions behind building for the local market.
Written from the work, not from a template
Every guide starts from a problem we hit while building apps, websites and admin systems for Ethiopian organisations. We explain the trade-offs, say where a recommendation does not apply and show the steps so you can test them yourself.
- Original articles, never republished or auto-generated
- Named author, publication and review dates on every article
- Corrections welcome, and applied openly
SiraHub — job marketplace app
An Android app that connects Ethiopian employers and job seekers, with salaries shown in Birr, CV-based applications and an employer dashboard. Our own product, and the source of many lessons in the articles above.
Need something built?
We also take on a small number of client projects.
Android apps, websites, admin dashboards and local payment integration for businesses, churches and organisations. Tell us what you need and we will reply with an honest scope and quote.