dennisfrymire/seir_cap

A full-stack CRUD application inspired by sites like The Daily Quote, built in the MERN stack

quote App

User Stories

I want users to...

• Have a randomly generated quote appear on a randomly generated background when page first loads
• Have the option to add that quote to their own collection of quotes
• Be able to search for quotes by category (Happiness, Motivation, etc.), and be able to save them to their own collection.
• Add and edit quotes of their own

Stretch user stories...

• Be able to share quote on social media
• User authentication

Technologies

• React / React Router
• Reactstrap / Bootstrap
• Express
• JavaScript
• JSX
• MongoDB / MongoAtlas
• NodeJS

Wireframes

Challenges

• Mongo Atlas. It is connected to the Heroku app and works as long as I have my local server running, but not otherwise. This apparently seems to be a common issue.

• Working with 3rd party API. I originally wanted to use GraphQL as a stretch goal. I spent 2-3 days working on that, but ended up falling back to a RestAPI, but wasn't able to successfully connect it and a search function with my app.

• Overall design is a little too simplistic.

• Overall, time management. I spent the first several days of the project attempting to learn new technologies to incorporate, and spent too much time in this phase.

If I had to do it over

• I would spend less time researching new technologies and dove into actually building the app sooner.

What do I want to revisit

• User authentication - allow users to have accounts where they can save their own collection of favorite
• A search function
• Include optional imagery with submitted quotes
• Overall design of the app
• Create an accompanying mobile app

What went well

• Discovering React Router. I first struggled with picturing how I would render each component once I decided to abandon React Native and use the Create-React-App we used in class. Once I came across React Router, the basic layout of the front end fell into place.

• Using MongoDB. The Heroku/Atlas issues aside, I feel like I have a pretty decent grasp on Mongo. Setting up the backend routes and initial database was the easiest aspect of this project.

• Feeling like I developed more of a "Programmer's Brain" with this project. I came into bootcamp knowing this was all going to be a challenge. I'm a novice. This isn't my wheelhouse or background. I get frustrated when I can't quickly figure out an answer. I get the thoughts of "Oh, God, what am I doing with my life?" A couple of nights ago, I spent about an hour debugging my Heroku deployment, and I feel like something clicked - I found myself actually enjoying working out the bugs.

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Website: https://quote-me-mae.herokuapp.com/