Highlighting projects from the Appwrite community
Introduction
With Appwrite’s developer community growing significantly, we want to take the time to appreciate and showcase some amazing applications built by our community.
This month, we’d like to give the spotlight to Infinil, who built a successful app called SpaceVoid. Let’s get started by interviewing them to learn more about their project and journey.
Tell us more about who you are
Hoi Everyone, I am Infinil. I am a solo developer and have worked on stuff like discord / twitter bots, android applications, static websites and more. I also love watching anime. You can find me on Twitter, and feel free to join my discord server.
What is the name of the project you built?
SpaceVoid
Why did you decide to build this? What inspired you?
I always wanted to build something which is somewhat unique and different from other projects or products out there. Plus I also had an interest in space and astronomy. So this idea popped up in my mind randomly and then again when I was watching the movie “Interstellar”. It all started from there
What is SpaceVoid?
SpaceVoid is built for all the space enthusiasts out there. Its main goal is to be a go-to-app for everything space related.
Here are the main features :-
• Latest News & Podcasts from Multiple Sources.
• Upcoming Events and Launches.
• Track ISS location in Real-Time.
• Access NASA's Eyes from One Click.
• Information on Agencies, Astronauts, Programs, Rockets & Space Stations.
• Daily Astronomy Pictures.
Some channels to follow to know more about SpaceVoid:
What technologies did you use to create it and how did you use each technology?
Flutter / Dart for creating the Android and iOS application.
Appwrite for my backend. I mainly used it’s :-
1) Cloud Functions
For fetching news, podcasts, images, launches, events and a lot more information repetitively. Also used it for sending notifications and tweeting news, images from my bot account.
2) Database
For collecting documents and almost all the information you see on my app. Some examples are news, podcasts, events, launches and more.
3) Storage
For storing rarely changing images. Such as logos of news sources.
Who is your target audience and how will it help them to learn more about your project?
My app is mainly targeting astronomy & space enthusiasts. If you are an adult then you might like features such as news, podcasts, rocket launches etc. Then there are features like viewing beautiful astronomy images or experiencing our solar system, earth, asteroids, exoplanets with NASA Eyes. You can even track the location of the International Space Station on a map.
What issues did you run into while building this project and how did you solve them?
I faced a lot of issues like every developer out there does. Few of them were :-
- UI Design.
- Finding the right APIs (and while creating my own scripts for scraping data).
- Google Native Advertisements. I will never forget this. Going through this torture again while I am developing my app for iOS.
- Appwrite’s Search Query, it was difficult to search news, events, launches etc ranging from a particular date.
How did Appwrite help your project?
Appwrite made it possible for me to write cloud functions in python. Literally this one feature alone made me switch from Firebase to Appwrite.
Another great part is scalability. Also I am the one to decide how much money I want to spend on my Appwrite server. PS - Can’t wait for Appwrite Cloud.
I believe Appwrite’s community on discord played a major role as well. I learnt so many things by discussing and asking questions. Because of that I now know basic stuff about docker. Also thank you Steven!
What are a couple of things you wish you knew before starting the project?
- Definitely one of them is Docker.
- Another can be Git version control.
- Last but not the least, creating timely backups of my Appwrite instance.
Please share screenshots of your project
Anything else you'd like to share?
Try your best to finish a project which you envisioned. I understand you may feel like dropping the project because implementing some features can be really tough or you just lose motivation and try to rush things. But still finish it even if it’s only 30 percent of what you imagined and it’s okay if the project takes more time than you expected. You won’t regret it :)
Where can others find your app?
Ending notes
Did you build with Appwrite? Want your stories to be heard?
Reach out to @haimantika
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