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Cory Thomas
Cory Thomas

Posted on • Updated on

Plant Purpose

Plant Purpose is a React application and plant management system, which helps plant owners take better care of their plants.

This has been a very interesting and fun project for me because I built the application from scratch and also partnered with a web designer for the design side of the site.
The designer's name is Hanina Syed and she created a very thorough figma design file laying out a huge chunk of the application.
Hanina Syed's LinkedIn: LinkedIn Link

Web Stack: React, Styled-Components, Axios, Node, Express
3rd party API: FullCalendar

Live Site: View Site

Picture of the Application:
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Picture of the Design Files for the Dashboard:
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Current Goals & Features

The project started off with the goal of completing an mvp (minimal viable product) within two weeks which I was successful at doing. I created this time constraint because I wanted to put pressure on myself and to also simulate shipping products out on time.

The MVP Features I strove for during my first phase:

1. Create a functioning Sign In and Sign Up form that connects to my Node backend server
2. Have a functioning almost fully fleshed out Dashboard
3. Ability to view, add, delete, and edit plants
4. Connect to the FullCalendar api and view a calendar

Technical Challenges & Lessons Learned

The biggest challenge for me during the development process was probably architecture related. This application is the biggest I have created so far and I did my best to separate out the components, pages, styling, and assets and keeping them organized in appropriate folders. I believe I have learned a lot and I'm starting to see how I like things organized but I can still tell that I have a lot to learn about architecting and organizing a project.

What's Next?

There are many updates that I plan to keep working on through the next few weeks or months.

Some of the features I want to implement are:

1. Updating the backend server to allow for adding plant tasks and notes
2. On the frontend fill out all of the four pages which are currently in progress: Tasks, Notes, Settings, and Notifications
3. Add functionality to upload a plant picture instead of having to submit an image URL
4. Implement a 3rd party API to handle the app notifications (still unsure what type on notification would be most ideal)
5. Fine tune the styling of the application and making it look better on different screen sizes

Conclusion

Looking over everything I can say that I am proud of the project that I have built, and am extremely lucky to have been able to use Hanina's figma designs to guide me along. There is still a lot of work to be done but I am excited to continue working on this project even after its MVP phase.

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