Blog
MERN Stack Site
26 December, 2017
Finished the MERN (MongoDB, Express.js, ReactJS, NodeJS) stack website.
Overall the experience wasn't too good,
there is little to none reliable documentation for these trendy Javascript frameworks.
The documentation, articles, or SO posts that do exist are often outdated and contain deprecated methods.
It was quite frustrating - I can't imagine what it would be like to ever use these technologies in production
as you would have to rewrite your application at least once a year,
as version changes are that dramatic.
It was a useful experience either way, the paradigm for ReactJS was very interesting and creative.
The next project is a portfolio for art pieces, in Java.
Thoughts on Firefox Quantum
26 November, 2017
Had been using FireFox Quantum since its release on November 14
But decided to switch back to Chrome, which is what I had been using before.
Thought I would note down some pros and cons that I experienced
Pros
- Developer tools feels the same as Chrome's, it has the features you would want (mobile mode, extensions like React tools).
- It's by a not-for-profit company
Cons
- Not great on javascript-based websites - which most large websites are. It struggled to load elements in YouTube sometimes, where it would only load the video, and the comments some 15 seconds after. It also could not handle Google Play Books, where it would hang with some js errors in console.
- Browsing doesn't feel as smooth- sometimes clicking between links can feel very clunky, as it won't take you to the page as fast as Chrome does. So you end up clicking links a couple times wondering if it registered.
- The software itself can feel pretty clunky, functionality like dragging a tab out into a space to spawn its own window doesn't have a 100% success rate. The back button is also slow at changing the state of the page.
I was looking to move to Firefox Quantum completely, but with these small 'frustrations' I've lost interest in it and have decided to stick with the more stable, reliable Chrome.
It is still the early days of Firefox Quantum though, and it will continue to improve no doubt.
php-blog
7 November, 2017
The first project on the list for minimalist-collection was a blog
It is nearly finished
Ended up doing a redesign in the end
Going from my style guide to Hoarrd's UI kit
The style guide that I came up with
was supposed to be stylish and modern
But I ended up not liking it - likely due to the lack of visual elements:
Had a good time with Hoarrd's UI
The colors and spacing are comfortable.
In the end the blog changed to look like this:
Tomual to CodeIgniter
4 November, 2017
I've put Tomual on CodeIgniter with hopes to put all the blog posts under this hosting instead of using Blogger.
I'd like the blog to appear as a subfolder on the domain, and this would help with that.
Only thing is, importing the Blogger posts may be quite the task.
We'll see though
Tintin Updates
2 November, 2017
Been updating Tintin
- Added reporting which are saved advanced searches
- Added task start and completion dates (different from creation/modification dates)
- Made it easier to change statuses by making it into a toggle bar
- Changed the appearance
Below is a before and after of the theme
minimalist-collection
23 October, 2017
Started a new project; a series of websites with a minimalist appearance.
The series will be called minimalist-collection and is planned to include the following:
- Style Guide
A style reference sheet for all the sites in this project - Blog
Allows comments and tagging - Portfolio
Grid porfolio for photos or artwork - Store Website
Process payments, manage products - Services Website
Promotional website for a service - Forum
At this point I guess it's a test to see how many times I can make a forum in a lifetime
Have much motivation to work on these
Especially the store website,
as I plan to use Stripe for the first time.
Style guide has been complete so far
Currently working on the blog
At the same time as writing the code,
I've been writing a walkthrough at the same time
It's interesting as it forces you to 100% complete each piece
instead of doing things like form validation last
which I seem to have a habit of doing
Hestia V
24 September, 2017
Finished Hestia
Overall I enjoyed working with Django,
having worked mainly with basic frameworks
I appreciated all the built-in featured Django offered.
The automatic admin pages are incredibly useful,
customers would usually want the ability to edit everything and it allows just that;
all the edit/create forms automatically generated.
Would be a main factor in how Django apps could be built so quickly.
Other features like automatic CSRF token fields were nice too,
but that is probably something that all modern frameworks have now.
Didn't really come across any negatives - there was always enough documentation,
and the official first-app walk through is a great learning experience.
Below is the thread view, forum view and registration view.
The registration view is accessible after the user types in the site password
Hestia IV
21 September, 2017
Made the dream auth screen
Random polygon rotating on a dark page with one input
Like to think the site is done for the most part
Post/thread generators need to be put in a model of its own, and the project needs to be checked for portability
Hestia III
11 September, 2017
Been using Tintin to put tasks in as tickets
Is nice
Think Hestia will be done this week
Only have home page and some styling left
Here's what the forum threads page looks like:
Django's been fun to work with - like it better than Laravel so far I think, but perhaps that's because Laravel got me used to the migrations/strict OO style that's popular in frameworks now.
Hestia II
4 September, 2017
Been doing decent with Hestia and Django
Don't really have much else to say
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Finished the last Dark Souls, didn't like it much. Played it completely blind like I did with 1, but wasn't nearly as interesting. Though I was thorough with the playthrough I didn't seem to come across any interesting NPCs or lore.
Hestia I
11 August, 2017
Told myself I would make a 100% Javascript app
Couldn't get myself to do it
Instead, Django was chosen.
It is Python's web framework.
I do like how lightweight it is
especially compared to Laravel -
where it felt like you were downloading 3 Wordpress sites worth of files.
Still getting used to having to import literally everything though
Tintin V
10 July, 2017
Some screen shots of Tintin.
Been working on making proper READMEs for the Github pages of my projects
Mildly Happy Souls
5 July, 2017
Finished Dark Souls 2
Didn't like combat on it as much as Dark Souls 1's, and it felt less relevant to the lore.
It had very high player traffic though because of the Steam sales, which meant there was plenty of people to help out.
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Recently completed the tutorial on Django, which is software used to make website in Python.
It felt very similar to Laravel in that it has migrations, the API in shell and all the premade functions to learn.
Django felt more comfortable than Laravel though.
