Class Resources
An app that provides a platform to share class learning resources especially for COMSATS Students. Features include sharing class resources, course timetable, events, and reminders like assignments deadlines, etc.
Class Resources (FA18-BCS-C)
February 2019
- Live
- View Site
- Stack
- AngularIonicTypescriptFirebase
Purpose and Goal
As a university student, a common problem faced while exam night study was that we couldn’t find the lecture slides and other class resources. So, I decided to create an application using where we can find all the class resources in one place. So, I just sat down one weekend and developed a web application using angular. And, I never thought this one-weekend side project will actually be very helpful and boy did this help.
Some goodies
- With firebase local data persistence and a service worker, the app could work offline too. Although users can’t download resources, they can see the list even without an internet connection.
- The app layout adopts between mobile and desktop browsers. On mobile devices, it starts to behave like a regular mobile app and can be added to the home screen (thanks to a manifest file and a service worker). I also created an Andriod app using the Ionic framework, but for some reason, the overall experience was a little laggy.
- The dark mode was supported, and I guess this was the very first time I implemented a dark mode in any of the applications.
Lessons Learnt
This was probably my first developed app with some real users, so I had some sort of pressure to maintain the project after its development so on this road I learned a lesson hard way that sometimes the maintenance of a project can become much harder than actual development.
Class Resources Mobile App
February 2019
- Live
- View APK *
- Stack
- flutterdartFirebase
Purpose and Goal
The initial class resources version was quite successful in a way that my fellows found it really useful and it was serving its purpose quite well. But, even though everyone really liked the web app the mobile app wasn’t that great and was quite laggy. So, I decided to redesign the mobile app in the next semester break.
My idea was that I’m going redesign the app that will not only work for my class but also for every other class in the university and launching it at the start of the semester will also be a great idea, right? yeah not completely, the only thing I didn’t know was that the problem also scales exponentially with userbase and features. But, first, let’s talk about what I was able to accomplish.
New Features
- Now, students can have a personalized experience by logging in to the app. They will only be presented with the only subjects they are enrolled in and also they can add or remove different courses if they want.
- CRs could maintain the resource of their respective classes.
- Along with class resources, students could also receive notifications from CR and he can also add tasks/events like assignments, quizzes, etc.
- Students could see their timetable easily from the home screen (without opening the app) with a home screen widget.
Issues Faced
- The first and foremost issue was about maintaining the resources. Previously I myself volunteered to add resources like lectures slides, textbooks, etc. But, now I wanted the CRs to do so who were quite lazy enough the do so.
- When @ameerhmzx and I added the home screen widget to the app, for some unexpected reasons app started to crash randomly and frequently, thankfully we haven’t announced our app publically and the only users we had were our class fellows.
- The scaling issues hitted us the most, our app could work quite well for let’s say a single class but I wasn’t scaling well which thankfully we realized quite early.
- On top of everything, it was the first time I ever developed an android app and, not to mention, a framework named Flutter that is just released now.
Although the app had really cool features everyone liked them but we had a lot of these internal issues that we just couldn’t maintain this app.
Lessons Learnt
With this project, I could easily add a new course to my degree “How Not to Start a New Project”.
Class Resources Web App
February 2019
- Stack
- AngularTypescriptFirebase
Purpose and Goal
After the failure of the mobile app, I thought it would be great if I can develop a web app first, and then after making it rock solid we can utilize the lesson we learned in the previous attempt to develop a better mobile app next time or maybe just fix the existing app.
ClassX
February 2019
- Live
- View Site
- Stack
- VueTailwindCSSFirebase
Purpose and Goal
At this point, I already lost interest in the project because due to covid19 the whole teaching had been shifted to platforms like Google Classroom and Microsoft Teams where teachers themselves were taking care of organizing the class resources (which I always wanted). The only feature I really missed was the timetable on the home screen, which I’m, at the time of writing, planning to create a separate app. So, I decided to do for just last time. Also, I just had been tired of angular and material design so basically, it was just a redesign.
Some Goodies
- Although I haven’t done a lot in this project this was my first proper design project and I liked how the design part of this project turned out.
- I also managed to add some admin features like adding resources etc.
Lessons Learnt
Although there isn’t much to say about this project I learned few new technologies quite level during this project like Vuejs & TailwindCSS (which I still love working with).