Second Project
Ruby on Rails Website
Findr Musician
##The Idea:
- As a musician, choosing to move to a new City can be a massive decision, as on average it takes around two years to get yourself known in the area - to build up a client base of students to teach, or to be asked to play in paid gigs.
- So I thought to myself - wouldn't it be good to have a website where students can register to find a music teacher for the instrument or instruments of their choice, and where music teachers can also register a profile so that they can be contacted by potential students and build up a client base that way.
- So this is why I have designed and created a web application called Findr Musician - and I would love to give you a demo of this now.
##Screenshots
The homepage.
Register.
Login.
The about us page.
Searching for a music teacher.
The results.
Teacher profile page.
Booking a lesson.
Checking upcoming lessons.
##Technologies used:
In this project I have used HTML, CSS, Javascript, JQuery, Ruby and Rails.
##Approach taken:
- Brainstormed some possible ideas
- Made a plan using the chosen idea
- Created a Trello board outlining what needed to be done, and depending on their importance, the order in which they needed to be executed.
- Produced an ERD diagram, mapping out the models and their relationships with one another.
- Created wireframes using Balsamiq, displaying how I imagined the website and its various pages to look.
- I then created a few test projects. After setting up the first test without Devise, I created the second with a User model using Devise and a scaffolded Instrument and Lesson models.
- Then I tested the relationships in the Rails console.
- Once the basics of this was all working as expected, I created the main project, replicating the models created in the test.
- I installed the Foundation gem and added some basic HTML structure and SCSS styling.
- After this I concentrated on getting all the associations to work correctly.
- Once the majority of the functionality was working, I installed the Ransack gem to allow me to add search features to my app.
- I then went back to the styling - using Foundation to make the app look as good as possible.
##Challenges:
- One of the main challenges I had was implementing the Ransack gem for the search features.
- Getting the students and teachers to see different information without using a Ruby GEM such as CanCan.
- Getting the delete and update user form to function correctly.
##If I had more time:
###There are a number of features I would have liked to have added or take further
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I would have liked to add a calendar booking system - using the gem Bookable. Able to check the availability of the teacher when making a booking.
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Create user roles and permissions using the Rolify and CanCan gems.
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Search by Post Code - allowing you to find teachers closest to you.
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Having a map with the location of your nearest teachers.
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Added a photo uploader so that the users can upload their own image.
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Create an online portal for teachers and students to communicate inbetween lessons - including online chat, and an area for notes/recommendations.
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Add a rating/comments system to find the best teachers.
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Create an online payment system for lessons - so that no payment has to be made at the lesson itself.
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Add additional cities.
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Add additional information to the profile pages of the teachers to help the students to decide who to have lessons with.
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Refacter the code - make it dryer.
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Plans to branch out/spin-offs - such as:
- Findr Plumber
- Findr Gardener
- Findr Window Cleaner