log 11: updates

clarity

This week, I focused on the front-end user interface side of things. Up until now, I have been working on the back end brain of the operation to make sure things work. Because of that, it hasn’t really felt like I have made any progress at all. A lack in the visual aspect of my work made it seem like I wasn’t moving along at all. So, I spent most of the week designing the back end of the front end… if that makes sense. I didn’t add any color, designs, animations, or any other art-related things. That is a task that I will outsource later in the future because I’m not great at design. I first added a tab bar feature to my app which now lets me travel from each screen easier. Now all of my windows and screens are nicely laid out. Immediately, I noticed that my ideas were flowing much better and I was able to see how I was going to implement other features going forward. It’s interesting to see how keeping a visual workspace clean translates into an increased mental flow. This week I also worked on using the user’s “user” data to read and write from Cloud Firestore. Instead of keeping client data local, I figured that I would also store it online. My main reason for this was that I don’t know what happens to local data if the app is deleted and then reinstalled and what happens when I send out an update. This made keeping all user information online in a secure google service an easy choice. From there I was able to implement an auto-login feature that also taught me a bunch of neat coding tricks I can implement elsewhere. It felt like a great week of progress and I’m very satisfied with how far my app has come so far. However,  the real challenge lies within the next two weeks as I solo travel to different parts of Europe. I’ll be using my time on trains and cafes to work while I spend the rest of the time eating ‘til my soul is satisfied.