Building Vitality Matrix

Overview

The sponsor presented the team with the problem of difficulty sourcing accurate information in the architecture industry without the interference of advertisements. The team created a website in which users can make an account and share articles they have written and add to other pages. Those articles are stored in a secure database. An outline was created and tested to organize each informational page in a way that best conveys the information and facilitates discussion.

Objectives

-Create a visually appealing and organized website.

-Organize content in a way that is easy to read and also sparks further interest and discussion.

-Store content on a secure website.

-Have the user able to create an account, which they can log in and out of.

-Enable users to create their own pages and respond to others.

-Build the site without relying on pre-built components (i.e. Firebase)

Approach

-The front-end of the site was developed using the tools HTML, CSS, Webflow, and Bubble.io

-The back-end of the site was built using the Java programming language in order to best communicate with the front-end.

-The front and back-end were integrated using Java Spring Boot so the interface could communicate with the database.

-The content organization underwent internal trial-and-error testing to determine the best organization.

-The team made an outline based on a layout that users can reference when writing new pages. This outline and instructions were sent out with a survey to different stakeholders (students and industry professionals) to gauge their experience.

-Based on questions received from survey respondents, the instructions of the outline were changed to ensure that the objective of the content was clear.

Outcomes

-Users can create an account, post articles with an image and a tag, and add to other articles. The outline is posted to the page to be used by future users.

-The domain of the site was transferred to the sponsor’s control.