Features
My application will be constructed in various iteration; two at the very least. Each iteration will naturally build on the previous one, as well as fix any problems that may have occurred throughout the various user evaluations I will conduct after each iteration.
The following are the goals set that should be met by the first iteration. It mainly includes basic functionality and UI controls.
- The application’s UI has been fully designed, with placeholders when need-be.
- UI element that must be operational are basic profile functionalities, main menu buttons related to functionality that is to be implemented in this iteration, list of solutions on the server, profile page view,
- Users must be able to browse the various solutions, as well as filter based on tags and search based on string matching.
- Users must be able to sort the list of available solutions according to basic criteria (A-Z, newest first, …)
- Users must be able to create new solutions, as well as new iterations to an earlier solution.
- Users must be able to create comment and rate posts.
- Users must be able to receive notifications of basic functionalities.
- Users must be able to issue challenges.
- The application must be able to detect when challenges have been met.
The following functionality will remain tentative:
- Users must be able to view their profile page.
- Users must be able to filter and search lists using more available options than those listed above.
- The application must be able to communicate with a persistent storage and not rely on local files as placeholders (SQL).
- Users must be able to register, filled-in information being stored in the database persistently (this instead of the placeholder login method that does not check whether the given credentials are actually valid).
Planning
So, what does the planning look like then? I based it on a week-by-week progression, keeping some time left over in the last week in case of delays or urgent, unforeseen matters.
Following is a planning of how the development of the first iteration will proceed:
- 11/02/2013 – 17/02/2013: UI in ASP WebForms has been created for all relevant screens, placeholders have been created wherever necessary. Users can login (fake login), and look at placeholder solutions and users (statically loaded in).
- 18/02/2013 – 24/02/2013: Users can create and post solutions, filling out all the necessary information. Tags can be added and the list of available solutions can be filtered as described above.
- 25/02/2013 – 03/03/2013: Users can issue, accept and refuse challenges. Users can place comments and rate solutions. The application can detect whether or not a challenge has been completed successfully.
- 04/03/2013 – 10/03/2013: Users receive notifications of all relevant changes related to the above functionalities. Furthermore, the SQL server has been set up and a database is available for persistant storage of implemented functionality.
So, as one can see, there’s a lot of work to be done, but I am already making good progess with the first week. Once the functionality for the first week has been completed, I will be posting the results on the blog. The main difficulty I foresee is my lack of experience with any type of web application. I’ve been going over HTML, CSS, JavaScript and ASP.net in great detail and have learned most of what I will be needing for the UI. The main benefit is that I can use my experience with C# in ASP.net and a lot of the fiddling with CSS can be streamlined using the WebForms Designer (much like Windows Forms, really). Regardless, updatese will be posted soon.
Eager to see the updates! Are those weeks 28-hours-weeks our do you think you will spend more or less time?
Hi Tim,
That will depend heavily on how fast/slow I proceed. This is a bit unknown territory for me so I know for a fact I’ll run into delays (hence why the fourth week doesn’t have all that much planned in it). Likely I will be spending the vast majority of time on this project. This is, fortunately, possible due to having few other subjects and barely any other projects. So, whenever possible, it will be upwards of 6-7 hours a day, except for one or two days that might need to be spend going to KULeuven for class or on homework. Over the past 5 days I’ve already done over 28 hours, so it’s safe to say that will be the average weekly workload.
“The main difficulty I foresee is my lack of experience with any type of web application.”
Then why exactly did you choose to create a web app? Seems like an unreasonable choice. Were there alternatives? Which alternatives? Why still choose the web app?
Hi Michiel,
Because I could not find any good reasons why *not* to do a web application. They are the current trend and are commonly the approach taken in the business. For this thesis to even make any practical sense, I am semi-forced to follow this tendency. The thesis is also meant to be a learning process and I stand to learn more if I step away from a desktop application using Windows Forms and WCF (with which I have extensive knoweldge). So my alternatives were a web application or a desktop application. My first instinct was also to go with familiar territory, but my mentors advised me not to, unless I could find more compelling arguments to what seems to be deemed “an odd choice” for my type of application.
Also eager to see the updates… BTW, will you wait until after March, 10 for evaluations? That seems unnecessarily late to me?
Hi professor Duval,
I will be doing a digital prototype user evaluation either this week or the next, depending on how my planning works out. Indeed, doing another evaluation as late as March would be very late and make any changes as a result of the feedback more difficult than they need be.