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Point me in the right direction?

by kelseyc
8 replies
Hi all,

I am a web novice (can use HTML and CSS, and can customize Wordpress themes, but that's about it).

I have an idea for a site where users can create an account, input miles walked, and see their progress on a fictional map with some basic storytelling. Essentially I would give them a story to go along with their walking, with the goal of motivating them to walk more.

This would be a more complicated project than I have ever taken on, but I am willing and eager to learn. I'm just not sure where to start.

Here are some questions, but I will take any insight at all:

Do I need to learn a new language to build this? If so which one(s)?

What would I be building exactly? A plugin?

Is this something an experienced developer could build quickly? Or, put another way, would I be wasting my time learning how to do this if I could hire someone else to do it in a day?
#direction #point
  • Profile picture of the author ohnoeedidntt
    Hey there, you would be building a web application. Or mobile application. You can probably get this done using jquery/ajax. I can definitely see an experienced developer coding this for you in a few days but you also gotta think about the back end (how stuff works) and the front end (how stuff looks) in terms of development. I absolutely think you could learn to do this on your own. Since you already have experience with HTML, CSS and Wordpress you should be able to do the front end no problem, the back end is gonna require you learn jQuery. I learned from CodeAcademy.com
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  • Profile picture of the author XSV1
    You may find it easier to start by looking for motivational and fitness oriented themes, plugins and apps for Wordpress that would allow you to get up and running quickly. Since your main contribution to this seems to be your motivational writing, focus on that part. There are plugins/apps available that already integrate in to the many fitness apps for OSX and Android, people are already using these to track their fitness and store the data, tap in to that so they don't have to be bothered with manually adding their info to your site. You can then customize from there as needed to fit your site.

    Are you going to have everything public to create a community or privately write for each person?
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    • Profile picture of the author kelseyc
      Thank you for your insight!

      Originally Posted by XSV1

      There are plugins/apps available that already integrate in to the many fitness apps for OSX and Android, people are already using these to track their fitness and store the data, tap in to that so they don't have to be bothered with manually adding their info to your site.
      This would be AMAZING if I could integrate with existing OSX and Android apps. I'll look for plugins that can do this. Thank you for the idea.

      Originally Posted by XSV1

      Are you going to have everything public to create a community or privately write for each person?
      It will be private, but it will be the same story for everyone. I plan on starting out with one story and having milestones every 10 miles or so. So every time a user logs 10 miles they get another piece of the story and can see their progress on a map.
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  • Profile picture of the author robomedia
    Hi,

    First draw it on paper how do you see it

    It's not clear if you want to build a website / web app or a mobile app installed on your phone.

    "I have an idea for a site where users can create an account, input miles walked, and see their progress on a fictional map with some basic storytelling. Essentially I would give them a story to go along with their walking, with the goal of motivating them to walk more."

    How do they input those miles?
    Just an input text field Enter miles : [_____] [SAVE]
    What do you want to show from such data?
    I don't quite understand what is an imaginary map - an image of some ancient kingdom or what


    If all you need is what you say ( assuming it's a web application not mobile app ).
    Then right it's a day for somebody who knows what to do. But the problem is
    that your specifications is not clear. You would get something you asked, but you imagined it differently ( old joke : http://www.jokeoverflow.com/wp-conte...-Marketing.png ) .


    For you, well, depends what's your goal.
    Do you want to make it done, or do you want to learn how to make apps/websites?

    If website is what you're after then wordpress is not the best solution for you.
    This is something very custom and it's best to write it from scratch.
    There are dozens of technologies you could use for that with HTML/CSS/Javascript as frontend. You need some data storage and backend. Then you need to deploy it.
    Whatever stack you will choose (PHP, Python, NodeJS, Java, .NET, Ruby + any storage like MySQL, PGSQL, Mongo, ... ) - anything will work.
    PHP seems to be the easiest. Buy a book or do a video course and maybe in few months you will get it done. It's like learning a language - you need to digest it and you need time for it .

    If you decide to hire somebody remember to specify all your details first.
    If you don't then you will be paying additional fees each time you say :
    "oh I forgot, can we add this here" , or "I thought that this would work differently".

    Feel free to ask me if you have any doubts.
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    • Profile picture of the author kelseyc
      Thank you Robomedia! These are all great thoughts.

      To answer some of your questions - I am picturing a web app where users would submit data as you described (Just an input text field Enter miles : [_____] [SAVE] )

      The web app would keep a running total of their miles and would show their progress on a map of a fictional country. Once they reach a milestone (say, every 10 miles), they will get a snipit of a story about their journey.

      I am a graphic designer by trade, so I could design some decent mockups for a developer. But it this would cost much over $1k (which I suspect it would), then I will need to build it myself.

      I don't have a lot of cash to throw at this, but I can devote some free time to learning how to build it. It sounds like in order to build it I should be learning Javascript for frontend (along with the HTML and CSS I already know), PHP for backend, and MySQL or similar for storage. Is that right?

      Are there any shortcuts I could take? I've looked at available fitness and gamification plugins, but nothing seems quite right.
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      • Profile picture of the author robomedia
        If you want to learn php - then play first with millions of php courses out there to know what's that about, build some simple sites, forms etc. When you feel more less ready, then use a framework - you will have the register user part pretty much ready. There are few frameworks out there, I was using this one : Yii PHP Framework: Best for Web 2.0 Development and I'm was very happy with it. It's much easier than others ( Symfony, Laravel, Zend ) and yet it supports all you need. But first crash will be hard - it's normal - you need to take some time to digest it - make errors and not give up.

        PHP + MySQL is a good choice to start for non programmer
        The hardest thing is to start.
        I suggest you start with building static HTML/CSS and if you have that ready let me know I'll point you what to do next
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        • Profile picture of the author kelseyc
          Thanks so much, Robomedia. I appreciate you, and all the responders, taking your time to help me get going in the right direction. I enjoyed learning HTML/CSS from Codecademy, so I think I'll go back there for PHP and get started on some basic forms and things like you suggest, then go from there.

          Many thanks all.
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  • Profile picture of the author yukon
    Banned
    You would need a database (ex: MySQL) otherwise there's no point for traffic to login (nothing is ever saved).

    I would go with PHP + MySQL. Wordpress is already using MySQL.
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