GatherGo is a comprehensive party planning app designed to streamline and simplify the process of organizing and hosting themed events.
The app provides users with tools for selecting themes with a dedicated Spotify playlist, discovering creative DIY decoration ideas through a Pinterest mood board, recipes, mocktails, cocktails and games options.
Developed with a user-friendly interface, GatherGo aims to make party planning an enjoyable and stress-free experience for everyone by also giving you a to-do list with the ingredients for your recipes and the materials for your games.
- Ruby on Rails
- HTML
- CSS
- Bootstrap
- JavaScript ES6
- SQL
- Git and GitHub
- Heroku
GatherGo stands out with its rich set of features designed to make party planning a breeze:
- Theme Selection with Spotify Playlists: Choose from a wide range of party themes, each accompanied by a specially curated Spotify playlist to set the right mood.
- Creative DIY Decoration Ideas: Get inspired with creative decoration ideas from Pinterest mood boards tailored to your selected theme and take notes in-app.
- Extensive Recipe Options: Discover recipes to delight your guests that match your theme, from appetizers to main dishes and desserts, including options for cocktails and mocktails.
- Engaging Games: Find fun games to keep your guests entertained, with detailed instructions and materials lists.
- Comprehensive To-Do List: Stay organized with a to-do list that tracks everything from ingredients for your dishes to materials for the games you plan to host.
- iCalendar Integration: Easily download your party details to iCalendar for seamless planning and reminders.
- WhatsApp Sharing: Share your party details with friends and family for easy invitations.
As the lead developer of GatherGo, I immersed myself in a range of responsibilities, from the initial concept and design to deployment:
- Branding and Visual Design: Created the branding and logo, creating a cohesive visual language for GatherGo.
- Feature Development: Took charge of roadmap planning, database schema design, and implementing tactical decisions for database adjustments and migrations.
- User Interface: Designed and developed the interfaces for booking management and information using Bootstrap, CSS, and JavaScript.
- Deployment and Testing: Handled deployment to Heroku, ensuring the app's functionality across different stages of development, and conducted thorough code clean-ups for optimal performance.
This project was an incredible learning opportunity in a sprint of 10 days, allowing me to deepen my understanding of web development and project management:
- Full Stack Development: Gained comprehensive experience in developing both front-end and back-end aspects of a web application.
- Ruby on Rails Proficiency: Enhanced my skills in Ruby on Rails, particularly in designing database schemas, managing routes and controllers, and implementing advanced features such as embedded playlists and mood boards.
- Front-End Design: Improved my ability in front-end development, focusing on creating a responsive and intuitive user interface.
- Deployment and Version Control: Learned the intricacies of deploying a full-fledged web application to Heroku and managing version control with Git and GitHub.
GatherGo has laid a solid foundation for party planning, but there's always room for improvement:
- Enhanced Customization: Introducing more theme options and customization features for playlists and mood boards.
- User Interaction: Adding more interactive elements to engage users, such as live polls for party decisions.
- Web Optimization: Ensuring the app is fully responsive and optimized for web devices. Currently the website is mobile only.
- Dynamic Recipe Retrieval: Implement web scraping or API integration to fetch a wide variety of recipes and their ingredients from external culinary websites, automating the inclusion in the event planning to-do list.
- Legal and Ethical Compliance: Prioritize adherence to the terms of service of source websites during the implementation of the recipe retrieval feature, respecting copyright and web scraping guidelines.
- Integration with More Services: Expanding the app's functionality by integrating with additional services like cloud storage for personal photos and videos.
To explore GatherGo, follow these steps:
- Clone the repository to your local machine.
- Navigate to the project directory and run 'yarn install' to get the required dependencies and 'bundle install' to install Ruby gems. Start the application with rails s.
- Open your web browser and visit http://localhost:3000 (or the address indicated in your console).
GatherGo embodies the essence of party planning made simple. Through meticulous development and a focus on user experience, it makes planning memorable events just a few clicks away.
