final-project.md

Final Projects

It time to start our final project. Before we do, let's go over a few things shall we....

Before you start you will need to supply the following to John and myself via email:

1. Team Members
2. Project Description
3. Tech stack (and short reason why)
4. Project Name
5. Preferences for mentor (if any)

Picking a project

There are many reason for picking a project.

• Are you trying to build something impressive for prospective employers?
• Are you trying to explore a technology?
• Are you trying to practice your existing set of skills?

Development Process

Defining a MVP (i.e. scopes and feature sets)

• What do you want your project to do?
• How do you know if it works?
• Will it be responsive?
  • Sketch a mobile/responsive version
  • Do you need a mobile & web scenario in your User Stories?
• If you're not going to demo a feature, do you need to build it? (If you're launching it, yes you do.)
• UX Checklist - https://uxchecklist.github.io/

User Stories

• https://medium.com/@jonatisokon/a-framework-for-user-stories-bc3dc323eca9
• When is a feature complete?

Wireframes

• Based on user flow from user stories
• Do NOT use a wireframe program. Sketch quickly instead (sharpies, whiteboard, etc.) - Ignore details early on. See: https://signalvnoise.com/posts/1061-why-we-skip-photoshop
• A wireframe for EVERY page of your app

ROUTES

• If models are nouns, these are verbs
• RESTful
• Each action that your models need to do

GIVE YOURSELF MILESTONES

• Set due dates
• Set development targets
• MEET THEM
• USE TRELLO

SMART Goals

• Specific
• Measurable
• Achievable
• Relevant
• Time-based

Git

• Don't code on master
• Code on a feature or bugfix branch, always
• Switch to master
• Merge
• Delete old branch...ONLY WHEN YOU ARE SURE MASTER WORKS
• Make new branches for each feature or bugfix that you're working on
• DO NOT MERGE TEN MINUTES BEFORE THE DEMO

Give Yourselves Milestones

• Demo Day: TBD
• Set due dates
• Set development targets
• Check in often with your team
• MEET THEM
• Medium to long term planning
  • Trello - http://trello.com
  • Asana - http://asana.com
• Short Term (Dayboard - https://dayboard.co)

Technology Stack

Server Framework

• Sinatra
• Rails
• Node
• Choosing node frameworks - http://nodeframework.com/
• Node w/ Express
• Or choosing something else

JS MVC Framework

• None
• jQuery
• Angular
• Ember
• Backbone
• React
• Meteor
• Why do you want this?
• Because it's "cool"
• Because you want the skill for a job
• Because you read a tutorial on it
• To help you choose...look at http://todomvc.com/

UI FRAMEWORK

• Skeleton
• Bootstrap
• Foundation
• Pure
• Bourbon
• RESPONSIVE?
  • Re-wireframe a mobile/responsive version
  • Do you need a mobile & web scenario in your User Stories?

(also discussed: Why Mobile First - http://www.lukew.com/ff/entry.asp?933)

Picking a Database

• PostgreSQL
• SQLite
• MongoDB
• Redis

Scaffolding

• Download all resources you will need
• Figure out how to install them
• Are you going to use a generator?
  • Gulp vs. Grunt - Yeoman vs. Slush
  • Bower
• Back-end or front-end

Front-end Scaffolding

• Build static pages first
• Get the CSS to work
• Decide on ID's and classes

Back-end Scaffolding

• Start with models
• All database validations
• Figure out your callbacks
• Use as many helper methods (code atomically) as you can

DEPLOYMENT

• Demo on localhost:3000?
• Deploy to Heroku
• Buy a domain, put on AWS or DigitalOcean?
• If you're not going to demo a feature, do you need to build it? If you're launching it, yes you do.