OptimEyes

Protecting your eyes - 20 seconds at a time! OptimEyes is a Chrome extension that reminds you to look away from your screen and perform wellness exercises using the 20-20-20 rule.

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Team Name: Sigmas in STEM

Inspiration

As students, we are well aware of the long hours people spend in front of the computer each day. While studying and being productive is important, we also know firsthand that too much screentime can take a toll on eye health and general wellness. With this in mind, and also considering global issues for women around the world, OptimEyes was created.

What it does

Based on the 20-20-20 Rule - reducing eye strain by looking 20 metres away from the screen for 20 seconds every 20 minutes - OptimEyes allows users to set a 20-minute timer. When time is up, the website notifies the user of a break and suggests a simple wellness activity (each popup designed by budding female artists around the world). As a reward for completing the 20-second activity, users collect virtual coins that can be spent on a virtual pet goose.

How we built it

  1. We began with the popup window displaying the wellness slides and timer.
  2. We created our landing page, where people can discover OptimEyes and connect to the tool.
  3. We finalized our brand elements and added them to each page.
  4. We implemented the virtual pet goose and gamification tools.

Challenges we ran into

As this was our first time using Chrome extensions, there was definitely a learning curve, especially when enabling it to run in the background. We were struggling to figure out how to make the slide pop up without the user directly opening the extension. Over the hacking period, we persistently researched solutions, frequently experimented and tested, consulted mentors and the internet, and decided on the most feasible solution - using a separate tab on the website instead. Additionally, there were issues with the collaboration software, but we worked through them by periodically communicating which versions of the project each team member had and syncing accordingly.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

As beginner hackers, we are proud that we managed to bring our initial idea to life. It is truly satisfying to work hard on a project, overcome challenges, and come out with a functioning website.

What we learned

We learned a lot of technical skills as we were troubleshooting, including how to create Chrome extensions, navigate file paths, and collaborate with Github.

What's next for OptimEyes

There were many ideas for OptimEyes that we did not have time to implement during the hacking period, but remain viable for future iterations of the program. These include a more complex gamification system for the virtual pet goose, paid-for features within the game, and a Chrome extension.

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