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An image of the Chrome extension working
Inspiration
We noticed that when students are trying to complete a project, they often get distracted and do not have the motivation to do their work in time. Therefore, we came up with a fun platform to assist the user in completing tasks efficiently. A significant inspiration we had in the process of generating our idea was the Flora app, which features a similar concept where the user grows a tree through productive actions.
What it does
The project encourages the user to be productive by giving them a pet that is taken care of when the user completes tasks. This way, the students will not procrastinate when doing their work and they will also often use the extension to achieve their goals, which are rewarded by leveling up the pet.
How we built it
We built this Chrome extension using JavaScript for the backend, and HTML and CSS for the frontend.
Challenges we ran into
As our team had very limited experience in regard to hackathons, our biggest challenge was generating an idea that could be properly scaled under the time constraint. We initially started the project with very ambitious (and impossible) ideas that were not feasible due to time limits and lack of technical skills. Once we did come up with our idea, it was difficult to find a starting point. Much of our time was spent on researching JavaScript, HTML, and CSS as none of us had ever used them all together in prior applications. In regard to the code itself, we struggled to fully grasp the concept of certain functions within the aforementioned languages and relied heavily on open-source code. This resulted in some bugs and unintended results that we were not able to fix before submission.
Accomplishments that we're proud of
We are proud of our never-give-up spirit and perseverance to learn from scratch. Furthermore, we are proud of our ability to successfully use JavaScript, HTML, and CSS together as we had little to no prior experience in these languages.
What we learned
As freshmen in computer engineering, we did not have much experience in completing such a large project with little time. Initially, we insisted on using Python, specifically Django, to build a webpage, which is something none of us had ever used. We later realized that making a Chrome extension was also a possibility through JavaScript and altered our ideas accordingly. We used HTML and CSS to create the frontend and JavaScript for the backend, having never used JavaScript before. We learned multiple new skills such as the use of JavaScript and CSS in under 24 hours. Working together under a restrictive time constraint strengthened our collaboration and communication skills as we were forced to share our ideas with each other as efficiently as possible.
- First time using html javascript django css
- First time successfully using secret keys
- First time using Google extension
- First time building an entire project in one day
What's next for Productive Pet
We hope to take our project and increase functionality for the user by fixing bugs, implementing new features, and improving user experience. Our team is considering turning our project into a full-fledged Chrome extension on the Chrome Web Store.
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