Ever the eager learner, I was excited to learn something new in my class. Last July to August we focused on React! When we started React I was impressed by what we could do re: components and hooks. When it was time for us to suggest our projects, I was lost.

I pitched an idea previously to my instructor about the expense app, which can be used for React. But for some reason I went ahead and decided to go for a writing timer. This was inspired by this Discord server I joined a few weeks ago and thought what the heck hahahaha. Lemme try this out.

The app’s name is The Write Time.

Basically, writers can set a time, pause, and reset time. Then, the writers will write anything they wished during their set time. Additionally, writers can save their progress so they could copy the snippet to their preferred word processor.

I thought this was easy.

Turns out, I suck so much at React. 

There were some concepts I could grasp. However, I knew I needed more practice with Hooks. (GLARING AT YOU, USECONTEXT).

But I managed.

I found various tutorials and resources online to do what I needed to achieve.

First, I added the timer and writing area in the landing page. Then, I added a “History” page to view all their snippets.

Originally, I wanted to use localStorage to store all the blog data. Upon the advice of one of our teaching assistants, it’s much better to use an API to store all this data. That’s when I used Firebase. Our instructor taught us how to do it for registration and log-ins. However, I didn’t have any clue how to use it for my app. It turns out the process I was doing was for CRUD (Create, Read, Update, and Delete). Thankfully, I found a YouTube tutorial on how to do it.

I didn’t have enough time to add CSS to my app, and it turned out the way it did.

For now, I was okay with the first version of the app. It didn’t matter that it looked plain. I do have a revised version of the app as per the feedback of our teaching assistant.

I learned that I needed more time to work on React. Unfortunately, I didn’t practice much and I found React daunting as we went along. That was my fault for not practicing.

Additionally, sometimes I wish I went with the expense tracker app. But maybe it’s not yet time for me to do it.

However, I am dedicated to practicing React once the web dev class is over. I would love to study this again and maybe find a newfound appreciation for useContext (/side-eyes). For now, I’m good with what I know and my limitations around it. I know I should practice, but at this time, I will be focusing on the backend since those are our new topics.

You can view the first version of my app here: https://the-write-timev1.netlify.app/