Cloudlinq

Homepage
Features
Profile
Explore page
Create page
Edit profile
Supported social sites

Inspiration

The inspiration for Cloudlinq came from the overwhelming number of usernames, accounts, and emails that are part of daily life, such as Instagram, Facebook, etc. In hackathons, we noticed that the #networking channels would be filled with multiple links. Each person might have 2-3 links, and it was impossible to keep up with all of them. Even finding all of your own profile links might take a few minutes, and keeping track of all the profiles of cool people you meet would be next to impossible. Cloudlinq is the solution to this- it makes it easy to share all of your profiles with one link.

By creating a page on Cloudlinq, you'll be able to share one link that allows others to find you on multiple platforms. Cloudlinq is the solution to modern world social problems, by allowing the users to organize their links and different platforms in one website and helps students network and socialize.

What it does

Cloudlinq is a website that allows you to create a profile page containing your bio and all of your social media links. Then, you can share your Cloudlinq page with others to share 1 link instead of 10. You can also use the Explore page to find others to connect with, making it easy to network.

Users first create an account on the website through Google sign in. After creating an account, users can choose a page name, and a page will be created at cloudlinq.co/. The user's page is customizable to their own taste. They can change the name that will be displayed, their profile picture and a description of themselves. Then, they can add all of their social media links, which will be displayed on their page. Users are also able to change the page's color scheme.

The Explore page allows users to connect with and gain inspiration from other users. You can see the bios of every page on the Cloudlinq website and use each user's Cloudlinq page to connect with them. Through these features, Cloudlinq gives users an easy way to socialize and maximize the views across all their platforms.

How we built it

Cloudlinq was built with React, using the Next.js framework. This allowed us to easily create dynamic routes, so each use could have their own page. We used TailwindCSS for styling to create a pleasing and effective UI. Firebase's Realtime Database was used to store user data.

Challenges we ran into

One of our members had a large error when trying to run the site, and was unable to contribute to the code. We worked through the problems, though, and everyone on the team was able to contribute!

We also had difficulty getting static rendering to work, since pages were cached too long and updates were not reflected. By switching to server side rendering, we were able to make the updates show up instantly.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

We're proud that we created a fully functional website with a great UI that will be very useful to students and professionals alike. Anyone wanting one page for all their social links can check out Cloudlinq, and it's very easy to use and super customizable.

What we learned

As a group consisting of beginners and more advanced, we learned how to work together. We each contributed our skills to the project, through code, design and planning. We learned a lot about React as some of our members had never used it before, about design, and creating a great UI. Even though there were some problems with the interface, getting feedback from the mentors helped us create a more intuitive UI.

What's next for Cloudlinq

The next steps for the website will be to allow the user to log in with other providers, such as Github, Facebook or Instagram. We'll also add even more customizability through more templates, so users can choose between different templates. We'll also set up a following system, so you can keep track of profiles you love. Also, we create a way share links with your friends and make a more interactive website, with an interactive guide to guide users through the signup and create website flow.