Letterfly

What it does

Letterfly is a letter writing app that allows you to write letters to anyone in the world, with the aim of helping you practice learning the languages of your choice. If you want to practice reading in Japanese, but want to write in English, Letterfly can send your letter to a person with the opposite goal as you, and you can mutually benefit! You aren't on your own though - Letterfly has a built in translation feature if you ever get stuck reading a complex letter from your pen pal. While you're waiting for a response for your letters, you can discover open letters from others and continue learning and connecting with new people there. Overall, we aimed to create a fun and interactive way to improve your language skills while building connections with people on the other side of the world through letter writing.

How we built it

We hosted this website on Flask, with an HTML/CSS/JS front end. We used an API called Quill.js for a clean letter text editor, the Google Translate API, and an API called Beautiful Soup to help us handle HTML formatting. The project is hosted locally, with a database written in SQL.

Challenges we ran into

Integrating the Google Translate API and ensuring accurate translations was tricky, especially with idiomatic phrases. Handling different languages' formatting (like Japanese scripts) also posed some challenges, and creating an intuitive design for users of all linguistic backgrounds took extra effort.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

We’re proud of creating an app that connects people globally through language learning via letter writing. The translation feature helps users tackle complex letters, and the user interface is simple and easy to use, making the experience enjoyable.

What we learned

We gained experience with APIs like Google Translate and Beautiful Soup, and learned how critical it is to focus on user experience. We also learned how to handle language-specific formatting and character encoding to ensure the app works well across cultures.

What's next for Letterfly

In the future, we aim to have more features on the website! We would like to have added learning features such as a dictionary to help people check definitions for the words on the spot. We'd also like the app to have more fun letter writing features, such as the option to add stamps and customize your envelope.

Built With

• beautiful-soup
• flask
• google-translate-api
• javascript
• quill.js
• sql