-
-
Home page
-
Swiping page
-
Liked page
-
Purrfect Match team <3
About the App
Welcome to Purrfect Match! The perfect web app to find your next cat companion! This app features an easy-to-use match-making feature to swipe through potential cat matches. Swipe right to save a kitty to your ‘Liked’ list, and swipe left to skip.
But why did we make this app? Well, millions of animals end up in shelters every year, and hundreds of thousands more are euthanized prematurely (ASPCA). However, with applications like ours that bring visibility to these adorable animals, we can help them find a happy home and a fulfilling life that all pets deserve.
How We Built It
The app was built using HTML, CSS, and JavaScript frontend. A Python backend was built using SQLite and Flask to access and host our database server.
Challenges, Trials, and Tribulations…
This project posed a formidable challenge for our team. As a team of beginners, with no web-dev experience, no Git experience, no Flask experience, no SQL experience (beyond Professor Thornton’s expedition into the wonders of SQLite), and limited HTML/CSS/JavaScript knowledge, we found it difficult to get the project off the ground. Particularly, in the first 10 hours, the only progress we seemed to make was in accumulating Git merge conflicts. It was only after a great deal of help from mentors that we were able to overcome these challenges and find our flow.
What We Learned
We learned the importance of communication. At first, we were all consumed with our individual explorations of documentation and YouTube tutorials. Unsurprisingly, we ended up having conflicting ideas of how to approach certain problems and what tools we wanted to use to solve these problems. Despite an unproductive first few hours, we stopped, ate lunch, took a breather, then pulled out a piece of paper. We reorganized by mapping out our packages, how they were interconnected, and figuring out each person’s individual role in adding further functionality. By communicating and coordinating with a concise plan, we found substantial progress… especially in avoiding further merge conflicts.
Beyond learning about the necessity of teamwork, all of our members gained immense technical knowledge. We learned about Flask, APIs, databases, and servers, and how all these elements interact with the frontend and backend of software. We also learned HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. Overall, we acquired quite a bit of knowledge to direct our future learning!
What's Next?
The next iteration of Purrfect Match will allow users to seamlessly connect with and support their local shelters. Users will be able to search for nearby shelters, as well as directly access the shelter’s websites and donation pages.
Log in or sign up for Devpost to join the conversation.