Scribbl - Collaborative Whiteboard

Scribbl is a collaborative, real-time whiteboard that removes the tedious need to screen-share your notes app while being in a zoom call. Our mission is to merge efficiency and practicability.

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Inspiration

Our inspiration for Scribbl comes from experiencing education during COVID. We were not a fan of the way we were forced to do things, with only one person able to design and draw their thoughts at once.

What it does

Scribbl allows for multiple people in a room to contribute to a whiteboard in real-time. Not only that, but there is a live chat-box, and we would like to see host-features as well as real-time voice communication at some point as well. The idea is that each whiteboard has a host, and other people can join that whiteboard using a unique whiteboard ID generated when the whiteboard is created.

How we built it

We built the prototype for Scribble with basic HTML for structure, CSS for styling, and Javascript for functionality. The backend is done using Node.JS, Express and Socket.IO.

Challenges we ran into

We ran into problems with implementing a multiple-page feature. This was because we thought of the idea too late, and finding out how to store multiple pages corresponding to a single whiteboard on the server side and updating all users in the same whiteboard with the multiple pages. I think it was more of a time constraint than anything.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

We are very proud of building our first web development project. None of us are web developers (we are three physicists and one computer engineer), and so this was a learning experience for all of us. Coming as far as we did in one day really made us proud.

What we learned

We learned the intricacies and challenges that come along with web development, particularly connecting the server and client side. We also learned how to work as a team (i.e some people work on front end, others on front end functionality, and others on backend).

What's next for Scribbl - Collaborative Whiteboard

This project caught our attention more than intended, and so we believe we will continue with it. I think we will continue to implement the multiple-page feature, as well as figure out a way to integrate real-time voice communication. We also need host features, such that the host can choose who can draw and who can't.

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