UsefulHub

Inspiration

Our inspiration for this project came from our daily use of the internet. Every day we use it to search, socialize, study, etc. Funnily enough, while researching an idea for this project we came across the problem of typing the same websites over and over again! That's when it clicked. We were also inspired by the niche websites that we kept discovering while in the research phase, and saw that there was way more hidden corners of the internet than we thought.

What it does

UsefulHub compiles over dozens of websites that highly regarded yet unknown and makes it so anyone can discover their new favorite website much easier without fear of getting hit with malware and or viruses.

How we built it

We built UsefulHub as a simple and scalable web application focused on curated discovery of useful websites. The frontend was developed using React and Vite to ensure fast performance and a smooth user experience. We designed a clean UI with category-based filtering and search functionality so users can easily explore different types of resources.

For the backend, we used Firebase, specifically Cloud Firestore, to manage data. We structured the database using a NoSQL approach, where each website is stored as a document containing fields like name, link, category, description, and status.

One of the key features we implemented is a moderation system. When a user submits a new website, it is not immediately visible. Instead, it is stored with a “pending” status, and only approved entries are displayed on the platform. This ensures content quality and reliability.

We collaborated as a team by dividing responsibilities — research and data curation, frontend development, and backend integration — and continuously tested and improved the application using mock data before finalizing the demo.

Challenges we ran into

We also faced issues with project setup and environment differences across team members, especially when running the project locally and managing dependencies. Debugging blank screens, missing configurations, and syncing code from GitHub were some of the hurdles we had to overcome.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

What we learned

Even simple websites like this can largely impact workflow in a positive way, with the potential for community engagement, and the return of simple websites that provide us with the simple promise of joy.