Inspiration
Our project started with a simple question: Was it warmer yesterday than it is today? Turns out, none of our weather apps have an easy way to show us yesterday's weather. So, we made our own tool.
What it does
Our website gets weather records from weather.gov's API, and displays it as a series of graphs, with buttons that toggle which information is displayed.
How we built it
We built our website using html and css, and performed the API calls using javascript. We focused first on getting today's weather, then on displaying it, and then changing that to be yesterday's weather.
Challenges we ran into
-APIs: None of us had ever used an API before this, so it took us a while to even get the relevant information. -Graphs: The graphing software, on top of being new to us, was unwieldly to use. It also lacked proper documentation, putting our grapher in a tough spot. -Location: This one snuck up on us. Since we used UD as our default location, we discovered far too late that our attempts to read the user's location weren't actually working. Unfortunately, it was too late for a fix, and our website only displays UD's weather.
Accomplishments that we're proud of
The same things that gave us trouble are the ones that we're the most proud of. We're happy to say that, although location escaped us, we did get the API working and the graphs displayed. It felt great to know we familiarized ourselves with a new system in only 24 hours.
What we learned
Test, test, test! If we had caught the location issue sooner, our final product would have performed exactly as hoped. Next time, we'll make sure something like that doesn't pass us by. Aside from that, we learned how to use an API, as well as chart.js.
What's next for Yesterday's Weather
Judging, and then fixing up the location functionality. After that, we can make the widget display on the homescreen, and maybe style it as a weather app.
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