Reflecting on my experience in ICS 414 this semester, it is a bit challenging, but it is fun and feels accomplished. I had the chance to do something I hadn’t done before in ICS 314 and the ability to meet real-life customers to discuss the process of our project. What I used in ICS 314 is Semantic UI, and what we used in ICS 414 is mainly Bootstrap. Both tools are useful, and they have similar ways to use them. Otherwise, it will become a problem for me to use it. Back in ICS 314, our group divides up the work, and I am not the person who deals with collections and MongoDB. I had the chance to work with them this semester, and first, it cause some problem for me to link them to actual pages, but overall I kinda understand it and knows how to use it.
What are Bootstrap and Semantic UI? Bootstrap seems like the current most popular CSS framework nowadays. Bootstraps’ feature of a straightforward component design system is popular and useful among beginners. Most components can be used simply by adding a class, and sadly this also means there isn’t much customization. It means they all kind of look like Bootstrap like. For example, Forms, Buttons, Alerts, and a lot more useful components are useful in many ways. This semester, I used Form, Buttons, and Card the most. One of the pages that I build up was a blend of using Form, Buttons, and Alert. Semantic UI on the other hand is another web framework that contains tons of Javascript. Semantic UI is similar to Bootstrap with the component design systems. The difference is Semantic UI could have more features for modifying classes by switching up styles and the looks of it. Honestly, I felt Semantic UI is a bit easier to use and understand it. But it takes a lot longer to create a website by using Semantic UI and Bootstrap seems quicker. Overall, if I had the chance to pick between Semantic UI and Bootstrap, I will pick Bootstrap. Because I am bad at Javascript.
At the start of the semester, I felt comfortable because I heard that this course was the next stage of ICS 314. But with the introduction of Bootstrap and the newer meteor template, my comfort zone is corrupting. I don’t know why. My first problem with Bootstrap is the way they use their icon. Seem like a dump problem, but it takes hours to figure out. Another problem that I struggled with the most was the rendering of a page. It needs the Mongdb to work and the collections too. The collections we had this semester is contains more parts than the semester of ICS 314. But, after all, everything works out fine. My mistake is major about the wrong variable name and missing parts in the MongoDB.
The experience of having a real-life customer guild you through the project is precious. At first, every group puts their attention on the room reservations. But, after the first customer milestone, the room reservation feature is not primarily what our customers look for. For each customer milestone, we find ourselves something new to work on, such as the map feature. It is a clickable map feature of POST 3rd floor. Our group map feature is not working. After all, only some of the rooms were clickable and displayed information about the room. Also, display the offices of the staff. The experience is really meaningful to me since I am one semester away from entering the real world.