Website Reconstruction
Members
“From start to finish, version 2.0 of the website had a lot of team meetings and reiterations. Our main objective was to build a backend so that content could be easily created and updated. Initially, our architecture consisted of Gatsby + Strapi CMS as I had experience with this architecture. However, we realized that Strapi was overkill for our capabilities, and switched to our current model with Netlify CMS + Netlify due to its lack of a database, Gatsby integration, and support for open-source projects. Overall, I’m very happy with the team’s willingness to put in their time for this project, especially Harrison, Daniel, and Teresa for their help over winter break.” - David You
“Our main goal of the BTG website remodel was to implement a backend to allow members to add their own portfolio pages. We initially settled on a Gatsby + Strapi CMS architecture, but we quickly found that the use of an SQL database was overkill for our needs. We then switched to Netlify CMS which was much better oriented towards teams like ours. From there, I was able to build out the home, members, and alumni pages, integrating GraphQL to query names, images, and descriptions. I thoroughly enjoyed working in the team setting, and the hard work and collaboration of the design and software teams came to together to make a stunning website.“ - Harrison Chui
“As an engineer, I was able to learn so many techniques and procedures to build out a more professional and organized website. I worked mostly on the frontend components like the all-project page and the individual templates. From this, I was able to get a much better grasp on javascript and get experience with many libraries and functions I was unfamiliar with. I greatly appreciate the other members of this group, especially Harrison and David for their openness and willingness to help through the difficult stages of the process.” - Daniel Chen
"Under David’s leadership, the engineering side of the website reconstruction worked to pick a framework that would fit our use case. Through multiple iterations of research and testing, we eventually landed on Netlify as our CMS of choice. As an engineer who began relatively new to JS and website design, this project was a large undertaking, but I have become much more familiar and capable with JS and React, working with David to create markdown pages for our club members whose information would be presented on the page. I am grateful to both Harrison and David for their guidance along the way." - Jason Hoang
"On the design side of the website, we collaborated using Figma to find an ideal format that was simple, colorful, and also organized. Through multiple iterations and discussions with the engineering team, we settled on new designs for the project page, members page, and also created individual pages for all members. I think having a design team made the website visually more appealing and branded the website well using the club colors. I enjoyed working with the other design team members who were very open to different ideas and very creative!" - Sahaja Danthurthy
“As part of the design team, I used Figma to create wireframes for the different pages of the website. When doing so, I tried to ensure that the pages would be straight-forward and easy for users to navigate, but also look visually pleasing and meet the needs of the club Additionally because I was communicating these designs to the software development team, I learned to create these wireframes so that it wouldn’t be creating unnecessary complications implementing them in code. As someone who enjoys art and design, I had a lot of fun using my creativity in designing a website and learned a lot about the rationale behind design decisions for websites.” Teresa Yang
