/vizzly-dashboard-builder

Primary LanguageTypeScript

This is a Next.js project bootstrapped with create-next-app. Other technologies used: Chakra-ui + Saas-ui, and Recharts.

Local development

First install dependencies and then run the development server with:

yarn && yarn dev

Open http://localhost:3000 with your browser to see the result.

Hosted project

Open https://vizzly-dashboard-builder.vercel.app/ in your desktop browser.

Notes on the project

For original tech choices, Nextjs and TypeScript are no-brainer choices that I kept. However I feel that Recharts is more composable than Chart.js. I'm also faster in Chakra than Tailwind and due to this being an MVP, makes the most sense to work with.

Recharts vs Chart.js

In the short run, Chart.js would have been a faster choice with it's built in timeseries plugins, however Recharts has a few positives that I think make it a better choice for this MVP.

  • Recharts is more composable, allowing for more flexibility in the future and cleaner code.
  • Recharts has more advanced charts (first class support, plugins/extensions there are more for chart.js)
  • Recharts is built with SVG and therefore is more performant than Chart.js using Canvas
  • Recharts accepts data in a way that APIs will typically deliver data in the first place (an array of objects), unlike chart.js' bespoke structure

Chakra ui/Saas ui vs Tailwind

This is a personal preference, I'm more familiar with Chakra and Saas ui and I feel that they are faster to develop with than Tailwind because they are component libraries rather than styling only.

General

My perspective on an MVP: "what is the minimum that provides value to a certain cohort of users and makes them want to use it". Also sometimes reffered to as an MLP — most loveable product. For a dashboard builder to provide value, I think many things not included in this task are still needed (as well as some things that I was unable to get to in the time period). Thinking on paper, those things would be:

  • For this to be a true MVP, persistence of data would need to be a real consideration. The components are set up to where this would be relatively easy to implement.
  • Being able to upload your own data as a user would be necessary to use this.
  • Bundling for external embedding. This is a multi-step todo that would include changeing the dashboard to having an edit mode and a view mode. Then we'd also need to build in a concept of what is being passed through, either by some form of authentication of who this is or maybe a copiable string that has the data needed in query params. Choosing a bundler (I'd look at either tsup or rollup.js) and then distributing via NPM.

Details that effect the user experience that need to be prioritized:

  • Aggregate functions need to be implemented for the measure and dimensions as well as timeseries handles.
  • The ability to add multiple measures and dimensions to a chart.

Closing

Overall, this was a fun project to build. I can really empathize with the importance of deciding what's important to expose in customizability.