patrickbcasey/the-green-exchange

The Green Exchange

The Green Exchange provides a platform for people to buy/sell/trade plants and interact other users. Users will see the plants that other people are willing to sell or trade, as well as make requests for plants they would like to obtain. Users can explore the vast range of plant diversity to fulfill their needs for indoor and outdoor plants.
Explore the docs »

View Demo · Report Bug · Request Feature

Getting Started:

On the development server:

npm install
npm start

Open http://localhost:3000 with your browser Create a .env file in the root folder Add a database connection string named DB_STRING and a cloudinary connection

This Site and its API is actively under construction

Tech used:

• This API was created using Node.js, Express.js, Bootstrap, and MongoDB

Optimizations

• Expanding plant API to add more functionality to the site beyond the social aspect
• Update the search to be able to search both the API and public posts
• Give users more relevant statistics to track
• Expand sign-in methods to include strategies for Google, Facebook, and Twitter

Lessons Learned:

I learned that Bootstrap is easy to get started with and make a viable looking site, but massively restricts the creative freedom of the design, but that it's better to stick with one technology for the views while you get the MVP rather than jumping between technologies and never getting the core server working.