Inspiration
@author-note-Magdalena This idea came to me as I struggle with ADHD and I really came to love using the pomodoro technique to help me finish not only school related tasks but others as well. It’s tough to find motivation especially with everything being remote last year and this year as well, but I wanted to implement and improve the timer technique by creating an ADD friendly space with background noise options, reward systems, website blockers, and much more. This was a really fun way to explore ways to better help students learn and achieve their goals and I couldn’t have gotten so far without my team.
What it does
ADDulting has a timer, which runs for 25 minutes, meant for users to run while they study or complete other tasks. At the end of those 25 minutes, the user can select to take a short 5 minute break or a longer 15 minute break. Usually this 15 minute break is used when completed an entire task and not just one session. Additionally, users can add their own tasks, which they can check off as they complete or delete if they make a mistake. The checklist and hover over option to see what you completed is also ADD friendly as it encourages you to see what you’ve already done and keep goin.There is also a Spotify widget that can play "study music" which could include lo-fi, white noise, instrumentals, or more.
How we built it
We built ADDulting by splitting up and focusing on specific tasks to begin with. Minnie started off with setting up the design of the website and the timer, Vi focused on the Spotify widget, and Andres focused on setting up the firebase for authentication and data storage. We each used HTML, JavaScript, and CSS, but Andres was extra special and also used React on top of those.
With the frontend side we first set up a skeleton, and started creating buttons and learning how the language works with each other. Minnie (Magdalena) implemented the timer with javascript on the backend side and moved forward with these steps to complete the task lists and its functionality. Vi worked on getting the spotify widget setup and working on creating a functional prototype in Figma. Andres worked on setting up the firebase for authentication and data storage to allow us to save user’s statistics and data to begin setting up short term and long term rewards and achievements. He moved on to help with fixing a lot of bugs in the backend side and adding the user input add task functionality.
Challenges we ran into
Our top challenge was that none of us had very much experience in web development, especially not with JavaScript. Another challenge is that one of our original group members left early Saturday morning so we had to split more of the backend work between the rest of us. The biggest challenge Andres ran into was hooks, he is now traumatized by them and will run at the sight of one. The biggest challenge Minnie ran into was learning how to use JavaScript so that the website could have a working timer and lists as she was only familiar with frontend work and the team member leaving gave her some of the backend responsibility now. The biggest challenge Vi ran into was setting up the Spotify widget, but she managed to get it set up and Andres and Minnie cried tears of happiness (maybe).
Accomplishments that we're proud of
We're all proud of our website, it might not be the best looking one, but for a bunch of noobs, we did pretty well (at least according to some mentors earlier tonight). Minnie is proud that she did not give up halfway, and learned how to code front and back end, as well as the logic in JavaScript. Andres is proud of how he managed to set up a Google sign in pop up and made the tasks work as intended on the website. Vi is still proud of her Spotify widget, legend says that you can still hear her celebrating it on cloudless nights.
What we learned
We learned so much, especially since we came in knowing next to nothing. While we also originally planned to each just stick to either front end or back end, we ended up getting involved on all sides so all of us were able to learn front and back end languages. We learned new languages, new ways to communicate, how to use github with a team when we’re not all together, and ways to encourage and accomplish! We made it through our first hackathon!
What's next for ADDulting
Implementing more features for a more interactive experience, setting up achievements for accomplishing tasks and staying focused, making the interface look nicer, adding a social aspect to it, setting up a database to properly save tasks to an account, and properly setting up authentication so that users can log in from any device and see their tasks.
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