Dice Designer Week 2 Project Update
My name is Samuel Cohen and this is how I single-handedly designed, developed, and launched a website where you can customize a die and have it 3D printed in 30 days. Below is a project update post. If you wish to read more about the project, the landing page is here.
This is the second project update post for my month-long project. This week I focused on porting my designer program onto a website and setting up a store.
What I Accomplished in Week 2
- Created Dice Designer Website
- Ported Designer Program to Custom Website
- Week 2 Update Documentation
In-Depth Details
Dice Designer Website
In order for me to have a functioning business, I needed my own domain. I had purchased the domain from SquareSpace, but quickly realized I would be unable to port over my designer program. I ended up deciding to create the website in WordPress using WooCommerce. I will put more details about the specific issues in the obstacles section.
If you are interested in an in-depth view of buying a domain and web-design you can read the post below.
The WooCommerce setup post is here.
Porting My Program
I had originally written my program in a code-editor called Glitch that hosts your program online. It functioned properly there, without any special formatting. When I tried to port this program over to my own website, I struggled greatly with the formatting. I will put more details about the specific issues in the obstacles section.
If you are interested in an in-depth view of creating a color-changing program you can read the post below.
The color customizer post is here.
Obstacles This Week
Squarespace Does Not Allow Custom Formatting
My initial choice for web-design was Squarespace. I had heard great things about its ease of use and function design. Unfortunately, when I started trying to customize the design of my site, I was unable to make needed changes.
Squarespace is set up for traditional stores, which makes sense. If you are creating something custom the nicely formatted design becomes a roadblock instead of a feature. The store wouldn’t allow me to add custom products or product pages, meaning I had to move on.
I ended up deciding to use WordPress and Woocommerce. Using those services I could create my custom store without much hassle.
Learning About CSS
In my limited experience in web design, I didn’t truly understand CSS. CSS is the formatting that websites use. The CSS for my application took up the entire screen, meaning that elements in the header and footer of the website were pushed aside.
This meant that I couldn’t use traditional web templates as they created formatting issues. I was able to solve this problem with a WordPress plugin called Blank Slate that allows you to create a page with no formatting.
From there I was able to import my program and have it function on a custom website.
Things I Learned
Technical
- How CSS formatting Functions
- Integrating Javascript on a Website
- Coding a Program to Function with Commerce Features
Business
- Store Setup Using Woocommerce
- Tax Setup for E-Commerce Sites
- Shipping Setup for E-Commerce Sites
Summary
This week I wasn’t able to get everything done that I initially wanted. I ran into issues porting my program into a custom website multiple times. By the end of the week, I was able to have a functioning program and store on my own website.
I’m looking forward to catching up on some content and moving forward.
Now that week 2 is complete I am ready to move into week 3.
Check Out the Website at www.dicedesigner.com.
