I have an assignment for a course I’m taking in Computer Security. I need to put together an app that can generate a secure password. I was originally going to get through this assignment as quickly as possible using some Java code that I already know. Then I had the CRAZY idea to actually learn some new skills.
Enter web app designing 101. I, of course, asked the internet for some wisdom on how I might go about this. Here are some of the resources I found most helpful. WARNING: THE MATERIAL MIGHT BE DATED! One of the sites I visited (can’t remember if it’s one of those referenced) took down some of their content because it was date.
Creating a Web App from Scratch – Part 1 of 8: Basic Idea and Design | CSS-Tricks (css-tricks.com)
How to build a web app: A beginner’s guide (2021) (budibase.com)
How to Build a Web Application from Scratch with No Experience (lifehacker.com)
No. I’m not an ‘affiliate’. No. I don’t recommend any particular platform – yet. Budibase appears to only work for cloud apps with a specific cloud provider, but the article did give some good background.
Getting a design going
So the first step was to get a design going. I’m bad at this. In my world everything is a series of 2- and 3-d rectangles.
With the help of a free tool called ‘Figma’ (www.figma.com) I came up with this
The tool offers a number of templates with various preset sizes for different mobile phone manufacturers. I figured that mobile devices are mostly all the same size so I went with a ‘less new’ model when selecting the size.
Figma is a design tool. It doesn’t seem to do any of the functional work of app making, but does give a pretty swell idea of what your app will look like. One feature I find useful is that you can invite reviewers right from the tool. They can comment on your design, but you can keep them from making any changes. Handy!!
Next Steps….what is the user experience?
According to my online research, the next step (once you have an app design) is to start thinking about your workflow. Arguably there is some back and forth between the look of the app and what the user does. I’d like for my app to be intuitive and pleasant to look at.
My workflow is something like this:
- Decide how long you want your password to be.
- Type that in the box
- Do you want symbols?
- IF YES, check the box.
- Otherwise go to next step.
- Do you want numbers?
- IF YES, check the box.
- Otherwise go to next step.
- Click Generate.
- Password is printed on the screen.
So….now I have a design and a workflow. I just need to wait until some of those reviewers send their feedback!! I guess I should follow up on that.