So, last week, during the Thanksgiving break, I was working on my portfolio upgrade, changing it over from JavaScript to React. I got stuck with something (conditionally rendering components) and hit Facebook for a little reprieve. While on there, someone in a programming group I’m in shared a link to VolunteerMatch.org, which I checked out. I found a cancer charity not far from where I used to work in Long Island. They have a website on WordPress, and were looking for a web developer to help improve it.

I have a soft spot for clinical projects, because of my full-time job, and this also hit home for me because its a breast cancer charity, and my boss, who was one of the most inspiring people I’ve ever known, and who was like a second mother to me, passed two weeks before my older daughter was born, from melanoma.

• Breast Cancer Comfort (current website – this might change to my redesign soon)
• [edit 04.24.2020] The live site has been using my design since Feb 10, 2020. I’m apparently their webmaster now. 😉

I took it upon myself to research them online and go over their current website. I then built a simple one using mainly HTML and LESS (with a touch of JavaScript for the menu) based on their existing one. I used images and copy from their site as assets for my project, and then last night I contacted them on Facebook to let them know that if they still needed someone to work on their website, I was available and had already mocked something up. I sent a link to a deployed site on Netlify, and they got back to me about an hour later. They loved what I had done and are interested in working with me. We’re meeting on Sunday (4 days from now) at their office to present the site to the team and see how to proceed from there. 😉

My intention with this was two-fold. First, I wanted to add a project to my portfolio that wasn’t something Lambda-related. I really wanted a real-world project. The second was more psychological, and I realized it later that night. I didn’t complete my portfolio upgrade, so I felt like I hadn’t accomplished anything over Thanksgiving break. This gave me something to mark as a win. Even if they rejected the website, it was a small project that I could put on the portfolio and it wasn’t school-related. I could always call it a personal project – but now, I can actually add it as my first client one!

I have an issue with what I’m going to present to them, but its nothing that can’t be remedied later. Its mainly that the site is a simple HTML/LESS project, so its not DRY (Don’t Repeat Yourself). I repeat the same code on every page (header, menu, footer) with some content being different. And on several pages, even though the content is different, the structure is the same. So, most of you know where I’m going with this: I feel like I need to rewrite it in React and make it DRY.  The header, menu, footer and some other parts should be components. The content for some of those components can be an array that feeds in text and images. I feel like I need to rewrite it as an SPA (Single-Page Application) which is likely something I’ll do over winter break.

To those of you who want to work on projects, I suggest this, because its worked for me so far, and I intend to do it again: Find an organization that needs help with their website and just create one by yourself. When you’re done, present it to them. They can take it or leave it, but in the end, you can add it to your portfolio regardless of whether its adopted or not.

There are some things I plan on speaking about with them on Sunday. Some pages on the old website had no content (events, gallery, resources) so I didn’t include them in the redesign. Their contact page had an email address on it. I moved that to the footer. They have a second email address in their donations page, so I need to find out which is the one that they use and should be on the website. Two of the team members don’t have last names, and three of them have no biographies. There are incomplete promises on the site – one page mentions that donors who contribute $500 or more can opt to be included on a wall of fame on the website. That wall doesn’t exist yet. Their “Boobtique” says that they’re opening their doors to the public, but doesn’t give any details about purchasing yet. They also have a blog with a single post in it. We should either decide on a CMS (content management system) and use it or find somewhere better to include that post. There are also other resources online that I’d like to see if we can include – like other videos of the charity on local news stations. I’m also interested in any paper materials that they have printed, to see if information from it can be used on the website. Hopefully, on Sunday, some of these concerns will be addressed. It’ll be a fun project to work on, and I hope that an improved website helps with their online presence and growth.

• Breast Cancer Comfort (my redesign and deployment on Netlify)