Let's Have A Snow Day!
Let's Have A Snow Day!
The official report is in, but I haven't read it, so I'm going to say we got roughly 4 inches of snow here in Northwest Arkansas. I spent most of my time harvesting corn in FS22, so I couldn't be bothered to really notice. I did bundle up today with plans to make the half-mile trek to my local coffee shop, but upon arrival, they were closed for the day. Oh well— I needed the exercise regardless.
Switching Gears
I talk about my other three websites quite a bit on this blog, but they aren't my only projects. I have a personal domain that I use for my shopping list. That's it—just a shopping list. I did once add the ability to make notes and even had a recipe book where you could pull all the ingredients from a recipe and add them to your shopping list. But it never got used. Ever. So today, I spent some time working on the site, turning it into a PWA—basically a website that acts like an ordinary app on your phone.
I cut the majority of the codebase down, leaving only the shopping list functionality. This makes it easier to maintain. I also did quite a bit of work on the backend to make the site more robust. The frontend got a small facelift, too—it's now simple yet effective for what I need.
My girlfriend and I are the only ones who use it. I’ve blurred out her name and the website name for privacy, but you get the idea. It’s a very simple app: you add items as you think of them, and when you're at the store, it opens with one click. Your shopping list is ready and accessible. As you put things in your cart, you swipe left to remove the item from your list.
Want To Try It?
I started adding this functionality to Wisedocks a few months ago but quickly abandoned it. I've been avoiding user-interactive elements like the plague. Not to be mean, but they add a responsibility I don’t want to deal with. Dealing with users really stifles creativity. Instead of playing around with my own ideas, I’d have to deal with user issues. I have no desire to turn my hobby into a job.
They always say, "Do something you love, and you'll never work a day in your life." I disagree. Keep your hobbies and work separate, or you'll eventually start to hate your hobbies. Something as simple as this shopping list app would drive me crazy with people wanting to change colors or add this feature or that feature—until it wouldn’t even be fun to work on anymore.
Every time I start to think about monetizing some of my codebase in some form or fashion, I quickly change my mind when I think about all the potential issues users would encounter. That’s not to say I wouldn’t want to make money doing this for a living—but not at the cost of my sanity. That’s why I have ads strategically placed across all of my domains.
If I can figure out a way to make money from a small app that’s fun for me to build, I might do it one day. But not today.
I just noticed that I have some style issues with the bottom menu that I didn't notice earlier. It really pops out on my big screen that I use to write these blog posts, lol.
