BrightMind

• React
• Express
• Node
• Scss
• Bulma

Overview

BrightMind is a simple journaling app, built in React and using Express as an API. The deployment was automated using GitHub Actions and Docker.

Background

BrightMind was built as a project in my second year at university. We were required to build a tracking app of some description. What we tracked and how we built it was up to us. I decided to build a journaling app, as I have read about the importance of journaling to improve mental health.

Solution

BrightMind is built using a React Frontend, integrating a CSS library, Bulma. For the backend I used Node and Express. This was my very first full stack application. The project was essentially self-directed, as the class was learning PHP, however I had been learning JavaScript on my own time, so decided to use that instead. We were allowed to use any language, provided we could demo the final application.

The front-end is designed to be easy to use and understand, as I want users to be enticed into using the application. The interface encourages the user to write as many thoughts as they can. The user can also break their thoughts into different journals, if they wish to separate thoughts for example into different categories.

I also put focus on the feedback to the user if and when something works or doesn’t. Snack bars and Notification boxes let the user know when actions have been completed, or if there was some issue with their request.

On the back-end, I implemented a basic CRUD API to allow for the creation and management of journals and entries. I also implemented JWT Authentication to help authenticate my users and ensure that their journal entries were private.