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General Discussion

Posted by Rafi Chaudhury
Rafi Chaudhury
4,445 Points

Simple Music Recommendation app - which Treecourses should I be taking?

Hi guys,

I've been going through the Front End Web Dev track here and wanted some input on what courses I should be taking to build the knowledge base I need to make my app happen.

Here's what I'm looking to make:

  • A database of about 100 bands, with a list of their albums, and reviews of those albums. No API necessary, I can provide the content myself.

  • A site/app where users can select an artist, album or music style, and the database will show them recommendations, based on the criteria they selected.

I have mocked up a static responsive HTML version of this, but am stuck on how to make this dynamic and database driven.

I can provide more details, but if anyone has insight based on this short description, I would appreciate it!

1 Answer

Jason Edstrom
Jason Edstrom
8,976 Points
Jason Edstrom
Jason Edstrom
8,976 Points

Front end development would benefit from Javascript, jQuery, HTML and CSS knowledge. If you are using a database, you should look into PHP as the backend to provide dynamically rendered pages. You can even build an admin portal with CRUD (Create, Read, Update, Delete) pages to help you supply the database with new info.

Rafi Chaudhury
Rafi Chaudhury
4,445 Points

Thanks. I have started the PHP basics course, and Database Foundations as it seems like I would need a PHP MySQL based infrastructure.

Maybe you could help me out a bit more. Is it possible to make a nice, fluid experience as a responsive web app as opposed to a native Android/iOS app? I am not ready yet to get into native mobile development, as I would first need to get good at PHP and MySQL

I am hoping to create my own UI (and not be locked down to Bootstrap or other template) and use things like HW accelerated CSS transitions and AJAX no-refresh to give that feel. I haven't seen too many database type sites (e.g. sports statistics) that don't do the whole "white flash" page refresh, and I wonder if that's because it's not workable in practice.

Or maybe I should not try to be a perfectionist and use Bootstrap or some other framework simply to get something out the door?