Best way to go about a project

Good day to everyone
I recently just earned my web design certification and my javascript algorithms and data structures certification and I noticed that I never really plan-out or think to deeply about the assignments I’ve had to do. This has not been a problem so far (all the projects have’nt been too big in scale), but I see becoming one in the forseeable future because I am about to get into front-end libraries (which has larger-scale projects) I see planning as a necessity. I humbly request your advice on how to go about planning for a project.

on the long term you will need to find your preferred way, also it depends on the scale of the project, but some suggestions:

  • a mock up with pen and paper to see the general outline
  • keep track of features added and yet to add with a todo-list
  • for a feature create a block diagram depicting how should it be accessed, and then make sure that it is implemented that way
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Understood thanks for your advice, much appreciated.

Well I m not a senior web developer or anything like that but I followed some tutorials and I kept in mid some points I can share with you.
Since you plan to go for front-end libraries(although what I say here it s valid for plain Javascript as well if you want that), they encourage the idea of modular and reusable code.

When you plan a web app for example think about the style ofc, but that s about CSS more then think about the purpose and what features you want to add and leave room for extra features you might add even tho for a short term they re not included.

After you made a sketch of your web page for example, how it s structured what it contains and all the features, you can then start dividing the whole page into components and each component should be independent from other ones but grouped together should make a whole.
The idea of making them not dependent on other components makes them reusable because they can fit in other parts of the app that need a similar component you already have, without the need of adjusting it too much in order to be compatible with the other components. I m pretty sure there can be more to say but this is what it comes in my mind atm.
Some examples in case it s too abstract:

  • navigation bar can be one component and it should be reusable since it should be displayed on all pages, it never changes
  • then you might have the header of the website which can be another component
  • main content, and if that is big you can split it in mini components
  • footer, which can be another section of the site
  • side bar if your site might have one you can put it in a component not necessary reusable. Not all components have to be reusable but it s a good idea to try to design them that way and if you know that a certain component might be needed in other page then make it reusable
  • some certain buttons also can be reusable, you might use them in more than one place.

And the list can go longer depending on how big your web app is and what it includes. One thing to add is that making reusable components is much easier in frameworks compared with plain Javascript but it s always good to head towards frameworks after you have a deep understanding of Javascript and you feel somewhat comfortable with the language.

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