Welcome, all to yet another month in review segment! Boy have things progressed nicely this month on many fronts! Let's not waste any time and get to it!
Website
Quite a bit has happened over the past month on the website, as usual, a lot of it has been behind the scenes but that doesn't mean that nothing has happened haha.
Authentication - The Fixining
I began last month building out the authentication system on my website, but I wasn't happy with it.... as a matter of fact, I scrapped it multiple times to rework it in such a way that I'd be happier with the result. I wasn't liking that I had to include the auth component on each and every single page otherwise the profile system wouldn't work, and it didn't make sense to need it on pages where there is no authentication needed so I knew this needed reworked. I kept the original context I had created and went from there, spending a lot of time researching how and what to do to improve this flow, and in the end settled in and now load authentication on componentDidMount in the _app.TSX file which means it loads at a very high level to the app. Placing this hear allows me to get the user very early in the page load cycle and allowed me to remove the code from all the pages as it wasn't needed any longer. I also took the opportunity to switch from cookies to storing the entire user in localStorage.... however I'm not satisfied with the result so far and I might go back to cookies if I can't find a solution I'm currently having. With that said though local storage makes its a breeze, however, it's only client-side. With this all in place though and the final implementation details being the part I need to nail down yet I have been able to finally start doing something with the authentication system to display content based on the user.
CSS
As usual, there was time spent over the last month on CSS problems and things that just needed to be done. The biggest thing I've noticed is the lack of visual aid to the user what page they are on, besides of course the content. I took some time and built out a nav item component that could dynamically take in data so that I could show/hide links and so on for the visual aspect of it.
Bug Fixes
I guess claiming fixes is a bit of a stretch but there was one thing that's been bothering me lately that hasn't worked right the model filtering. I spent some time with a good ole console log and so on I think finally get this working correctly. Keep your fingers crossed though!
To-Do
Things on the to-do list this coming month include mostly bug fixes. I've got some bugs with the popup login dialog to fix, both with the notifications for failure to log in as well as just some z-index fighting that isn't correct. Other things include: * CSS on mobile nav needs fixed, funky spacing and isn't consistent * Implement scroll to top * Swipe abilities on mobile nav * Implementation of MDX for future work * Using react suspense for image loading - allows smaller assets to load larger as able. * Ability to edit models from the front-end
Personal Projects
With Christmas approaching rapidly one of the things I've been focusing on is the models I'm building for family members. I've got one done and I'm very close to finishing the next. The third and final though is still a long way from done but It'll reach completion before Christmas I'm sure of it. I know they will all love what I got for them. I've also been trying to save up money to purchase a new digital camera so that this next spring I can have it for airshow season as that spins up, as well as to help with the photography of my models. So far I've got about 1/5 of the total cost but that should start rising quickly. Almost thought about a GoFundMe but IDK about that. If you wanna support me though email me!
In Closing
As usual, keep busy coding, keep busy! And enjoy the holidays. I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving and the upcoming holiday season as always!