@minaurae

Devlog #4 of Inkwell
Inkwell can now switch between chapters and save your progress (finally!)
I’ve been working mostly on the upcoming challenges, which are to implement the books and folders system. anyways, here’s what I did so far

• I worked with arrays to create infinite amount of chapters
• Created save and load function that saves your progress and loads the contents when you open it back later (tho it’ll all be gone when you refresh the page since I didn’t add the local storage part yet)
• Made the chapter buttons in the navigation bar clickable
• I also added comments to help me understand this project if I make some changes after a while
  honestly the biggest challenge this time was understanding how chapter state should be saved and loaded. It was a new concept for me, so I spent time learning how it works before implementing the logic myself. Once it clicked, I was able to build the system and finally get chapter switching working the way I wanted.

devlog #3 of Inkwell
Today I was kinda stressed because of one thing: the burger button. It would show along with the navigation panel, but also disappear with it, which I didn’t want. I spent a ridiculous amount of time trying to fix this issue, at the end, I realized I was toggling the wrong element. Once I fixed the logic and based the button’s appearance on the sidebar’s state, everything behaved the way I wanted. What I did today might not seem much, but it was challenging to debug them, but here’s what I’ve done:
-The navigation bar can now be opened and closed as desired while writing

• I also fixed the layout of the home button the navigation bar issue caused by the burger
  and honestly what I did learn from today was to think in terms of the coding logic rather than the design.

Devlog #2 of Inkwell Big milestone today! 🎉 Inkwell can now create files dynamically instead of relying on hardcoded HTML.I built a workflow where creating a new file opens the editor, switches to writing mode, and automatically generates a new chapter button in the navigation panel. I also implemented default naming (Untitled 1, Untitled 2, …) and added a Home button so I can move between the dashboard and editor without refreshing the page. The biggest challenge was dynamically creating HTML elements with JavaScript,it was my first time using such jaavascript element. I spent quite a bit of time debugging UI state (menus showing at the wrong time, navigation toggling, and figuring out why my hamburger menu disappeared which I still haven’t figured out yet), but every bug taught me something new about how the DOM actually works. Next up: making the navigation interactive so clicking a chapter loads the correct file, fixing the hamburger navigation button, and more.

Hey there! 👋

Welcome to my first devlog!

(I didn’t realize I was supposed to post devlogs,I spent more time building than exploring the website 😭; but here’s my first one!)

I wanted a place where I could keep the chapters of my stories organized, so I decided to build my own writing app called Inkwell. It’s mainly for me, but I hope it’ll be useful for anyone who likes writing and keeping their work organized too.

This is only Version 1. As I learn more about backend development, I plan to keep improving it and eventually add features like syncing across devices.

What I’ve built so far:

• Designed the home page and dashboard
• Added a floating action menu for creating books, folders, and files
• Made the menu interactive with JavaScript
• Built a distraction-free writing editor
• Added a navigation sidebar for moving between chapters
• Implemented switching between the home page and the writing view
• Finished the first version of the UI and overall design