week 8

In Week 8, our focus for the FoodNextDoor project shifted toward deepening our technological research to ensure the tools and frameworks chosen align with our system’s performance, scalability, and usability needs. We reviewed and validated the stack we had already implemented—ReactJS for the frontend, Node.js and Express.js for the backend, and MongoDB as the primary database—and explored complementary technologies to enhance platform reliability. Our technological research included examining how RESTful API architecture could ensure smooth data exchange between modules and how we could optimize it using middleware and error handling strategies. We also investigated the security aspects of user data management, particularly around authentication. After comparing various options, we decided to implement JWT (JSON Web Tokens) for secure session handling due to its simplicity, statelessness, and widespread community support. For the frontend, our research confirmed that React’s component-based structure and virtual DOM render efficiently under dynamic content changes, such as the survey’s conditional rendering. We also explored responsive design techniques, using Tailwind CSS utility classes, to ensure cross-device compatibility. Our research extended into database optimization, where we learned that indexing and schema validation in MongoDB can significantly enhance data retrieval during staff search operations. Additionally, we looked into the possibility of implementing data export features using Node modules like json2csv, which will allow staff to download search results for offline use or reporting. Real-time collaboration tools like Figma continued to support our iterative design decisions, while GitHub workflows helped us maintain version control and resolve merge conflicts effectively. We also evaluated hosting options such as Render, Heroku, and Vercel, considering scalability and simplicity. Based on our findings, we are leaning toward deploying the frontend on Vercel and backend on Render for separation of concerns and ease of continuous deployment. The technological decisions made this week are based not only on performance and ease of use but also on long-term maintainability as the platform scales. This focused week of technical exploration and validation has strengthened our development roadmap and allowed us to move forward with greater confidence. It has also prepared us to make informed decisions in the final development and deployment phase. As we move into Week 9, our next goal is to integrate these technologies into a stable beta version of the application and prepare documentation for testing and evaluation.