User Interface

For the past two weeks I have shifted my efforts to the front-end interface of SalonBook. I installed Adobe Dreamweaver and Illustrator, and I have been using both to design the look and feel of the application.

I have been learning how to use Dreamweaver on the go, and it includes lots of helpful tools that can create database connection, session variables, and database queries. Of course, the built-in tools are not nearly advanced or complex enough to be sufficient for my needs, but thus far it has provided a good starting place and code infrastructure.

I struggled for a long time trying to figure out how to use session variables directly in SQL queries, but I was eventually able to figure out the syntax and method for accomplishing this.

For now, I am working on trying to build all of the functionality of the site with the exception of the scheduling aspect. This will likely prove to be the most challenging, from a conceptual standpoint as well as implementation.

The difficult, important questions that I am currently working through for the scheduling aspect include if/how to package multiple services into one appointment, how to assign appointments for hair and beauty when the stylist is not specified, and how to have appointment blocks pre-specified by the salons. Once I come up with solid answers to these fundamental questions, and after the rest of the UI is working, I will begin implementing Google calendars as a back-end appointment database and pulling that information forward on the client side of my site.