Galleria Webapp

Galleria was the final project for my Web Development course in Fall 2023. The goal was to design and build a full-stack application from scratch with no starter kits and no UI libraries, using plain JavaScript, Node.js, and Express on the backend.

Artists can create accounts, upload artwork with titles and descriptions, follow other artists, and leave comments on pieces they admire. The app uses MongoDB for flexible document storage and Pug as a server-side templating engine, keeping the architecture close to classical MVC.

Building Galleria taught me how the full-stack request cycle works end to end, from browser to server to database and back, using no framework shortcuts. It also taught me how to handle stress.

This was a double-pass course, meaning I had to pass both through the semester and in the final project. A few hours before I was about to record my demo video, the app crashed due to a database error. I had a final exam starting soon and no time to spare. Getting it back online under that kind of pressure, then recording the video and making it to the exam, was probably the most stressful single day of my entire school journey.