Insight Globe - MyBlogPost Website

Team Members

• Silvio Romero Gomes Teixeira Carvalho Neto (SID: 28220796)
• Aditya Tripathi (SID: 65268641)
• João Henrique Leone Bolsonaro (SID: 82056300)

Project Overview

We as a team collectively decided to choose the MyBlogPost website for our project and the name of our website is Insight Globe. This website will be a platform for users to create, manage and share their personal blogs. The system will allow registered users to search content, write, comment and publish their own blogs. On the other hand, the unregistered users will have limited functionality to just browsing, searching and viewing the content. The website will support multiple users and will be updated in real time. The aim of this project is to create a user-friendly and an interactive environment for users to express themselves and engage with other users on the platform.

Key Features (Requirements)

User Functionalities

1. Browse Blogs without Registering:

   • Unregistered users can access and read blog posts without the need for registration.

2. Search for Blog Posts by Keyword without Registration:

   • Unregistered users can utilize a search feature to find relevant blog posts based on keywords.

3. Register at the Site:

   • Users can register by providing a username, email, and a profile picture.

4. User Login:

   • Registered users can log in using their user ID and password.

5. Create Blogs and Comment on Blogs when Logged In:

   • Registered users can create new blog posts and comment on other users’ blog posts.

6. View/Edit User Profile:

   • Users can view and edit their own profiles, including updating their profile picture.

Administrator Functionalities

1. Search for Users:

   • Administrators can search for users by name, email, or post.

2. Enable/Disable Users:

   • Administrators can enable or disable user accounts.

3. Edit/Remove Posts or Complete Posts:

   • Administrators can edit or remove individual comments.
   • Administrators can edit or remove entire blog posts.

Common Site Features

1. Hand-Styled Layout with Contextual Menus:

   • Layout is hand-styled with contextual menus reflecting changes based on user login status.

2. 2 or 3-Column Layout:

   • Utilize Bootstrap for a responsive 2 or 3-column layout following proper design principles.

3. Form Validation with JavaScript:

   • Implement client-side form validation using JavaScript.

4. Server-Side Scripting with PHP:

   • Use PHP for server-side scripting, especially for user registration, login, and data handling.

5. Data Storage in MySQL:

   • Store user data, blog posts, comments, and other relevant information in a MySQL database.

6. Appropriate Security Measures:

   • Implement secure password handling techniques.
   • Ensure proper input validation to prevent common security vulnerabilities.
   • Enforce the use of HTTPS.

7. Site Maintains State:

   • Utilize PHP sessions to maintain user states, including whether they are logged in or not.

8. Responsive Design Philosophy:

   • Bootstrap ensures a responsive design that adapts to different display sizes.

9. AJAX (or Similar) for Asynchronous Updates:

   • Implement AJAX to enable real-time updates for comments and posts without page refresh.

10. User Images and Thumbnails:

    • Store user profile images and thumbnails in the MySQL database.

11. Simple Discussion Grouping and Display:

    • Implement a simple system to group and display blog posts.

12. Navigation Breadcrumb Strategy:

    • Provide a breadcrumb navigation strategy to help users understand their location in discussion threads.

13. Error Handling:

    • Implement error handling mechanisms for scenarios like bad navigation.

Additional Features

1. Hot Threads:

   • Users can see what's trending on the blog page.

2. Activity by Date:

   • All activities can be listed by the date they were posted.

3. Responsive Layout for Mobile:

   • Users can use the website on multiple devices such as smartphones or tablets.