由 admin Alright, so this Baiyun 98 Shuihui js gig. It wasn’t exactly rocket science, you know, but it turned into one of those things. You start thinking it’s a quick job, and then, well, it spirals a bit. That’s how it usually goes when you’re just trying to help out, or so I’ve found.
Getting Started with the Idea
So, the whole thing kicked off because, apparently, their old way of doing things was, let’s just say, very traditional. We’re talking notebooks and maybe, if they were feeling fancy, a very outdated spreadsheet someone’s cousin made back in 2005. Someone must have whispered “JavaScript” or “website” in their ear, and boom, suddenly they wanted to be “modern.”
I got involved, as these things happen, through a friend of a friend. “It’s just a small thing,” they said. “Just need a little something online with JavaScript.” Yeah, right. I should’ve known better. My first thought was, okay, JavaScript is fine for what they probably need – display some info, maybe a way to show what’s on offer. Keep it simple, stupid. That was the plan, anyway.
The Actual Doing Part: Where JS Met Reality
First off, figuring out what they actually wanted was a mission in itself. You’d ask for a list of services, and you’d get three different answers from three different people. Trying to nail down prices? Even worse. It was like pulling teeth. I just wanted to get some basic data to plug into some simple JavaScript functions, you know, to display things nicely.
I decided to go with vanilla JS for most of it. No need to overcomplicate with fancy frameworks for what seemed like a glorified digital brochure at first.
- I started by trying to structure the data. I eventually just made a JSON file. That seemed the easiest way to manage the ever-changing list of services and their details. Then I’d fetch that with JS and populate the page.
- Then, making it look ‘good’. They had these vague ideas – “make it look high-class,” but also “friendly.” I’m no design guru, man. I cobbled together some CSS, and used JavaScript for some really basic stuff, like maybe a simple image slider for their ‘deluxe rooms’ or whatever. Just enough to make it not look completely static.
- They wanted a way for people to see what’s available. So I built a small filtering thing with JS. Click a category, and it shows only those services. Simple, but it took ages to get the categories right with them.
The amount of back and forth was insane. “Can the button be more… shiny?” “Can we have music playing?” Stuff that just makes you sigh. I tried to explain that less is often more, especially when you’re working with basic web tech, but you know how it is.
Roadblocks and Little Annoyances
Oh, the data. That was a special kind of hell. Some of it was handwritten, some was in that ancient Excel file I mentioned, with formulas that didn’t even work anymore. I spent a good chunk of time just cleaning that up before I could even think about the JavaScript side of displaying it. It felt like I was an archaeologist more than a developer at times.
And then, the constant tiny changes. “Move this here.” “No, put it back.” “Can we change the font? Again?” Each time, it meant tweaking the JS or CSS. What was supposed to be a few simple scripts turned into a patchwork quilt of minor adjustments. You know, the kind of stuff that makes you question your life choices.
I remember one day, the main guy, let’s call him Mr. Wang, kept asking if the JavaScript could automatically update when they changed prices in their notebook. I had to gently explain, multiple times, that the notebook and the website weren’t magically connected. That was a fun conversation. Really fun.
The So-Called “Final” Product
Eventually, we got something up and running. A simple site, built mostly with HTML, CSS, and a fair bit of JavaScript to handle the dynamic bits like service listings, a basic gallery, and a contact form that probably just did a `mailto:` link initially because getting them to understand backend requirements for a proper form submission was a whole other battle I wasn’t ready to fight at that point.
It worked. It wasn’t going to win any awards, that’s for sure. But it was better than the notebook, I guess. People could see what Baiyun 98 Shuihui offered, their opening times, stuff like that. The JavaScript did its job, making the information accessible and a tiny bit interactive.
Looking back, the main takeaway wasn’t about mastering some new JS technique. It was about patience. And how even a “simple” JavaScript project for a small local place can teach you a lot about communication, managing expectations (mostly theirs), and just grinding through the not-so-glamorous parts of making something work. It’s often these small, slightly messy projects that stick with you, more than the big, shiny ones. You learn the real stuff in the trenches, even if the trench is just trying to explain to someone why their website can’t read their mind via JavaScript.