Washer Watcher

Project maintained by washerwatcher Hosted on GitHub Pages — Theme by mattgraham

Table of contents

About Washer Watcher

The UH dorms have washers available for the students to use for their needs. However, there isn’t any way to see whether or not there’s actually any washers available when a student decides to do their laundry. The solution to this problem is Washer Watcher. This application will allow others to provide status updates of the availability of the washers. A timestamp will be provided with each update so a person can gauge the reliability of the information provided. The ultimate goal is to help alleviate the problem where someone goes to do their laundry just to find out that there isn’t any available washers!

Guided Tour

The page that a user first sees. It introduces them to the goal of the app, providing them with a spot to log in. Landing Page

If a user does not have an account, they can register for one here. On this page, they can choose their dorm, so that only the washers associated with that dorm will be displayed. Register Page

Should a user move dorms or change dorms every semester, the preferences page allows the user to switch the dorm they are currently seeing. User Preferences Page

Check Availability

This page shows the availability of the washers associated with the current dorm of the user. If the washer are available, then the color will be green. If the washer are in use, the color will be yellow. If the washer is out of order, the color will be red. At the top of the page, there is a counter that notifies the user of how many washers are available in the dorm. Washing Machine Availability Page

To update the status of the washer, or to add a note to a particular washer, click the Show Modal Button. This is also where the user may view any of the notes for the particular washer.

Admin Functionality

Admin users view a page similar to the availability page, but have the ability to delete a broken washer, or add a new washer. Admin Add Washer Page (Note: you must be certified as admin to view)

Super-Admins can view all accounts and change any user to be an admin. Super-Admin Account Status Page (Note: You must be certified as Super-Admin to view)

FAQ

Any common questions users might have can be answered in the Frequently Asked Questions page. Frequently Asked Questions Page

Initial User Study

Fifteen users were asked to test out this app, four of them being a current member in the UH Manoa dorms. All fifteen users generally gave very positive feedback. They enjoyed the simplicity of the app and liked the way it works. They liked how you can set your dorm and then change your dorm in the preferences page. They found the landing page to be very instructive and well formatted. The color scheme used to show the washer’s availability stood out to many of the users. Finally, users like how timestamped updates and notes are able to be inserted into the app.

One feature that could possibly be added in the future is the ability to reserve a washer at a specific time. Three out of four users from the dorms said that instead of having to check back and forth to see when a washer was available, that they would just rather reserve a washer for a specific time. However, the biggest concern of this app is the inability to force users to use the app. Ten out of fifteen users expressed concerns that while the app is very easy to use and very easy to learn, a lot of users will not willingly update a washer’s status. They want us to find a way to be able to update a washer automatically, through either motion detectors, etc. This can be done with a Raspberry Pi device, and may be implemented in the future.

Developer Guide

First, install Meteor.

Next, download the latest version of Washer Watcher to your computer. You can either download it straight from GitHub, or fork it to your account and clone it to your desktop.

cd into the app\ directory of the repository, and then run meteor npm install and meteor npm run start to begin the app.

To reset the data, you may exit meteor, and then run meteor reset.

If you use a IDE that has JavaScript and React editing capabilities (for example IntelliJ IDE), you may edit any of the source files. As most of the admin functionality can be done in the app itself with proper admin capabilities, you may not need to edit any source files. If you have any questions, please contact one of the creators at our email addresses below.

Development History

Milestone 1 (M1)

Milestone 2 (M2)

Milestone 3 (M3)

The Team