Taking a web project from idea to reality requires connecting a lot of dots. Front end has to stand on solid back end development. You need to implement only the most essential plugins that mesh with coding variables and best serve the project. Keeping a tight line of communication with partners is similarly crucial. Well, if there's one thing at the core of AgentPins, an exciting new venture set to revolutionize real estate referrals, it's an interest in connecting the dots... or more accurately, the pins.
A joint venture with Columbus, Ohio real estate agent, Rhonda Crum, the website will follow her vision for an affordable agent subscription service, allowing qualified real estate agents to pin their locations to a digital map. From there, they can receive referrals and locate colleagues within the network. Taking our cue from Rhonda, Chek Creative has been streamlining elements of our own process with React and Redux on the front end of this project.
With beta testing for AgentPins on the not-too-distant horizon, I asked Chek Creative's Lead Developer, Ryan Piechuta, for his thoughts on how using React is affecting the project from an engineering standpoint.
While it's still early, Ryan told me that CC's first project using the UI library has presented several benefits already. Like Rhonda's idea for cutting out the headache of tracking down nonlocal agents, Ryan says that React has helped eliminate potentially superfluous elements of the code base, which may help speed things up down the road. "It's much leaner than the previous Single Page Application we've used... which I hope will lead to a faster end product."
He added that the team has benefitted from the fact that React plays well with other third party libraries, and while reusable components are fairly standard across SPAs, utilizing them is, "just a little bit smoother in React." Redux, a small but powerful addition to the UI recipe, is built to provide stability in conjunction with React or other libraries. The two have made a good team in this project so far. Stay tuned for more as we forge ahead toward beta testing with AgentPins.
For more on AgentPins in the coming weeks, be sure to stay up with the blog and check out Mission Ctrl, our monthly email newsletter, with a special message from Joe. We're on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter too, so don't be a stranger. Chek Creative is always looking, project by project, to connect the dots between ideas and communities. So whatever project you have in mind, you know where to find us. We'd love to connect and hear about your vision.
