TeachOrange 🍊

Django + PostgreSQL app for faculty to browse teaching activities (TeachOrange branding, domain teachorange.com). Profs manage content via admin; faculty register with a .edu email, then search by tag/name, preview supported files in a new tab, and download materials.

Setup

source venv/bin/activate   # activate virtual environment
pip install -r requirements.txt
python manage.py migrate
python manage.py runserver

Create a Django superuser for the admin site: python manage.py createsuperuser (use any email you like for local dev).

Done so far

Setup & schema

• Schema design : ER diagram, SQL schema, indexes
• Django project : config + accounts + activities apps
• Models : Category, Activity, Tag, ActivityTag, Material
• Migrations : applied
• PostgreSQL : configured, database created
• .gitignore : media/ excluded from version control

Admin

• Admin panel : models registered, tag assignment, activity management
• File upload : Material has File (main download, e.g. Word or PDF) and optional Preview (PDF) in admin when the main file is not a PDF (faculty open preview in a new tab); uploads under media/
• Validation : no duplicate tags (case-insensitive), required activity title, material linked to activity

Accounts

• Register : GET/POST /accounts/register/: sign up with a .edu email (suffixes configurable via ALLOWED_EMAIL_SUFFIXES in config/settings.py)
• Login / logout : /accounts/login/, POST /accounts/logout/
• Protected : Browsing activities, activity detail, and material open / download require login (redirects to login with ?next=)

API

• Root : GET /: home page (HTML), public
• Activities : GET /activities/ (list), GET /activities/<slug>/ (detail with materials). Require login for HTML and JSON
• Search & filter : ?q= (title, description, tags), ?tag=, ?category=
• Error handling : 400 (bad request), 404 (not found), 500 (server error). JSON {error, status, detail}
• Pagination : ?page=1&limit=20
• Sorting : ?sort=title, ?sort=-created_at, etc.
• Tags : GET /tags/
• Categories : GET /categories/
• Materials : JSON includes file_open_url (new-tab preview) and file_download_url (attachment); both require login and map to /activities/materials/<id>/open/ and .../download/

Media & performance

• Media serving : files at /media/ in development
• Indexes : category name, activity created_at, title, category, material_type

Tests

• ModelTests : create category, create tag, tag unique name (DB), activity with category and tags, material linked to activity
• ActivityListTests : authenticated user; list, search (?q=), tag/category filters, pagination, sort; anonymous → redirect to login
• ActivityDetailTests : authenticated user; detail JSON + slug; anonymous → redirect to login
• accounts : .edu sign-up validation, register + login
• TagListTests : list returns all tags
• CategoryListTests : list returns all categories

Frontend

• Django templates : TeachOrange 🍊, navy/orange palette (#0D2D4C, #F76900), Source Sans 3, shared layout in templates/base.html
• Home : GET /: landing page (templates/home.html) with hero and links into browse
• Activity list : filter panel with search, category, tag, sort; Apply filters and optional Clear all filters when any filter is active; results count; pagination; activity cards with cover image, tags as chips, staggered entrance animation
• Activity detail : Preview opens PDF/image/video/text in a new tab; no embedded viewer on the page; Download for the main file; emoji-style icons per material type (activities/templatetags/activity_icons.py)
• UI polish : nav link underline on hover; button hover shadows; tag chips with hover lift; filter panel uses layered navy/orange gradients and a slow background drift (disabled when prefers-reduced-motion); reduced-motion respected across list/detail
• Responsive : HTML for browsers, JSON for API requests

List card images (what we use)

All cover photos are hotlinked from Unsplash (images.unsplash.com) under the Unsplash License, with auto=format&fit=crop&w=800&h=600&q=80 for consistent card size.

• Default : A fixed pool of 12 education-themed photos. Each activity gets a stable image: activity.id % 12 picks from that pool (see activities/tile_images.py).
• Optional themed tiles (same Unsplash source): if title, description, slug, category, or tags match certain phrases, the card uses a dedicated photo instead (e.g. scavenger / treasure / clues → map image; puzzle / jigsaw / riddle → jigsaw image; outdoor / hiking / team-building style phrases → outdoor group image). Copy that mentions recruitment / recruiting keeps the default pool image so tiles stay predictable.

Attribution: follow Unsplash’s guidelines when sharing; photographer names are listed on each photo’s page at unsplash.com.