In my previous post, I’ve talked about launching TheRandom.Tools. After getting some feedback, I’ve decided to redesign the tool. I took the opportunity to rewrite the backend in TypeScript, to make it easier to manage (the previous implementation was in C# and is still in use in my Random Generator Unity Asset).
I’ve decided to start with the ShipFa.st template, which is my new go-to tool for new websites, as I’m getting myself more-and-more familiar with the technology stack in my recent projects (an upcoming post about that is in the making). I’ve also added Tailwind CSS for the base styling and shadcn for the UI components.
As part of the redesign, I had to decide on the best way to make all the random generators in an accessible way. I went with a sidebar navigation for the high-level categories, and Tabs for the more specific generators. This allows for an extensible interface, which will support more generators as I add them.
I’ve added icons, tweaked the components to make everything look nice in both mobile and desktop. I then got a few more comments from a designer friend, and added some graphics to the main page, fixed spacings, etc.
Lastly, I’ve added infrastructure for adding a few sample outputs, as well as a long description for each generator. This should help with SEO, as the pages themselves are a bit poor on content without it, thus making it hard for search engines to understand what’s the pages are about. I still need to invest some time to write the content for each generator, but I’ll do that slowly over time.
I have a few other ideas up my sleeves, that I’m considering implementing, such as:
- Maintain a list of previous generated values
- Allow users to up-vote generated values
- Allow users to create their own custom generators
But time will tell if I ever reach those tasks.