Our Story at Study Knightly

Welcome to Study Knightly, a platform built to empower students through seamless access to academic resources and collaborative tools. This website is a concept project designed for CAP 3104: Foundations of Human-Computer Interaction at the University of Central Florida, blending creativity and functionality to deliver an impactful user experience.

Our primary goal is to offer students and educators a streamlined hub for academic success, featuring:

  • Course Material Repository: A centralized space where users can upload, share, and download course materials like lecture notes, textbooks, assignments, and multimedia.
  • Community Channel: An interactive group chat powered by secure and intuitive tools, fostering real-time collaboration and peer-to-peer learning.
  • Forums: A dedicated area for discussions, Q&A, and academic problem-solving, supporting a vibrant, supportive community of learners

Development Journey

Study Knightly was developed using WordPress, with hosting provided by Hostinger, which facilitated our domain purchase, DNS updates, and email hosting. We integrated Gmail for managing webmail, ensuring seamless account notifications like password resets and creation confirmations.

The project’s initial layout and design began in Figma, where we conceptualized the structure and interface. We brought this vision to life using Divi, a powerful WordPress theme builder, to craft the site’s look and feel. Additionally, custom CSS was applied to achieve specific design goals, ensuring a polished and dynamic user experience.

Figma Design Concept

Please click the button below if you cannot view the concept in the box above. This link will direct you to the community post where the design is located.

Figma Community Concept

Plugins & Functionality

The backbone of Study Knightly’s functionality lies in our integration of essential plugins:

  1. User Registration by WPEverest: Handles user sign-ups, logins, and account creation while restricting backend access. This taught us about user authentication and front-end user logic.
  2. bbPress & bbPress Tweaks: Powers our forums, providing secure user logic for access, internal posting, and fostering a sense of community among users.
  3. Minnit Chat: Enables our Community Channel with group chat capabilities, secure messaging, and private communication via iframe and script tags.
  4. Shared Files Plugin: Facilitates the Course Material Repository, allowing users to upload and access files directly from the front end.
  5. reCaptcha v3: Protects our platform from spam and bot activity, ensuring a secure environment for users.
  6. PublishPress Capabilities: Customizes user access across pages, enhancing user experience and security.
  7. Yoast SEO: Optimizes our website for better visibility and search engine ranking.

    Building Study Knightly required our team to learn and master multiple platforms and tools, including Hostinger, WordPress, Divi, Figma, Gmail hosting setup, and plugin functionality. Through hands-on experience, we gained practical knowledge in web development, user experience design, and collaborative teamwork.

    Study Knightly represents the culmination of these efforts, offering a powerful, user-friendly platform that enhances academic collaboration and success. We’re proud of the journey so far and excited to continue innovating for students everywhere!