Creating Digital Memorials: Developing a SaaS Platform for Memorial Pages
In today’s digital era, where social media channels often serve as our public face, there is a growing need for dedicated digital space to remember and honor those who have passed away.
With over five billion social media users worldwide, digital representation has become extremely popular. People use social media channels as digital business cards to present themselves to friends and relatives, potential love partners, and job opportunities. Therefore, it is natural that when thinking of ways to memorialize a person who passed away, it should be in an accessible digital format.
Goals and technology environment
The main requirements for this thesis project, commissioned by Bliss Media, were to implement a user-friendly and interactive SaaS platform for creating, sharing, and managing memorial pages to honor and remember departed loved ones.
The development environment of this full-stack SaaS included the following main technologies:
- Java and Spring Boot: Used to build the backend and manage the database.
- JWT (JSON Web Token): Provides secure authentication and data transmission within the platform.
- Vue.js: Combines HTML, CSS, and JavaScript to build the user interface.
- Axios: Facilitates communication with the backend through HTTP methods.
Understanding SaaS and its benefits
SaaS (Software as a Service) is a model that makes software applications more accessible. It allows users to reach the service on a web page from anywhere at any time, regardless of their device, without needing to download or install any software.
The SaaS model offers flexibility for developers too, as it enables them to continually update the service after deployment, with minimal effort and investment. This can be highly beneficial for small companies looking to test new projects and determine their success before making larger investments.
Moreover, the SaaS model is ideal for services with premium features, as users can try the service before deciding if they wish to upgrade the experience and pay for extra features. This is also an economical step for the service provider as users get only what they need.
The platform functionalities
This practical thesis project resulted in a user-friendly and interactive platform where users can effortlessly cherish their close departed ones. Users input the memorial details in the provided form fields and immediately receive a digital representation page of that person. Then, the page creator can share it with others to promote it and invite contributions.
To provide a user-friendly experience, when a memorial page creator shares the page with others, they can see it without registering for the service. The service enables them to contribute to the page upon registration by allowing them to upload pictures and videos of the memorial and write textual memories about the departed loved one. These memories include the author’s name, making the digital space more personalized and communal.
Since memorial pages are a sensitive area, the platform allows page administrators to edit the content and delete others’ contributions to maintain the page according to their preferences.
As the company commissioner, Bliss Media, aims to profit from the service, and storing media files on the cloud can be expensive, the service offers a premium package. The paid package increases the number of pictures the user can upload and allows video uploads, as this feature is restricted to premium pages. Additionally, the platform utilizes Cloudinary, which provides media optimization services to reduce storage space and bandwidth consumption, thus saving costs.
Future development steps
The platform currently operates successfully to meet its core requirements. Future development steps include enhancing the user interface appearance, ensuring a responsive design for optimal viewing of the platform on any device and screen size, conducting usability, performance, security, and accessibility tests, and deploying the SaaS on a domain to allow real user interaction.
References
A. Petrosyan. 2024. Number of internet and social media users worldwide as of April 2024. statista. Accessed on 31 May 2024. https://www.statista.com/statistics/617136/digital-population-worldwide/
Oracle, What is SaaS (Software as a Service)?. Accessed on 14 March 2024. https://www.oracle.com/ng/applications/what-is-saas