Virtual Possibilities

Eleanor Roosevelt once said that the future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams. If that’s not an call-to-action to create something new, then check out what’s happening in the Glitch community and get some inspiration.

You Got This Zine! The React Edition #

Earlier this week, we launched the next release of the You Got This! Zine — the React Edition! This 24-page zine includes information on some of the key concepts to create apps using React, tips and profiles from React experts, and a spotlight on Glitch creators Monica Dinculescu (@notwaldorf) and Omayeli Arenyeka (@oa495)! We hope that this zine gets your gears turning and gives you some ideas on what to build, or at least to build it.

Go on WebVR adventures! #

Jamiroquai sang about the future being made of virtual insanity; on Glitch, the future is made of virtual reality! Using A-Frame, anyone can make their own VR space directly in the browser. Glitch user Bian Yunxiang (@BianYx) created a colorful project titled Upwardꜛnot northward which takes you through six vibrant and interactive worlds. Can you escape?

Glitch user Karen Vanderpool (@kvpool) also built her own virtual room, complete with music and a fun surprise! Take a look around, explore, and make yourself at home.

Make and Learn Music! #

Beautiful music and beautiful apps happen when people work together on Glitch. That’s definitely the case with Face the Music, a music-making app controlled by your face!

The app was created by Omayeli Arenyeka (@oa495) and Okay with help from Nicolas Hahn, Eugene Ha, and fellow Glitch user Sean Catangui (@seancaat). We’re almost sure the app isn’t just an elaborate ploy to capture photos of folks gurning at their laptops! Play around with the app, download your creation, and share it with the world.

Making music is awesome, but Glitch can also help you learn to play music as well! Graham Macphee (@gmph) wrote a useful app to help with mastering ukulele chords. Just type your chords in the Ukulele Chord Extractor 3000™ and receive chord diagrams to help you play. Give it a try and you’ll be playing in no time!

Experiments and Extensions #

When you have a friendly community behind you and a powerful tool to create projects, that’s a great recipe for trying new concepts.

Glitch users Ben Garvey (@bengarvey) and Sasha Garvey (@sashatgarvey) built an HTML canvas experiment with dozens of creatures they call “dot cats”. The end result is hypnotic — try refreshing the page to come up with different configurations!

Glitch is also a great way to build apps to interact with other services. Take this Airtable API proxy built by Glitch user, Danilo Campos (@daniloc). According to Danilo, the app uses Node.js and Express, and it helps people use Airtable for projects by solving some common problems like caching, rate limiting, and key secrecy.

Take a look at the readme information for the project and remix it for your own Airtable bases!

This week’s round-up projects can be summed up by a quote from Dusty Phillips, director of engineering at Dataquest:

We know that learning new things can be tough, but it’s also a lot of fun! With the help of the Glitch community behind you, you’re only limited by your own imagination. Don’t worry — you got this! ✨