Art Explorer

Art Explorer is a simple web app for art enthusiasts where users can:

• Explore art techniques (materials + steps)
• Upload their own artwork for a technique
• Earn badges based on how many techniques they try

Tech stack

• PHP
• MySQL (MariaDB via XAMPP)
• HTML + CSS (Bootstrap)
• JavaScript

Features

• Technique explorer with filters (color use, materials, sorting)
• Daily suggestion (random technique)
• Upload page (image + caption + technique)
• Gallery of uploaded works
• Badges (5 / 10 / 20 techniques tried)
• Account page (user info + earned badges)

Project setup (local)

1) Requirements

• XAMPP (Apache + MySQL/MariaDB)
• A browser

2) Put the project in htdocs

Move the folder into: /Applications/XAMPP/xamppfiles/htdocs/ Example: /Applications/XAMPP/xamppfiles/htdocs/art_explorer/

3) Create the database

1. Start Apache and MySQL in XAMPP
2. Open phpMyAdmin: http://localhost/phpmyadmin
3. Create a database named: art_app
4. Import the SQL file from this project (the .sql file you created/exported)

4) Configure database connection

Open database.php and make sure the connection matches your local settings (host, user, password, db name).

5) Run the app

Open in browser: http://localhost/art_explorer/home.php

Notes

• The uploads/ folder must exist and be writable for image uploads.
• This project is intended for local use (XAMPP). It is not production-hardened yet (e.g., advanced upload validation, security hardening).

Future improvements

• Better upload validation (file type/size)
• Admin panel to add/edit techniques without manual DB inserts
• More achievements (streak badges, challenges)
• Search + tags for techniques