How I made a tool to create cover images for my blogs quickly
Tags: react, sideprojects, javascript, design
Published: 2020-08-29 04:52:22

Do you write blogs?  Have you ever struggled to create cover images for your blogs? 
Well, I did. So I have made a tool that will help you create awesome cover images for your blogs quickly.


![frame_chrome_mac_dark (1).png](https://cdn.hashnode.com/res/hashnode/image/upload/v1598169671591/BKzp2hZnU.png)

## 🗃 The problem

I started blogging a few months back. It's one of the best decisions I have ever made. But every time I wanted to write a post, I had to create and edit a cover image for it. I mean I love creating creative cover images but sometimes I feel I just spend too much time designing it.

And then I saw these comments on my posts.
![comments.png](https://cdn.hashnode.com/res/hashnode/image/upload/v1598092132300/CLWYZEN_X.png)


I use *canva*. It's a nice tool. But I thought I need something minimal so that creating those cover images won't be any hassle. Coincidently I just started learning **react**. I knew some basics and I thought why not implement my knowledge of react and make something out of it. Also, it might help someone else too. And that's how I came up with the idea of this project.  

## 🛠 The process
I started working on this as a fun project. I had an exact visualization of what I wanted to create. 

![coverview layout.png](https://cdn.hashnode.com/res/hashnode/image/upload/v1598290323414/bt061ZVRr.png)

So I first created a design of a cover image that can be used as the template user can edit. I asked my self what things I would like to add or what can I do to make the cover image more appealing. And I started playing with it. It was fun. After spending a lot of time, solving problems and finding solutions, this is what I came up with the first build.

![cover.gif](https://cdn.hashnode.com/res/hashnode/image/upload/v1598290972723/9vlpR1JTN.gif)

## 📦 The final outcome
I shared it on Twitter and Linkedin and I got a really good response from the developer community. I always wanted to contribute to open source. There are multiple ways to contribute and one of which is creating open-source projects. I open-sourced it. This is my first open-source project with react.

[![ReadMe Card](https://github-readme-stats.vercel.app/api/pin/?username=rutikwankhade&repo=CoverView)](https://github.com/rutikwankhade/CoverView) 

And within a few hours, I got my first pull request. [Asish Raju](https://twitter.com/asish_io) made his first open-source contribution by contributing to my project. He added a few more customizable options and refactored the code.

For the first time, I was on the other side of a project. I learned how to manage pull requests, review code, and merged his pull request. [Open Source Guides](https://opensource.guide/) is a great resource to learn.

## Features 
Then I improved it little by little and added some more features. Here are a few noteworthy features of [CoverView](https://coverview.now.sh).

- 🛠 Create awesome cover images for your blogs quickly and easily


![component (79).png](https://cdn.hashnode.com/res/hashnode/image/upload/v1598341535630/0Q734Fzbk.png)
- 🌈 Choose different colors for background, foreground, border, and text

![screenshot (29).png](https://cdn.hashnode.com/res/hashnode/image/upload/v1598293507064/SO4VkvYbO.png)
- ✨ Choose from 15+ different background patterns


![patterns bg sm.gif](https://cdn.hashnode.com/res/hashnode/image/upload/v1598343038364/Gl097ze-t.gif)
- 👨‍💻 Add dev icons and author name for personal branding

![iconsupdate.gif](https://cdn.hashnode.com/res/hashnode/image/upload/v1598293116537/qBAzD1ZOE.gif)

- 💾 Download cover images in `.png` as well as `.jpeg` format

I just had a lot of fun making this. You might not be able to create a lot more creative images But having a nice cover is always better than having some random image or no cover image at all.

> 
So check out [CoverView](https://coverview.now.sh)

## Conclusion
The important lesson I learned while building this is that you don't need to learn a language or framework completely to start making projects. You can start applying while learning it. I feel this way we can learn from our mistakes and understand the importance of one concept over others. 
_________________________________________
I keep writing about the things I learned and applied. So you can connect with me on [Twitter](https://twitter.com/WankhadeRutik), [Github](https://github.com/rutikwankhade)  or [Linkedin](https://www.linkedin.com/in/rutik-wankhade). Also, subscribe to my newsletter and stay up-to-date with my latest blog posts.

⚡ Happy learning!