Article Reading Tracker for PhD Students

A Laravel application that helps PhD students track their daily academic reading progress with a GitHub-style contribution graph.

Features

• Secure Authentication: User registration and login system
• Article Tracking: Add articles with title, publication date, URL, and read date
• GitHub-Style Contribution Graph: Visual representation of daily reading activity
• Modern UI: Built with Flux UI components and Tailwind CSS
• Dark Mode Support: Automatic dark/light mode switching
• Responsive Design: Works on desktop, tablet, and mobile devices

Technology Stack

• Laravel 12 - PHP framework
• Livewire 3 - Full-stack framework for Laravel
• Volt - Class-based API for Livewire
• Flux UI - Component library for Livewire
• Tailwind CSS 4 - Utility-first CSS framework
• SQLite - Database (can be easily changed to MySQL/PostgreSQL)

Installation

1. Clone the repository

   git clone <repository-url>
   cd Articify

2. Install PHP dependencies

   composer install

3. Install Node.js dependencies

   npm install

4. Set up environment

   cp .env.example .env
   php artisan key:generate

5. Run migrations

   php artisan migrate

6. Build assets

   npm run build

7. Start the development server

   php artisan serve

Usage

Getting Started

1. Visit http://localhost:8000
2. Register a new account or use the demo account:
   • Email: phd@example.com
   • Password: password
3. Navigate to the dashboard to start tracking your reading

Adding Articles

1. Click "Add Article" on the dashboard
2. Fill in the form:
   • Article Title: The title of the academic paper
   • Publication Date: When the article was published
   • Article URL: Link to the article (DOI, journal website, etc.)
   • Date Read: When you read the article
3. Click "Save Article"

Understanding the Contribution Graph

The contribution graph shows your reading activity over the past year:

• Gray squares: No articles read on that day
• Light green: 1 article read
• Medium green: 2-3 articles read
• Dark green: 4-5 articles read
• Very dark green: 6+ articles read

Hover over any square to see the exact date and number of articles read.

Managing Articles

• View your recent articles in the "Recent Articles" section
• Click "View Article" to open the article URL in a new tab
• Click the trash icon to delete an article (with confirmation)

Database Schema

Articles Table

Column	Type	Description
id	bigint	Primary key
user_id	bigint	Foreign key to users table
title	varchar(255)	Article title
publication_date	date	When the article was published
url	varchar(2048)	Article URL
read_date	date	When the user read the article
created_at	timestamp	Record creation time
updated_at	timestamp	Record update time

Testing

Run the test suite:

php artisan test

Run specific tests:

php artisan test tests/Feature/ArticleTrackingTest.php

Development

Code Style

The project uses Laravel Pint for code formatting:

vendor/bin/pint

Adding New Features

1. Create migrations for database changes
2. Update models with relationships and validation
3. Create Volt components for new pages
4. Write tests for new functionality
5. Update documentation

Security Features

• Authentication: Laravel's built-in authentication system
• Authorization: Users can only access and modify their own articles
• CSRF Protection: Automatic CSRF token validation
• Input Validation: Comprehensive form validation
• SQL Injection Protection: Eloquent ORM with parameter binding

Contributing

1. Fork the repository
2. Create a feature branch
3. Make your changes
4. Add tests for new functionality
5. Run the test suite
6. Submit a pull request

Support

For support, please open an issue on the GitHub repository or contact the development team.