MEM Collection

Welcome to the documentation for my project!

MEM Collection is a (perpetual work-in-progress) project where I manage my personal entomology collection. It’s currently a static website powered by a headless CMS and API.

The project started out as a way for me to manage the data associated with my specimens and expanded into a label generator, a storage place for my collection of live insect photographs, and a platform to view the data associated with each specimen (including maps pinpointing collection sites).

The backend is powered by headless Wagtail, while the frontend is built with Eleventy.js. While a static site generator may not be the best choice for a website powered by an API, I got tired of working with client-side JavaScript libraries/frameworks. And while many JS frameworks are now shifting to server-side rendering (e.g., Next.js), I just wanted something simple. Something fast. And Eleventy fit that perfectly for me.

The docs are split between the backend and frontend areas (with the backend being better documented at the moment). If you want to try running this project locally, you’ll need to clone both repos for the optimal experience.

Contents:

• Backend
  • Getting Started - Backend
  • Developing - Backend
  • CI/CD
  • Deploying
  • Backups
  • Changelog
  • Reference
• Frontend
  • Getting Started - Frontend
  • Developing - Frontend
  • Changelog