Most frontend projects look impressive at first glance but fall apart when you examine how they handle real-world UI problems: filtering, overlays, responsiveness, and state coordination.
GiftSeekers was built to solve those problems deliberately.
This article walks through how I designed and engineered a modern product discovery application using React, Vite, and Tailwind CSS — focusing on architecture, UI behavior, and real-world frontend patterns rather than surface-level features.
live link: https://himanshna.github.io/GiftSeekers/
Why GiftSeekers Exists
I didn’t want another “React portfolio project”.
I wanted something that reflects:
how real product teams build UIs
how state, layout, and interaction coexist
how frontend code scales beyond demos
GiftSeekers simulates a real e-commerce-style product discovery experience with filtering, sorting, overlays, and responsive layouts — without relying on heavy libraries or abstractions.
Tech Stack
The stack is intentionally modern and practical:
React.js — component-based UI architecture
Vite — fast dev server and optimized builds
Tailwind CSS — utility-first styling with pixel-level control
JavaScript (ES6+)
REST API integration
Git & GitHub
This is a stack used in real production environments, not just tutorials.
Product Listing Architecture
The homepage renders a responsive product grid driven entirely by API data.
Key design decisions:
Grid-based layout that adapts without layout shifts
Card components designed for reusability
Defensive rendering for unpredictable API responses
No hard-coded UI assumptions
Each product card includes:
Image
Title
Short description
Price
Rating indicator
This mirrors real-world e-commerce UI behavior.
Filtering and Sorting Without Breaking UX
GiftSeekers includes:
Category filtering
Price-based filtering
Sorting by relevance and price
Instead of stacking logic into components, filtering and sorting are handled cleanly through derived state.
What this demonstrates:
Controlled React state
Predictable UI updates
No unnecessary re-renders
Clear separation between logic and presentation
Dropdowns close correctly when clicking outside — a small detail that many projects overlook but users expect.
Overlay and Modal Engineering
The product detail view is implemented as a full overlay rather than a route.
This required careful handling of:
Event propagation
Backdrop clicks
Scroll locking
Focus control
Responsive layout shifts
The overlay works consistently across desktop and mobile without duplicating logic.
This is a common real-world UI challenge that GiftSeekers handles intentionally.
Responsive Design Strategy
Instead of redesigning everything for mobile, the strategy was:
Lock the desktop layout exactly as designed
Introduce mobile-specific layout rules
Adapt flow, spacing, and stacking order only where necessary
Results:
Desktop remains visually precise
Mobile feels native, not compressed
Filters, sorting, and overlays remain usable on small screens
This mirrors how production teams approach responsive UI at scale.
Tailwind CSS: Utility-First Without Chaos
Tailwind was used for:
consistent spacing
controlled typography
predictable layout behavior
rapid iteration without CSS bloat
The key was discipline:
no random utilities
no inline chaos
consistent patterns across components
This keeps the UI maintainable even as features grow.
Performance and Maintainability
Performance was considered throughout:
minimal component nesting
no unnecessary state
clean component boundaries
predictable render flow
The codebase is structured to be:
readable
extendable
refactor-friendly
This matters more than clever abstractions.
What This Project Demonstrates
GiftSeekers shows more than React familiarity.
It demonstrates:
real-world frontend architecture
UI/UX decision-making
state-driven UI design
responsive layout engineering
overlay and event handling
production-minded code structure
This is the kind of work expected in real frontend and full-stack teams.
Live Demo and Source Code
Live Demo:
https://himanshna.github.io/GiftSeekers/
GitHub Repository:
https://github.com/HimAnshNA/GiftSeekers
Final Thoughts
GiftSeekers is not a tutorial clone.
It is a deliberate attempt to build a realistic, production-style frontend application using modern tools and real UI constraints.
If you’re a developer, feel free to explore the codebase and reuse patterns.
If you’re hiring, this project reflects how I approach frontend engineering in real-world environments.
Tags
react
frontend
webdev
javascript
tailwindcss
vite
uiux
portfolio
softwareengineering
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