In December 2023, I created a website called colorosaur.com, The Coloring Dinosaur, to offer free, family-friendly coloring pages for every occasion. At first glance, the website might seem simple or perhaps even unnecessary, but my intention was entirely different.

I hadn’t built a website or an application from scratch in quite some time. Although I had been involved in maintenance and working on other people’s projects, it had been a while since I’d embarked on a project of my own. I wanted to challenge myself with something new, so I began looking for an idea that would allow me to apply my skills in PHP while learning a new framework, Laravel.

I decided to create this website to provide a fun, creative outlet while also serving as a platform to refresh and expand my development skills. I designed, developed, and deployed everything entirely on my own — from the logo and website code to the domain registration, the SSL certificate, and the cloud hosting setup. The project was motivating and educational, and I built it from the ground up in just two weeks. This process included everything from brainstorming functionality to mastering the Laravel framework and launching a complete, fully functional product.

The website offers several key features. Users can choose from hundreds of carefully selected coloring pages, which can be printed individually or combined into a custom PDF collection for easy printing. Each PDF also includes a QR code that quickly directs users back to the website for more coloring pages.

While colorosaur.com, The Coloring Dinosaur may appear simple, but it represents a significant personal achievement. It merges creativity with technology and serves as a fun, accessible resource for families.

Happy coloring!

If you’ve ever dealt with a shared laundry room, you know the annoyance when the sign-up list (Waschplan) isn’t there. That’s what happened to me recently. I went downstairs to reserve a slot, but the list for the upcoming week was missing again—the Hauswart hadn't put it up yet. I saw the current week’s list, which was empty, but I needed to sign up for the following week. I knew we'd be stuck without a schedule until the Hauswart returned, which could take days.

So, I decided to get creative. I took a photo of this week's empty list and asked ChatGPT, with its new vision capabilities, to recreate it using PHP code.

The original photo sent to GPT4o

Prompt:

Recreate this layout of page in PDF in PHP on A4 page.

If you ask me if the result was perfect — the simple answer is: No — the general layout was there, but the columns and sizing were off. However, it gave me a solid starting point.

I spent a few minutes adjusting the script, refining the layout, and then asked ChatGPT to generate the dates for six days, starting from the previous Monday or the next one if the PDF wasn’t created on a Monday. Within about 40 minutes, I had a working prototype—a quick, practical solution I hadn’t even considered before.

Whenever the Hauswart forgets the list (Waschplan für ein Mehrfamilienhaus (PDF)), I have a tool to generate a PDF instantly and keep everyone on schedule.

Problem solved!

You can also check my other projects and coding experiments.

Waschplan für die Waschküche, Waschplan für ein Mehrfamilienhaus, Der Waschplan pdf, Waschplan Vorlage zum Ausdrucken