Get Started with Vue.js: Build an Image Gallery Today

Introduction:

Are Ready to go into the world of Vue.js? Very Good! Vue.js is a pretty awesome JavaScript framework and very friendly for newbies, so it really fits just right in developing web applications in any form. Today we are going to get our hands engaged and create a very basic yet awesome-looking image gallery. The only prerequisite is having the urge to learn and code vue.js, and some fun!

Why Vue.js?

Before we go into the code, let’s quickly cover why Vue.js is such a popular choice:

• Extremely easy to learn, even for beginners in frameworks. Clean and intuitive syntax in Vue. That’s just perfect as the first framework to begin with if you are a web developer.
• It is flexible in that, with Vue.js, one can add interactivity into some already existing projects or build single-page applications.
• It’s performant. Vue.js is optimized for speed and efficiency, ensuring your web apps run smoothly.
• It has a massive community, plenty of resources, and amazing tutorials: nice people who will help you too when getting started.

Setting Up Your Project

Let’s get our Vue.js project up and running. We’ll use Vite, a fast development server that makes things very easy.

1. Make sure you have Node.js and npm installed. You can download them from the official Node.js website if you don’t have them already.
2. Open your terminal and run this command:

npm init vue@latest

This will guide you through creating a new Vue project. You can stick with the default options or customize things to your liking.

3. Once the project is created, navigate into the project directory:

cd my-image-gallery

4. Install the necessary dependencies:

npm install

5. Start the development server:

npm run dev

Your Vue app should now be running in your browser!

Building the Image Gallery

Now for the exciting part – let’s build that image gallery!

1. Open up src/App.vue. This is the main component of your Vue app.
2. Replace the existing code with this:

Code snippet

<script setup>
import { ref } from 'vue';

const images = ref([
  { src: 'image1.jpg', alt: 'A beautiful sunset' },
  { src: 'image2.jpg', alt: 'A majestic mountain range' },
  // Add more images here as you like!
]);
</script>

<template>
  <div class="gallery">
    <div v-for="image in images" :key="image.src" class="image-container">
      <img :src="image.src" :alt="image.alt">
    </div>
  </div>
</template>

<style>
.gallery {
  display: flex;
  flex-wrap: wrap;
  justify-content: center;
}

.image-container {
  margin: 10px;
}

img {
  max-width: 200px;
  height: auto;
}
</style>

Explanation!

• We’re using ref from Vue to create a reactive images array. This array holds the information about your images (the file path and a description for accessibility).
• The v-for directive loops through each image in the images array and creates an img tag for it.
• We use :key to give each image a unique identifier, which is important for Vue to work its magic behind the scenes.
• The CSS adds some basic styling to make the gallery look nice.

Next Steps

Congrats, you’ve built your first Vue.js app! This is just the beginning. In future tutorials, we’ll explore more advanced Vue concepts, like:

• Building reusable components
• Handling user interactions
• Managing application state
• And much more!

Conclusion

I hope this tutorial has given you a taste of how awesome Vue.js is. Remember, the best way to learn is by doing, so keep experimenting and building! If you have any questions or want to see more Vue.js tutorials, let me know in the comments below. Happy coding!