Alright, so today I decided to tackle a little project: creating a crossword puzzle generator, just a mock-up, you know? Nothing fancy, just to see if I could do it.
I started by sketching out what I wanted. Basically, a grid, some words, and the ability to, like, place them. I didn’t even think about clues at this point, just getting the words on the grid was the challenge.
Brainstorming the Layout
First, I thought, “Okay, I need a grid.” So, I just used plain old HTML tables. Figured that was the easiest way to get a grid going. I created a simple 10×10 table, just a bunch of <td> elements inside <tr> elements. Easy peasy.
Placing the First Word
Then came the hard part – actually putting words in there. I started with just one word, “EXAMPLE”. My genius idea was to have a JavaScript function that would take a word, a starting position (row and column), and a direction (across or down).
I fumbled around with JavaScript, trying to get the letters into the right table cells. It took some trial and error, lots of to see what the heck was going on. Eventually, I managed to get “EXAMPLE” to appear horizontally on the grid. Felt like a coding god for about five minutes.
Trying Vertical Words
Next, I tried a vertical word. This was… trickier. I had to adjust my JavaScript function to increment the row number instead of the column number for each letter. More messing around, more , more muttering to myself.
Got it working, though! It wasn’t pretty, and it definitely couldn’t handle overlapping words or anything fancy like that, but I had a word going across and a word going down. Progress!
Word Input and Basic Styling
I make the word input box.I figure out where to put some input boxes and a button, so I could, you know, actually tell the thing what words to use. Added a little bit of CSS, just to make the grid cells look a bit more like a crossword, black borders and all. Nothing fancy, just enough so it didn’t look completely terrible.
Wrapping Up (For Now)
So, that’s where I stopped. It’s definitely not a finished crossword generator, not even close. It doesn’t check if words fit, doesn’t handle overlapping words, and has zero clue generation. But, hey, it was a fun little experiment. I managed to get some words onto a grid, and that’s something, right?
Maybe I’ll come back to it later and try to make it actually, you know, work. But for now, I’m calling it a day. My brain hurts.
