Freelancer Platform Prototype

A MySQL-based freelancer platform with employer and freelancer dashboards.

Features

• User authentication (signup/login)
• Job posting and browsing
• Application system
• Messaging between users
• Role-based dashboards

Setup Instructions

1. Database Setup

# Initialize database
mysql -u root -e "CREATE DATABASE IF NOT EXISTS freelancer_platform"
mysql -u root freelancer_platform < init_db.sql
mysql -u root freelancer_platform < test_data.sql

2. Start Development Server

# Make script executable
chmod +x start_server.sh

# Run server
./start_server.sh

The application will be available at: http://localhost:8000

3. Test Accounts

Freelancers:

• Email: john@example.com

• Password: password

• Email: mike@example.com

• Password: password

Employers:

• Email: sarah@example.com

• Password: password

• Email: lisa@example.com

• Password: password

Project Structure

• auth.php - Authentication handler
• dashboard-*.php - Role-specific dashboards
• apply.php - Job application handler
• process_application.php - Application status updater
• db_connect.php - Database connection
• init_db.sql - Database schema
• test_data.sql - Sample data
• start_server.sh - Development server script

Technical Stack

• Frontend: HTML5, CSS3 (Tailwind), JavaScript
• Backend: PHP
• Database: MySQL