It’s that time again, time for students to start picking out next semester’s classes. That means that it’s also time to start using ARMS, a program that, while functional, is not exactly the most user-friendly way to survey courses.

But a new website gaining popularity among students aims to change that. Created by senior Zach Hall, ClassGet.com makes it easier to search for classes and provides an alert system to notify students when a spot becomes open in a class, providing students with another tool in the hunt for the perfect schedule.

Hall said he became frustrated with ARMS about two years ago when he was trying to get into a few classes that were full and spent his summer constantly checking ARMS waiting for someone to drop out. After that experience, he decided there must be an easier way to get the classes he wanted.

By fall 2011, Hall had created a program called ClassGet that allowed him to pick out his classes as well as provide an alerts system to let him know when a full class became available. His program turned into a website, ClassGet.com, by the following year. The website was first promoted by word of mouth.

“People would say: ‘I know you have this program, I’d like to use it,’ said Hall. “And I thought maybe I can make this bigger.”

The site allows students to search for classes by name, abbreviation, professor name, GER, start time, and days offered. There is also the alert system, which while originally the heart of the system originally, is now just a helpful add-on. Students can also download their course schedules to a calendar.

“One click and you can download your entire course schedule. That’s one of the things I’m most proud of, I’d say,” said Hall.

In spring 2013, Hall presented ClassGet to SGA. This was the first time Furman’s administration learned of the website. Associate Dean of Academic Records and University Registrar Brad Barron took a special interest and met with Hall.

“I had an opportunity to take a look before I met with Zach, and ClassGet.com kicks ARMS’ butt with usability,” said Barron. “What it actually does is much less complicated than ARMS.”

Barron said he contacted Hall for two reasons. First, he wanted to make sure what he was doing wasn’t hurting the ARMS system by using its data. He explained that pulling a large amount of data can make a system unresponsive and can cause it to crash if a server cannot handle it.

Barron also contacted Hall because the site intrigued him.

“He was doing things that never would have been a high enough priority for us to do on our own,” said Barron.

Once Barron learned of the site, he gave Hall use of more up-to-date data and worked with him to give updated data over the summer. Other than that, Furman’s administration has remained hands-off with the site.

“We know of Zach; we appreciate him. I’m glad to mentor him, but we only feed him a file that we’d be glad to share with everybody,” said Barron.

The computer science department gave Hall a Furman Advantage grant to keep working on ClassGet over the summer. With the money he received, he made a mobile site.

“It was because of Furman’s computer science department that I was able to improve,” said Hall.

Currently, Hall has been working on the speed of his website. The site was based in Germany but upgraded to new web hosting in New York.

“By registration time, I hope to have the fastest possible site for people to use,” said Hall.

He’s currently working on a new feature to make sure a schedule works with the program highlighting classes that conflict. Hall also said that he’s always looking to add new features.

“I’m always open to new ideas,” said Hall. “I’m always reading your messages.”

According to Barron, although students regularly complain about the complexity and “clunkiness” of the ARMS program, it still is the best on the market.

“If we were going to build it from the ground, we’d never build it this way. But it’s too complicated,” said Barron. “Zach’s development is a tiny piece of an auxiliary that makes it look easier and better to use.”

Although Hall’s program has user-friendliness on its side, Barron said ClassGet is only able to scratch the surface of what ARMS can accomplish. He explains that it’s all that ARMS does — everything from class schedules to transcripts — that makes it seem so “clunky.”

While ARMS is a necessary part of Furman’s class selection process, that doesn’t mean that ClassGet doesn’t have a place on the university’s campus as long as Hall remains on it.

“Zach is a fine student developer,” said Barron. “But his product isn’t sustainable after he leaves unless he teaches people to operate it.”

Hall will be graduating in May, so the future of ClassGet seems up in the air, but Hall said he wants the program to expand.

“I’d like to continue working on it after I graduate,” he said. “I want to spread it to other colleges.”