Road Map
The first order of business is to get the site up and running.
- We're currently in the pre-alpha stage, just getting things put together.
- When all of the major features are in place, the site is ready for alpha. I'll post a note to to the "Inky Thoughts" forum on FPN. At this point, everyone can start registering and testing things. If things seem to be going smoothly, I'll try to tuck in a few extra features (see below) before it's time for beta.
- Once any major breakages are under control, the site will be ready for beta. During the beta period, no new features will be added so I can focus on making the site work more smoothly.
- The beta is over when we have all the bugs worked out -- then the site is "done", for as much as a living web site ever is.
- I will then add other features as my free time permits.
Basic Features
These are the features that I feel must be in place before we have an alpha release.
- Site-Wide Contact Form
- User Contact Forms
- User Profiles
- Content Types: Brand, Ink, Profile Node
- Views: All Brands; All Inks; Inks by Brand, Color Family, or Property; Users by inks available or inks desired.
- Documentation: alpha info, known issues, road map, contributing
- CAPTCHAs
- Print-Friendly Pages
- Vial request handler
- OpenID login
Additional Features
These are some ideas I've been playing with for future improvements to the site. Not all are fully formed, but they may give you an idea where this is going in my mind.
- Improved user matching -- a page where each user can see a list of people who offer their wanted inks and want their offered inks.
- Improved brand pages -- each brand page would show, in addition to the name and description, a block with related links (brand web site, penpedia entry, FPN brand forum, etc), and a block displaying all of the inks for that brand.
- User points -- users would get points for completed exchanges, helping add content to the site, etc. Points could be used for special badges on the site, or other privileges.
- "My Exchanges" -- A page that tracks your open and complete exchanges, so you have addresses in one place as well as a list of what is to be sent/received.
- Ink Ratings -- Users could rate inks.
- Ink matchmaking -- Once inks are rated, new inks could be recommended to users based on inks they already like.
- Ink/Pen matching -- Users could rate how an ink performs in different pens
- Ink Scans -- A small color sample could be added to each ink entry.
- Cross-Site Login -- Allow users to log in with their existing FPN account.
