You might notice the site switching back and forth between the new and old versions of the design. The new design is about 80% done, so there are some things that still need to be worked out and we're working through that now.

It's kind of a weird space to operate.  It's all publicly viewable right now, but I really don't want it linked-to yet. In a week or two, the design will be stable and a couple of the key features/designs will be in-place.  My goal is to have it ready for prime-time by Oct. 1st, which should shouldn't be a problem from what I'm hearing.

Once it's ready, I hope to start talking about it a lot and hopefully building a little buzz so that we can get people to register and share their experiences.  

I'll be talking a lot about it on http://www.commoncraft.com once I think it's ready.

This is so fun and exciting.  I totally get off on getting this ready and thinking about how it will work or what might happen. I can hardly wait.  

 

 

I just spent a *long* time writing all about cell phone options.  I started last night and finished this morning.  Apparently I was logged off overnight.  So, when I clicked the save button, it asked me to log in.  When I logged in, it wiped my whole entry.  I don't know of any way to get it back.

If this is how Drupal works, if this is normal functionality, I'm not impressed.  If someone knows how to prevent this from happening, or what I could have done differently, please let me know. This sucks. 

I just got word that the platform that runs this here TwinF site (Drupal via Bryght) has been upgraded! To 4.6 no less! Feel the power! Really though, there may some general goofiness in the way it works as we work out the kinks. I appreciate your understanding.

Yesterday I got the first design drafts for the new TwinF site from the Raincity guys and they looked good. I really have a lot of respect for designers who have to work on limited input to create something unique.

The first designs were good, but there were elements of each that I did and didn't like. So, with the help of Anthony (a gifted designer himself) we created what I call a Frankenstein version of the design that is ugly (because it crosses two designs) but represents the elements I think are important.

It's so exciting to see it coming together. Here's a small bit of the design that I liked...

In the next few weeks, this site is going to go through a makeover. The basic functionality will remain, but the look of the site will change significantly by the end of September.

I'm totally excited about the new design and should see three mock-ups of design ideas this coming week and from there we'll choose one and get it rolling. The guys at Rain City Studios are helping with the design.

Right now, this site is using a "theme" provided via it's platform, so there are a bunch of sites out there with the same look and feel. We want to be unique, hence the new design.

Then, once the new design is in-place, we'll start doing a little more "marketing" which basically means asking our friends to put the word out and see if the Internet is interested.

Lots of fun stuff coming in the next month. I can't wait.

The acronym of the name of this site is something that I think may get used much more than the site name itself, which is "The World Is Not Flat" which makes the handy acronym TwinF.

Once we start trying to build some buzz of the site and get a lot of contributions, I think it'll be important to have a short name that works for tagging. 

To make sure our bases are covered, I just registered the domain TwinF.com for this site, so that anyone who only knows the TwinF name can use it...

It'll be a few days till it's active...  I registered the domain with Dreamhost for about $76 for 5 years.

I've been thinking a lot about how to get this site rolling.  It's rather odd timing right now, as the site is public, but I haven't really told anyone about it.  I might tell a friend in email or in a conversation, but nothing really public.

There are a couple of issues.  First, I'm an independent consultant and I need to make as much money as I can before I leave. Making a big deal about this site too early could keep new clients away.  This is a short-term problem.

Also, there are always a few things I want to get done before I make a big about it. This is a long-term problem becasue I have to draw the line somewhere. I'm gonna draw that line soon.

Woo hoo!  We have our first new members and first contributions.  I pointed my friend and colleague Nancy White to the site and she dropped of a couple of great tips.  Good stuff.

The other night I told a friend about it and he logged in but hasn't posted yet.  Hopefully soon.  Steve, if you're reading this, tell us what to do man!

I'm still keeping the site really low key.  I've not blogged about it on my other sites and may not for a while.  We don't care if word gets out, but I'm not going to push it for a bit.  We're going to be inviting more friends to check it out soon while we're getting more development done...

Last night I was playing poker with some guys and we talked about the trip for a bit. They sometimes travel to Europe on business and explained that they don't do the tourist things, but they know the bars and places to hang out around cities like Amsterdam and London.

This is the type of thing we're looking for: The places that are often hidden to tourists. In asking for contributions, we want help in finding the bar-in-the-alley-with-no-sign type of places.

We would love to hear about the tourist stuff too, but in asking for first-hand info- we want to know what you discovered and can share.