Well, due to unforeseen circumstances I’ve not been able to work on the banishforever.com project since my last update. So far I've completed 2 days - there will be 2 further days to go.

I’m going to be continuing it from now but don’t for one moment think I’ve been sneakily completing work over the weekend. This is not the case!

Where I got to

The website code so far is 22.2k – that’s all the css, html and asp code.

I had a rough idea of how I was going to store the tags in the database and doing some further reading on the subject confirmed to me that I was heading in the right direction - I was working toward the "Toxi Solution".

What's complete so far

1. Registration
2. Login
3. Expansion of profile
4. Basic 'creation of something to banish' page / entry into the database
5. Database for tagging created (I'll go into more detail about this at the end of the 'experiment')

Today’s goals:

1. Expand on the current basic ‘creation of something to banish’ page
2. Create the page displaying the item the user wants to banish
3. Allow users to vote on whether they agree with this or not
4. Start work on the tag cloud

No doubt there will be an update later on in the day. I just want to get cracking now though so that's all for now!

It's now day two of the four day challenge to create a fully functioning social networking website from scratch.

As you can probably tell, the logo is complete (wow, that took all of 30 seconds in Photoshop!)

I've also completed the rough layout in Photoshop and have now transferred this to CSS and HTML. The templates are in place.

Work is about to start on the programming. 

Below is my little list of taks I'm going to be working on now. I'll give an update when I've completed these tasks with a new list tomorrow.

Todo

1. Create basic mySQL database with user tables
2. Create registration form
3. Scripts to process registraton, incl. emails, and confirmation of email
4. First logon script with profile creation incl. avatar etc.

Okay, it’s 6:20pm as I begin to write this.. day 1 of 4.

All day, so far, has been spent banging me head against a wall trying to come up with a domain name for the site that wasn’t taken.

My first choice was getrid.com but never mind… I’ve settled on banishforever.com.

The theme for the website was easily decided last night. I don’t know if it’s been done before; I did try searching for similar sites but it’s so difficult, especially amongst all the web 2.0 titles. I certainly haven’t heard of or visited a site along the same lines.

As I mentioned in my previous post, this is an experiment, a challenge… I’m not doing this to retire on. If anyone uses it, that’s a bonus.

I’ll quickly give you a bit of information on what the site is about. This is all subject to change:

The Basic Idea

User Joe Bloggs will suggest something they want to “banish forever”. Other users will vote to agree or disagree with Joe Bloggs’ nomination. There will be a banished list and a list of things that are “forever safe” (??)

There will be lovely tag clouds (something I’ve never touched on before) and each user will have an “authority rating” (??) i.e. people usually agree, their vote worth more etc.

It goes without saying that people will be able to comment, message other users, add people as friends and also place WIDGETS on their blog, myspace, forum etc.

More to follow on this…

My Next Steps

Well, the first thing I’m going to do is load up Photoshop and create a simple logo and design. Some people do things the other way around, I can’t. The design will just be a basic layout, nothing flash.

Then, I’ll start to build the stylesheet and templates for header and footer. That’s the way I usually do things.

Once that’s complete I’ll get to work creating a basic mySQL database (for now). I always tend to build as I go along rather than create a plan, saying that,  I do have a plan of how I want it to function in my head. I guess this blog will be my head to “paper” output.

At some point I’ll have to log into my dedicated server and configure the nameservers and all that rubbish… that will most probably be some point tonight. It all has to be to be online and ready by Friday night remember! Ouch! 3 days of work… I still think it can be done.

I plan to create a fully functioning social networking website within 4 days and I will be blogging about it, in full, right here.

Starting tomorrow I’m going to start working on the site. I don’t yet have a name or ‘theme’ so I’ll have a think about that tonight; which should give me about 5 hours to come up with a name, idea and domain name (uh oh)

I’ll be posting updates throughout the next 4 days with working examples, screenshots, logos, details of functionality, discussing problems I encounter and details of amount of code written.

The site’s going to be tag-based, which is something I’ve never done before. It’s all going to be coded in Classic ASP, using mySQL for the database.

Expect a blog post tomorrow detailing the nature of the site and the first plan.

Some quick answers to questions:

Why am I doing this? Just an experiment, and as I’ve previously mentioned I’m close to finishing my ‘concert related’ website and would like a bit of a challenge. I’m sure I read over the weekend how surprised people are that these types of sites are popping up so quickly, and it made me curious as to how long it would actually take.
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Why four days? Gives me until Friday night to finish it! I don’t want it eating in to pub hours

I don’t plan on making any money from this, it’s just an experiment… and I like them!

If you want any more details or have any questions, just comment. Wish me good luck!

I’m stuck at that point I always get stuck at… again.

I always find the last 5-10% of the website the most difficult to complete. It’s not that the work is more difficult, it’s simple stuff but it’s always “such a drag”. Anyway, I thought I’d let you know a little bit about the site.

It’s a user driven database of concerts where the users can say “I’m going to this” or “I went to that” – It lets them build their gig history. There are forums, of course, and widgets for display on social networking sites, blogs, forums etc.  You’ll be able to post reviews and rate gigs and there’ll be other social aspects; the basic friends, comments and messages systems.

That’s all for now! As I said, there’s not that much to do and I’m “in the mood” right now so I better plough on!