Webapp idea: characterize.me
Inspired by http://threewords.me/, I thought it would be a good idea to push the thought a bit further.
The website should look Web 2.0-ish, with a clear and big GUI, AJAX and simple eye-candy. The website let's the user to setup a page where people with the link are presented with a list (grid) of checkboxes with different adjectives (some pre-defined, users can add more to the database). These visitors pick adjectives that, in their opinion, best describe the user whose page they are currently viewing.
The user can later see a summary of the results and optionally publish it.
Keywords: Integration with Facebook, Twitter, clean and simple, minimal page refreshes, minimal time setting up, modern web technologies, pretty GUI
thepledgeboard.com
So I saw a certain movie which had the following part in it: in order to get accepted into a college fraternity, the newbies had to complete 50 tasks. It was proudly called The Pledge Board.
After doing some some digging (not a lot) in The Net I was left disappointed: all that amazing technology (Web 2.0, Social Media (& social networking), Server-side scripting…) and no similar place on the web?
The Goal: Build a site that let's a taskmaster create a custom Pledge Board, add some participants and follow their progress (FB integration).
The idea – let's call it ThePledgeBoard.com - uses two major, existing services – why reinvent the wheel? Facebook serves as the social component while 43things.com does the heavy lifting. The purpose of the site is to unify them and do some customization to suit our needs. Let me start by explaining how the service works.
Users authenticate via Facebook Connect and are allowed to create a new taskboard or join an excisting one. By default, a new board should be populated with 10-20 most popular tasks (the site should keep track on them with a SQL database). Some fancy AJAX and jQuery effects are optional. The actual tasks are managed by 43Things API (which also uses FB Connect for identification).
Once the taskboard is complete, the creator invites some people to complete it – as a team or single-handedly. Again, FB makes this easy. When the user has finished a task he can check it as complete and post proof (a photo) to 43things/FB. A story is posted on the user's wall. The interaction with the services should be managed by the site.
So that's the basic principle. I haven't thought everything through, but that leaves all the more to Your imagination.
About The Author
Ando “David” Roots is a college student and a software developer from Kunda, Estonia. Living, working and studying in Tallinn, he hopes to get his bachelor degree from the Estonian Information Technology College on IT Systems Development. 