Page 1 of 1

a good egg needs PHP and HTML developers

Posted: Mon Sep 28, 2009 12:56 pm
by Hudsta
Hi,

I'm looking for at least two PHP developers and an HTML developer to help build a free website service. My project is to help match people who houseshare with their ideal housemate match. It is different to current paid for sites out there because it looks at peoples personalities and lifestyles, rather than having the main focus being around the room you'd rent. That's important too, but not as important as if you could actually get on with someone, and make the place feel like home. The site aims to help you in this search. And I've worked out a pretty revolutionary way to do this.

A bit about me and the start of the project: My name is Tanya and I am an account manager at glue London, a digital advertising agency. I've worked as an account manager/project manager for the past 6 years. glue were going to help me build the site as a 'glue project' as they truly believed I'd come up with something great, but they've been honest with me and said a) they don't have the time and b) web build is not our strong point. what they have said is that they will gladly help me with the advertising once the site is built. Which is nice, as at least you know if you help me - we'd have the best chance of getting the site out there and people on it and using it :)

Why a houseshare site? well, I've shared houses in London and Leeds (when I was at uni) for the past 14 years and I've worked out that I've moved at least once a year, so in total 18 times, and I'm looking again! (This is cause my housemate is pregnant) Cities can be competitive, cold places, especially when it comes to looking for a house or flat share. If you can't afford to rent on your own, or if you're struggling to make your mortgage repayments, often your only choice is to cohabit with others. Usually these people are strangers, and having to open your home to a stranger, or move in with strangers can be incredibly daunting. Not to mention the whole process of selecting somewhere or someone. The process is very competitive, and is almost a full time job to be the early bird. Often you feel as if you are being interrogated not just interviewed, and it is quite crushing not to be chosen for the room or person you've finally managed to find that you like. You start to question if there will ever be someone or somewhere out there that will be right for you and match all your needs/personality. Once the choice is made (sometimes due to desperation/time pressures), how do you know if the person you've chosen is a good choice, and they're not going to be awkward to live with a few months down the line? There just had to be a better way of searching, and through my houseshare experiences and digital/social networking knowledge I've come up with a way it could be made sooooo much easier.

I've tried raising capital to pay for the project, but the banks and venture capitalists won't lend me any money because the service is free (and I'd like it to stay that way). I can't say if the site will make any money - that's not the reason I'm doing it. but I can see how it could do in the future by selling advertising space for example - and if it ever did I will gladly pay you for your time plus interest :) (I would get an agreement drawn up if you liked). I do have a little bit of money but am going to need to use that to pay for the server space It's gonna need (I never realised those things were so expensive!).

I have a designer and copy writer volunteering already, and I've done the rest of the content planning and information architecture.

If your interested please let me know.

Thanks
Tanya

Re: a good egg needs PHP and HTML developers

Posted: Wed Sep 30, 2009 1:56 pm
by Mirge
What is the timeframe for this project? What sort of time per day are you expecting out of a PHP volunteer?

Only asking because I am interested, but work is extremely busy right now, plus my wife is pregnant... my time is short, but you did catch my interest.

Re: a good egg needs PHP and HTML developers

Posted: Wed Sep 30, 2009 6:14 pm
by Hudsta
Hi,
Thanks for your interest. At the moment this project can not move forward without volunteers, so in terms of a timeframe and amount of hours per day, this will be down to the availability and willingness of the volunteers.

I know that this is a big site with applications, and a big ask - I estimate that if I only had one php developer it would take them 3 months to build. Which is another reason I am looking for more than one person... to lighten the load. I know it's not the ideal way to work :(

congratulations on your wife's pregnancy and thanks once again for your interest.

Re: a good egg needs PHP and HTML developers

Posted: Wed Sep 30, 2009 6:16 pm
by Mirge
What are you going to use to track development so multiple volunteers can work together & communicate easily? What platform will it be developed on?

Re: a good egg needs PHP and HTML developers

Posted: Sat Oct 17, 2009 4:10 pm
by kaszu
This sounds like an interesting project.
Would like to participate as HTML/CSS/JS developer.

Re: a good egg needs PHP and HTML developers

Posted: Sat Oct 17, 2009 5:45 pm
by alex.barylski
Here is a tip for getting more developers interested, at least I would be:

1. You have a designer volunteering. Have the hash out some designs in PSD format of various pages and post them on a shared server space (cost about 5-15 per month).
2. You have a XHTML-CSS-JS volunteer. Have them take the PSD files and splice them into XHTML pages and begin creating a static mock of the entire site. This will allow you to see how the user experience might unfold. Linking statics pages togather is easy, having mock dynamic pages gets a little more difficult.
3. Find a PHP developer to build a basic foundation on which the site can be built (like Zend, CodeIgnitor, Drupal, Joomla, etc). Begin building a mock site using phantom data, not actually pulling from a database.

Sounds like a neat idea, although I cant even imagine it working as I dought such a thing exists in Canada, at least in cities I have lived in. Go for it, the UK is a big market. :)

Cheers,
Alex