Everyday I talk to my fellow geeks about what the next big thing might be.  Hoping we can catch a glimpse and be a part of the ever growing wave of internet applications.  For three years the question for me has come down to “What comes after social networks?”  I think the answer might have finally revealed itself.  My often-partner-in-crime Strat Parrott called me a few weeks ago to tell me he’d bought several domains all around the idea of findmeintown.com.  He had a really good idea of a service we could build around it.

Let me pause here to say that this isn’t the first time he and I have had conversations like this.  Over the last few years we (along with a few other friends) have brainstormed ideas then never saw them to fruition.  In almost every case we’d see a site like what we’d planned launched months later to great success.  This time we determined to be different.

We spent a week talking about all the cool things we like about the plethora of social networks and web apps we use: Twitter, BrightKite, SocialThing, Facebook, etc.  Then we started working on where we thought they fell short.  It all comes down to one thing: they don’t drive new interpersonal interaction, they are the interaction in and of themselves.  The idea is connecting with our friends, and in a meta way, they do serve that purpose.  With the exception of Facebook Events they rarely actually put us in physical proximity to our friends.  How many times have a seen a friend Twitter that they’re walking into a movie I would have loved to go see with them, but by the time I know, it’s too late to get there.  Or BrightKite tells me someone just got to a bar I would have gone out to but already got home and started something else.

So here’s the elevator pitch, “Social networks exist on a deserted island called the internet, we want to bring the back to the main land of real life.”  We want to create a service that helps make real life connections, not just meta ones, and get’s people back out of their houses and enjoying life.  We want to answer the simple question, “What is there to do in this town?”  You like to go drink beer, cool we’ll show you whose got the specials, the best user reviews, and the most people out right then at them (or tomorrow night if that’s when you’re free, we’re not limiting this to just real time).  Prefer sipping coffee and having great conversation, then we’ve got that all mapped out for you.  How about a movie; we’ll show you what is playing, when and where along with which of your friends are already planning on going.  Or have no idea what you’re in the mood for, the just see what’s happening in your area and go from there.

Strat and I have teamed up with the amazingly talented Jordan Lee (whose been doing work for ESPN as of late, just to be a total name-dropping douche) to get this thing off the ground.  We’re going to leverage some of the best sites on the web along with our own unique spin to make an application that connects you with the world’s oldest social network, getting out and meeting people.  Google Search and Maps; Yelp Reviews; Facebook, Evite, and Upcoming Events; Twitter, Pownce, and Facebook Statuses; BrightKite and FireEagle location services all wrapped into a site that learns who you like to spend time with and how you like to spend it.

It’s ambitious to say the least, but the best things always are.  We’re currently preparing to talk with our friends and some of the coolest people on the net to see what they want to see us build first and how it should work.  At the same time we’re prepping a private demo of the service that a select group will get to play with (looking at you Gary Vaynerchuk).  The first “Hello World” opened its eyes and breathed life on Saturday and we were immediately looking at movie theaters in Manhattan, wine shops in Springfield, NJ, bars in Chattanooga, and coffee shops in Tokyo.  It’s bare boned and rough around the edges (not too mention no UI at the moment) but totally fun.  When we’re all done the only thing you won’t be able to find is boredom.

If you’re interest is piqued head over to findmeintown.com and sign up to get notified when we start taking private beta applications.  We’re planning to have the site ready to start testing by the end of summer and working publicly by the end of the year.  In the mean time, if you want to find Strat, Jordan or I, best look in the FMNT bunker cause we’ve got a ton of work to do.

It’s not everyday I get to work on a site like cdmfun.org.  The Creative Discovery Museum has a strong reputation and a decade-long developed brand that need to be reflected in their web presence.  The museum experience is kinetic, inviting its young (and old) visitors to interact with its exhibits with all of their senses.  The building itself is quirky, vibrant and larger than life.  Translating this into an interactive web experience is the kind of challenge that many developers would shy away from while others can’t wait to tackle head on.

Coptix is definitely of the latter group.  Coptix and the CDM have truly partnered together on this project and the result has been a blast to bring into existence.  For those that don’t know exactly what my role is, let me explain.  I’m not a designer nor am I a programmer in the strictest sense.  My job is to marry the vision of the design team with the heavy lifting of the programmers into an experience that fits the client’s brand, is an enjoyable and intuitive experience for the site’s visitors, and is manageable (and hopefully intuitive) for the site’s maintainers.  Over the course of my year at Coptix each project reaches these goals a little bit more.  For CDM though, the whole process really gelled.

In the early phase of the project the team at CDM along with Rob Righter (the project manager for the site), and Steve Hamaker (creative director) came up with some really great ideas.  Typically, my input on this part of the process is mainly “yes that’s technically doable” or “I’m not sure how we can do that, but lets go for it” (and yes, occassionally, the “uh, no way”).  This time Steve and I worked together quite a lot to see where we could push the boundaries of HTML, CSS, and JavaScript to really make an experience that suited the museum.  Little touches like a smooth-scrolling background, arched navigation and jumping callout buttons polished the bigger features like interactive tours of the museum and downtown Chattanooga give the site a cohesive sense of “hey click me” in the same way the museum’s exhibits invite visitors to reach out and play (while sneaking in some great education).

Content, Content, Content

Managing hundreds of pages of content plus hundreds more media assets requires a lot of planning.  Coptix and the CDM spent a good deal of effort up front laying out a complete sitemap that left no detail untouched.  I can’t recommend this enough.  The sitemap served as our master guide, making a convenient way to make sure no page was left out.  Managing all of this content was no small task, but Coptix’s CMS Webtools easily handled the task.  It only took a few hours to get the entire skeleton of the site in place.  Content entry followed, and while it did take time, Webtools made a lot of the grunt work easier.

It’s Not About Where You Were But Where You Are

One of the great features that Webtools offers is the ability to map old urls to their new homes.  Not only does this preserve search engine rankings and results, but it ensures that all external links outside of the control of the museum will wind up where they belong with no extra effort by the site’s users.  For anyone who is migrating a site from one platform to another, some system like this is a must.  Don’t forget to send 301 headers with those redirects to make sure search engine love isn’t lost in the transition.

In Fashion, You’re Either In or Your Out

It’s not unusual for large organizations like the CDM to have a well thought out Style Guide that governs all of their printed and interactive materials.  The museum was no different.  This document was our guideline in implementing the look and feel of the site.  However, the guide did not specifically address rules for the museum’s web presence.  It was important to iterate both best practices and things to avoid in the site to keep the sites look and feel intact while ensuring usability as well.  Design Tyrick Christian filled this gap with a beautiful Style Guide Addendum that covered every situation the site might encounter.  Paired with a live sample page that demoed each of these styles and a customized install of the TinyMCE rich text editor than makes it easy to stick to the style guide, the site will maintain a cohesive look as it continues to grow.  While the print guide dealt with issues like logo placement and size, the web version laid out scenarios and the appropriate colors and HTML elements to use.  Additionally, the guide showed how to implement supplementary graphics including what compression settings to save the images with.

In the End, It’s All About the Fun

How much work was it?  Well for me the CDM site revamp totaled hundreds of hours of work (and a lot of late nights).  Some of these hours spent were more enjoyable than others, say when sleep deprivation took over versus fighting IE’s quirkiness, but the entire project has been totally enjoyable to be a part of.  The team at CDM are very eager to collaborate to make the site a success.  They make me laugh, too, which is a definite plus.  The project has been a learning experience, too.  I’ve learned how to write jQuery plugins, quite a bit about ecommerce and credit card processing, and some very crazy edge case quirks in every browser we test on.  As the initial build of the site winds down I feel a great sense of accomplishment and pride in this site, the team at Coptix who built it and the partnership we’ve formed with the museum.

The site will be launching in the next few days at cdmfun.org but in the mean time, here’s a sneak preview of what all this effort has brought forth: