Fishing Community Web Site
Posted: Wed Aug 19, 2009 9:28 am
Hello all! I would greatly appreciate some feedback on my newest web site!
FellowFishermen.com
FellowFishermen.com took me about six months to complete and is so far the most complex Joomla site I've created. There are still many features I am planning for the future, but here are the current features:
Social Networking - All the standard community features that JomSocial provides (picture and video sharing, friends, profiles, groups, discussions, etc.).
Catches - Members can keep a record of their fish, showing off their catches with photos and actual locations. The catch records component is also integrated with JomSocial, adding user points and links in the Activity Stream and placing a JomSocial App on their profile page showing their recent catches and their friends' recent catches.
Business Directory - Sobi2 powers a directory for fishing charters, guides, trips and tackle shops. Business owners can create listings for their charter, guide service, etc. People can then browse the listings and check out fish caught by these businesses.
Maps of Fishing Spots - This is my favorite feature! When a user adds a new catch, they can specify GPS coordinates of where they caught the fish, or place a marker on a map (powered by Google Maps API). Then if they choose to share the fishing spot, their catch will be displayed on a world map, where people can zoom in anywhere in the world to see where fish are being caught!
Maps of Businesses - I've also integrated a similar Google Maps application with Sobi2, so that people can find fishing businesses by location, scanning maps anywhere in the world.
Blogs - MyBlog allows any registered user to keep their own personal fishing blog, which is integrated with JomSocial.
Weather - eWeather, powered by The Weather Channel, provides weather on the site. Users can set their location to get weather specific to them.
Twitter Integration - When a user adds a new catch record, a cron job will post their details on the FellowFishermen Twitter account (if at least one picture was uploaded for the catch). It will give the type and weight of the fish, and link to the user's Twitter account if they specified it in their profile.
Features planned for the future:
Fishing Information - There will be sections and categories of articles teaching people how to fish certain types of fish, how to set up tackle and bait, how to tie knots, how to identify fish, etc.
Facebook App Integration - I am working on a Facebook App that will show off a person's catches on their Facebook profile page, and place links in their Facebook activity stream. This will use JomSocial's Facebook Connect feature to link the two sites.
AdSense Revenue Sharing - I'm toying with the idea of sharing revenue on blog pages, but I haven't made any decisions yet.
That's FellowFishermen.com in a nutshell. I am aware that there are some CSS display issues in Internet Explorer. The Login dropdown panel doesn't work properly in IE7, I'm not sure if it works in EI8 or not. I work on a Mac, so if anybody has any ideas why it doesn't work I would love to hear it. Please also let me know if you find any other errors in Internet Explorer if that's your browser of choice.
I'd love to hear any other feedback, good or bad. I have tough skin, you're not going to hurt my feelings so bring it on.
Thanks!
P.J.
Emergination, LLC
FellowFishermen.com
FellowFishermen.com
FellowFishermen.com took me about six months to complete and is so far the most complex Joomla site I've created. There are still many features I am planning for the future, but here are the current features:
Social Networking - All the standard community features that JomSocial provides (picture and video sharing, friends, profiles, groups, discussions, etc.).
Catches - Members can keep a record of their fish, showing off their catches with photos and actual locations. The catch records component is also integrated with JomSocial, adding user points and links in the Activity Stream and placing a JomSocial App on their profile page showing their recent catches and their friends' recent catches.
Business Directory - Sobi2 powers a directory for fishing charters, guides, trips and tackle shops. Business owners can create listings for their charter, guide service, etc. People can then browse the listings and check out fish caught by these businesses.
Maps of Fishing Spots - This is my favorite feature! When a user adds a new catch, they can specify GPS coordinates of where they caught the fish, or place a marker on a map (powered by Google Maps API). Then if they choose to share the fishing spot, their catch will be displayed on a world map, where people can zoom in anywhere in the world to see where fish are being caught!
Maps of Businesses - I've also integrated a similar Google Maps application with Sobi2, so that people can find fishing businesses by location, scanning maps anywhere in the world.
Blogs - MyBlog allows any registered user to keep their own personal fishing blog, which is integrated with JomSocial.
Weather - eWeather, powered by The Weather Channel, provides weather on the site. Users can set their location to get weather specific to them.
Twitter Integration - When a user adds a new catch record, a cron job will post their details on the FellowFishermen Twitter account (if at least one picture was uploaded for the catch). It will give the type and weight of the fish, and link to the user's Twitter account if they specified it in their profile.
Features planned for the future:
Fishing Information - There will be sections and categories of articles teaching people how to fish certain types of fish, how to set up tackle and bait, how to tie knots, how to identify fish, etc.
Facebook App Integration - I am working on a Facebook App that will show off a person's catches on their Facebook profile page, and place links in their Facebook activity stream. This will use JomSocial's Facebook Connect feature to link the two sites.
AdSense Revenue Sharing - I'm toying with the idea of sharing revenue on blog pages, but I haven't made any decisions yet.
That's FellowFishermen.com in a nutshell. I am aware that there are some CSS display issues in Internet Explorer. The Login dropdown panel doesn't work properly in IE7, I'm not sure if it works in EI8 or not. I work on a Mac, so if anybody has any ideas why it doesn't work I would love to hear it. Please also let me know if you find any other errors in Internet Explorer if that's your browser of choice.
I'd love to hear any other feedback, good or bad. I have tough skin, you're not going to hurt my feelings so bring it on.
Thanks!
P.J.
Emergination, LLC
FellowFishermen.com