The WLN Web Site launched today during a lunchtime meeting. I’m very proud of the design and implementation. Hosted on Dreamhost.com, it uses WordPress blogging software for the Announcements and Event Information pages. Each of the 57 or so members have accounts on the former to post Announcements and comments.

I’m also using the Announcements WordPress database to power the Member Directory. This allows the members to maintain their own profiles. I searched for a Wordpress plug-in to handle that feature but didn’t find anything suitable. I fell back on my mad h4xxor skills (chuckle) and created the Member Directory list and profile pages from scratch using PHP. The profile page also looks in a specific directory and inserts the member’s picture if it exists (and is named as their login name plus “.jpg”). If no picture is found it leaves the placeholder.

I’ve isolated the members e-mail addresses in an attempt to keep them safe from spammers. Whenever you click on a contact link next to a member’s name, their name is passed to the contact page, which automatically selects it in the “TO” drop-down list on the form. The e-mail form uses Dreamhost’s own version of the very common Formmail script, which incorporates a few of its own security features. I also used the Formmail script for the online application, and tied it all in with the Payment page that goes to Paypal.

I have a few little niggling tweaks to do, and I need to revalidate the XHTML and CSS. The templates validated but I haven’t checked since formatting the content. Thankfully the only JavaScript I’m using is for the rounded corners. This project also marks my first usage of Ta-Da lists to manage a real project. It was very handy, but I only started using it about halfway through as the development was in full swing.

All in all I’m happy with my first major freelance gig. It should suit the client’s needs quite nicely and hopefully generate a lot of buzz for WLN as well as my fledgling hobby. I’m glad that The Powers That Be™ at my day job gave me “permission” to do this sort of work on the side, confirming that it would not be a conflict of interest.

Next up… New Zealand Journey… then DebWhitcomb.com.