Comparing websites

After looking at Getty, iStockphoto, and Shutterstock, I'm getting a better feel as to what the submission process will be like. Before I wasn't thinking of charging for downloads, but the more I think about it the more I realize that's what it's going to have to do (which doesn't thrill me :). Getty didn't have any of their info on submissions available unless you completed 2 of the 5 steps, which I wasn't going to do. iStockphoto requires the image to be at least 1600x1200px, RGB, and only accepts jpegs. Shutterstock accepts jpegs, and has a ratio to determine if it's large enough. Basically at least a 2400x1800px image. My requirements will probably be at least 1600x1200px, only jpegs, and I'm debating over a review process. Obviously there will be terms of use, and if a user (photographer) uploads an image that violates it their images will be removed and their account suspended. I'm thinking with a button that allows for users to flag inappropriate content would be sufficient enough, since this site is really about the community atmosphere.

Process Book

Plugging away at that, knew it was going to be big, but sheesh! 12 full pages in and I know I haven't even gotten to the design part! I started looking up information about the different parts of PHP code I'll need, and found a nice resizing article. Hopefully that code is pretty easy to incorporate! I've displayed images from galleries before, used pagination, profiles, etc. My hope is to make everything cleaner and more user friendly with specific sections and what not. Obviously that'll all get ironed out in 2-3 weeks.

Stock Images

I've had a falling out with my photographer "friend", but I'm hopeful I can still accumulate a large collection of images from students of the school. I know several of the web design students alone are avid photographers.

I'm going to shoot Shelly an email right now, hopefully I can meet with her tomorrow or Wednesday. If I don't hear from her I'm going to find the Assistant Photo Chair (since she told me to track Shelly down), and see what she can do for me.

Review

Unfortunately I haven't working on my senior design project nearly as much as I should be... it's a crazy hectic quarter (5 classes + internship + pushy friend wanting her website done now). I've set aside time Wednesday morning to work 100% on it (hopefully tomorrow evening too). I haven't heard back from Sally yet, I emailed her Wednesday during class. Maybe I'll shoot her another email this week if I don't hear back sooner. I'm hoping to have my nav map done this week, which will be a great next step. I wanted to have my color scheme finalized as well, but that would require me having more time (I'm really lucky I remembered I had to do this last post).

Yes I should have more done, but throwing that review in week 3 just wasn't good timing :) I'll get caught up (and hopefully can stay the entire class Wednesday).

Meetings

Spoke with the photography head, she loved the idea, and told me to contact Sally Ford. She has been collecting images from the photography students, and was trying to figure out some way in house to use them. I've emailed her, so we'll see what happens.

I'm figuring that I'll have 2 main sections, the stock image section, and the "community". In the community students can request projects (websites, galleries, etc), models, or images. The stock section is self explanatory, and people will be able to "tag" images into categories, and I'll have a "flag image" button to make sure we don't have anything offensive.

More to come!

Generating Interest

I've been talking to some web design students who think this site would definitely be beneficial to them. I think it'll take some more convincing for the photography students (aside from the bunch I know)...

I want to add a counter to the images, to calculate how many times it's been downloaded. I have zero clue that kind of code that takes, but I'm guessing it can be done :) I should check on what's due tomorrow and work on that stuff before planning out the pay layout and what not (unless that's due tomorrow). More to come!

No Meeting

The photography department head had to leave early, so hopefully I can talk to them Wednesday. I did talk to some photography students, who told me that their department had some sort of combining with the graphic design department. That apparently didn't go well (they mentioned the GD's were a tad immature and disorganized). I explained my website to them, and they just wanted to make sure if they shared their photo's, they would be able to get websites and projects to show off their pictures in return (they were especially excited with the possibility of getting flash projects). Now I'm left to ponder how to ensure the web design students will complete a project for the photography students....

Navigation and things

Definitely a splash page, register (I want to keep this for student use so I'm going to require them to use an aii email account to sign up), photo's, photographers, web designers, contact, about... For me that normally changes, but I'm hoping I'll remember to "kiss" this website (keep it simple stupid). I should start on the process book, since I have a good grasp on the audience, tone, etc. I started looking at some color palette's and textures, so I will probably start messing around with a mood board to get things organized.

Database Tables

Users (id, first name, last name, date, email, username, password)
Folder (id, username, name)
Photos (id, folder, username, caption, date)
Tags (photo, content)

That's what I'm thinking I'll need as of now... obviously if I'm going to do a blog style posting for websites the photography students need they will have their own table, but otherwise I think that's close to what is needed.

php research

I know I promised quite a bit in regards to image uploading, so I started looking at what it's going to require code wise. I think I need to just sit down and hand write what tables I will need and what their contents will include. I almost feel unprepared to handle a website of this caliber, but obviously this is why the class is two quarters long. I'm trying to divide time between all my classes and pre-assessment, and I fear until next Friday I won't have has much done on this project as I hope. We shall see!

Research

I am meeting with the Photography Department Head Monday, hopefully before her portfolio class, so she can ask the students what they think they need, and then meet after and discuss their needs and what she thinks as well. I've been playing with some color palette's, and I think I'm going with black, gray, white, and red (a play on the AI colors since it's an AI based website for now). More research to come!

Day One

My topic was approved, awaiting to hear from the Photography Department Head. Hoping to meet with her this week or early next week. I'm starting to think of the different pages that I'll need, as well as the tables in my database. Right now I will be a little more focused on pre-assessment, but hopefully I can sketch out a few ideas.