Things have been quiet around the blog since we have been very focused building the new Coffeenatic. After weeks of work and planning we’re glad to announce that the beta phase is nearly complete and we will be launching this new version on 10 September.
The new version of Coffeenatic introduces a new design and with a complete re-written backend. We carried on using Ruby on Rails and moved from using Prototype to jQuery/jrails. Since we decided to do this we rolled out some new features:
- OpenID implementation - you can associate your OpenID account with Coffeenatic
- RSS feeds - you can stay updated now with the latest coffee and recipes
- Favourites - tag what you most like so you never lose it
- Improved Interaction - you can now leave comments on user profiles
- Recommendation - share what you most like with your friends and other users
If you’re interested in participating in this final beta test contact us using the contact form below and we’ll get back to you with a special link. Stay tuned for the 10 of September!
Finally, we have something to show for Coffeenatic. This is just the preliminaryhome page, without final illustrations or logos — but I’m sure you get the basic idea. Feel free to post any feedback! We’re hoping to roll out the new design for a pilot before the end of August, so stay tuned.
We’ve been busy the last weeks working on Exender and also preparing a new backend for Coffeenatic which has been completed. For those of you that don’t know, Coffeenatic was acquired by us, we feel that our team can improve the existing website and provide a stable service.
Our new backend has improved the stability of the website and also fixed a few bugs which we have noticed, it also improves the performance. With this new backend Ryan will also be preparing a new design and we’ve also decided to add some new features to the website, some of them are:
- Ability to comment on user’s profiles
- Recommend recipe and coffee to your friends
- Manage your favourite coffee and recipes
If you have any ideas on what else you would like to see don’t hesitate to contact us. Stay tuned as we will be announcing more details shortly.
Hey there again! I wanted to update everyone a little on the UI. As of this moment, I have completed about 95% of the screens for the app, as well as the homepage design. You can check out the sneak peak below:
As you can see from the screenshot, we chose to follow the theme of our logo with a very colorful and vibrant site.I believe this gives us a unique brand identity against all the other web application shops out there. Also I must apologize for the application screenshots, as most of them just have placeholder data as well as placeholder graphs inserted.
Stay tuned, as more updates will be coming in the next few weeks including the opportunity to beta test Exender!
We are hastily working to get the product (Exender) out the door. We are in the process of working on all of the Exender screens, and deciding what information gives the most value to the user (yes — it’s been nearly 3 months since our initial announcement). The goal is to create an easy to use interface like Basecamp, while differentiating ourself enough that the site sparks some visual interest. This has actually proved to be challenging, since most of us know the guys over at 37signals are usability gurus.
Perhaps some of you could comment on what you would like to see on the dashboard screens, as well as profile screens.
Look for some screenshots of the new Exender home page, as well as the app pages in the next couple weeks! Also in the next few weeks we will be releasing the new look for Coffeenatic, as well as some additional features and a completely re-written backend.
