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Site Development - looking for Ning, vBulletin Designers and PHP/MySQL Coders
Open
Date Posted:October 29, 2009
Planned Start Date:November 1, 2009
Type:Hourly
Main Category:Web Development
Sub Category:Other - Web Development
Skills: Ning
vBulletin
PHP
more
Estimated Workload:As needed - Less than 10 hrs/week
Estimated Duration:1 to 3 months
Last Buyer Activity:November 17, 2009
Candidates: 6 - average $11.35/hr
Interviews: none
Cancelled
Date Cancelled:November 17, 2009
Reason Cancelled:
No developer for requested skills
 
 
Preferred Qualifications
English skill:above 5
Feedback score:above 4
Passed test:U.S. English Basic Skills Test
 
Buyer Facts
Member Since:October 29, 2009
Country:United States (GMT-06)
City:Houston
Jobs Posted:3
Jobs Filled:0
Jobs Not Yet Filled:1
Current Team size:0
Hours billed, last 30 days:0
Total oDesk Hours:0.00
Feedback Score: -
 

Description AttachmentView attachment
If you apply, please do your best to answer the questions related to the skill set you have /are applying for. I cannot consider form applications, so please do not submit general applications, as you will be rejected for failing to follow instructions. Thanks for your cooperation.

Greetings. I am a developer representing a client who is looking for one or two coders to help us build her new site. I’m looking for Ning and VBulletin developers to provide some information so that we can make a decision on which platform to use. I also have some custom PHP, MySQL coding to be done, so I’m looking to hear from a someone who can do custom coding. Depending on your specialty, refer to the appropriate questions below, as well as the general specs near the bottom. Ning/VB developers, please indicate if a particular item will require coding beyond your skills so I can add it to the ‘custom coding’ list.

I am looking for coders who are good communicators willing to answer questions and explain things. Clear communication is very important. 

The platform has not been decided yet. The client is leaning toward Ning because she has a developed community there, but would like to consider VBulletin too. Because some of the specs cannot be accomplished using Ning (as far as I can tell), there will need to be a matching site for some sections. This will probably be run on WordPress. Though, if VB can meet all the requirements (instead of using Ning and WP) then that would be best.

Hopefully your answers will help us understand if Ning or VBulletin will work best as the main platform of the site. Please consider the general specifications listed further down if you wish to submit a more inclusive proposal or explain in greater detail why you think one platform would be better suited than the other. Top applicants will be asked for a bid on consultation and/or Ning or VBulletin design. Please provide some idea of what you would charge to create a custom Ning or VBulletin site matching the attached design, as well as what you charge for email or phone Q&A. 

See design attached.

Thanks,
Erin


Ning Developers

• How much will it cost to code from HTML versus from PSD? (I have a coder who can do basic coding from PSD. Would this save you time, or would you prefer to do all the coding?)

• Can the Ning site be completely customized? --Can code be added or only CSS altered? Just how much can be customized?

• Can a dynamic header be included (such as the header from a WordPress site, showing updated nav links, etc)?

• Can custom agreement conditions/text be added to Ning registration?

• Can a store (amazon affiliate) be hosted on Ning?

• Is it possible to provide premium content? I've looked through Ning documentation and searched Google and my free Ning account, but cannot find a detailed description of what is entailed in the 'premium content' feature of premium-Ning accounts. Can you explain more about this?



VBulletin Developers

• How much will it cost to code from HTML versus from PSD? (I have a coder who can do basic coding from PSD. Would this save you time, or would you prefer to do all the coding?)

• Does VB use widgets –please explain how customizable it will be for the site admin

• Can custom agreement conditions/text be added to member registration?

• What kind of store options are there (for selling webinairs, books, an downloadable docs)?

• Is it possible to provide premium content? In addition to general premium content area(s), there will be a guest speaker discussion area. We would like the latest discussion to be visible by all, and for all older discussions to go to a protected archive area. Is this possible with VBulletin?

• Is there any way to import Ning members?


Custom PHP coding (possibly involving aMember and MySQL + WP,Ning or VB). These specs will be clarified as things are decided, but for now, these are the main items.

• Moving older discussions to a protected area --

There will be an area where guest discussions are held. These are viewable by everyone, but when a new discussion is published, the last one is moved to a premium content area. If I cannot accomplish this using Ning’s ‘premium content’ and forums features, I would like to have PHP written to automatically move all but the latest post (in a particular WP category) to a protected area (protected by aMember and the Role Scoper plugin), or somehow done on VBulletin. I think that aMember will be required either way. 

• I need to be able to add meta data to member accounts in aMember.

• Any suggestions on how to handle group subscriptions in aMember? Would it be possible to configure aMember so that I can sort by institutional/group subscription, and to turn off/on all members of a group –where the recurring payment will enable all members of the group to remain active?

General project info

The client has an established LISTERV community and wants to build a full featured social networking type of site to move everything over to. Optimally, we would have all site sections on one platform, yet because of the mixed functionality, it looks like there will need to be two platforms –the main reason being that one section of the site be content protected by aMember. Basically, it needs to have many features common to today’s social networking sites.

To help give an idea of the overall site, here are the main specs:

• Users can create extended profiles – members create profiles for themselves with as much or as little identifying information as they want.  Some users will want to be completely anonymous, with no photo, no info and a fake name.  Others will be fine with people knowing who they are.  I want all options to be open.

• Post messages to the whole group and get responses from others. It would be nice to have an email address or place on the site that users can add news items that are then digested and sent to all members. The idea is to keep posting to the digest as simple as possible.

• Forums

• User blogs

• Store for selling books and documents

• Friending capabilities for members

• Document sharing for members

• Guest discussions - Organize panel discussions where 3-5 guest bloggers come on the site for a one-week period, share their stories, and answer questions from users.  Please visit the WRK4US website an peruse some of the previous Guest Speaker Discussions so you understand what I am talking about (http://career.studentaffairs.duke.edu/graduate/wrk4us/index.html).  One guest blogger at a time is not enough.  There has to be some way to have 3-5 guest bloggers share the spotlight in the same discussion, with users commenting and the speakers responding to user comments as well as to each other.  For clarity's sake, these discussions are asynchronous.  They are not live chats.  They are asynchronous conversations taking place within a five-day work week, then preserved for later perusal.

If this cannot be done in Ning, I believe these will either be WordPress or VBulletin posts. I would like to have the latest discussion visible to the public, but older discussions are automatically moved to an archives area that is part of a premium content area (probably aMember).

• Subscribe via RSS feed (and/or other common mechanisms)--and choose exactly what they will receive emails about.  

• Have a variety of options re how tightly I control what gets posted: e.g. I want to be able to screen postings before they go up and/or remove inappropriate postings, ban problem users, ideally ban their computers so it isn't so easy for them to just come back and create a new profile.  I would also want to be able to un-ban.

• Offer "webinars" to users for a fee 

• Make new users read and agree to a simple "terms and conditions of use" that I will write with my lawyer

• Offer free downloadable versions of my press kit and speaking materials (PDFs?  Some other format?)

• Sell my book from the site, possibly other documents too

•  Monitor site traffic, detect meaningful trends, print/email reports, design new queries and reports

•  Have advertising on the site (e.g. Google AdSense)

• Send out weekly digests of Versatile PhD activity from the site that will reach readers by email.  In other words, I want to be able to go to the site, write a digest of what happened that week, and click once to send an email bulletin to all users.  Or something analogous to that.  If it could be done automatically, fantastic, one less thing for me to do, BUT, I do not have faith in technology's ability to communicate in the right voice for my audience.  Maybe what I really need is the ability to set the writing style of the digests.

• Would like to sell institutional subscriptions to universities for protected content on my site. These member accounts would be the same as others, but have a different stylesheet applied (so that the university’s logo and background, etc, can be used). If members login, their email domain should be checked and then if it matches one of the institutions with a subscription, the unique stylesheet is served.

Candidate List
Title Name Initiated By Date
PHP/MySQL/AJAX/XML/Joomla/WordPress , ASP.NET,Web2.0, CSS,XHTML, HTM Shamim Siddiquee Provider October 29, 2009
Java Expert with 5 years Experience George -Linxys Solutions Provider October 29, 2009
Sr. Developer Php,CakePhp,Oscommerce,Samrty,Joomla,Jquery,Ajax, etc. Alex B. Provider October 29, 2009
Expert Photoshop,Flash,3DMax,HTML,CSS,DIV,Mockup,Logo,Brochure Design Dhwani S. Provider October 29, 2009
►►JAVA, WebLogic, Alfresco, PHP, Joomla, Wordpress, AJAX, Mysql, Oracl Rodrigo Barboza Provider October 30, 2009
PHP,MYSQL Developer and Web Designer Abhay Pal Provider November 2, 2009

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