Hookie Build 15. Groups & Couples. Facebook Page.

New alpha build of Dolphin 7 is up + BoonEx page at Facebook created + We need your opinions on how to implement Groups and Couples.

Dolphin 7 (Hookie) Alpha Build 15

We've made some important updates, which we'd love to discuss with you. We now try to follow your feedback and many changes are still in works. There's so much going on here, and we can show so little. Anyway, here's what there is for today:

1. Avatars. This is a new feature. The idea is to have a separate userpics system for a few reasons:

- Photos is an optional module, and we need core functionality for small userpics.

- Avatar may be a sign, picture, photo, small logo, etc. So, creating avatars for "photos" didn't sound natural.

- There was a need for seamless step for userpic creation after Join, preferably with cropping tool. Photos upload page didn't really work well, especially since it's becoming more and more sophisticated (albums, multi-file upload, etc.)

Avatars can be uploaded, cropped and chosen from available site-avatars (we added a nice selection of those).

So, say hello to Avatars. They can be found in "Account > Avatar" tab.

2. Floating member menu. Yes, it was too tall. We changed that. But there's a lot more to talk about. Member menu should work as the main communication "hub" and we'll be focusing on making it better. Now it's mainly "links", but it's supposed to be a messenger holder, notifications tracker, status updater, etc. It's getting there. It may as well double as a browser toolbar in future.

3. Video Player. Design is updated... again. We're still trying to find a proper "works for all" style for it, and hope it's a hit this time. You tell us. If it sticks - we'll update the other flash apps.

4. Sites. It's a new module, replacing the now obsolete "links" and working as a community links-sharing directory, much like Digg.com. Still at early stage of development.

5. Calendar. You know you could browse content using "Calendar", but it was messy when more than few items per day get added. Now it's being fixed in a simple yet effective manner.

We are half-way through with Store, Multi-photos upload, Action Buttons, Inviter, OpenID, and other stuff. The list of features at Trac is incomplete though, we'll be updating it during the week.

Alpha Demo is here.

Next update is planned to the Wed-Thu next week, but before then we need your input on one VERY, and I mean VERY important issue...

Groups and Couples

It's not the first time we raise this subject - Dolphin carried a few different implementations of couples and I still think it's not done right. So, let me know what you think about the following idea:

Group page can work much like a user profile. Same sub-tabs - Photos, Videos, Forum, Wall, etc. Similar homepage, but it'd have "Group Members" instead of "Friends" and "Admins" instead of the main member. Group members can post content, Admins can edit it. Admins can kick out members.

Now what if we use the same functionality for Couples, too? The catch is that Couple is also a "group". It's not a single person and there may be cases when members of a couple would need their own single-profiles. Like, for communicating with each other, posting their "personal" content, forming a new couple, etc. So, Adam and Eve have their own profiles, but there's also a "group" called "Adam and Eve" where they are both "Admins" - they'd have friends, separate place for couple photos, etc.

This can also work for "Families", "Bands", "Teams", "Businesses", you name it.

Tell me what you think.

BoonEx Page at Facebook

We've just created a BoonEx Page at Facebook. Come on board if FB is your preferred communication "environment".

BoonEx and Dolphin is getting more and more open and we're looking outside and from outside, hence FB page and a few other things to come.

Welcome to BoonEx Page at FaceBook!