Personal Development Partners – FINALLY!
Okay, so it took me 2 weeks instead of just 1, but I am very happy to report that the new Personal Development Partners interface is finally done!
The site is officially open for business, and for those of you who stopped by while it was still under construction, I'd like to thank you for your enthusiasm, and ask you to go back and see what the site REALLY looks like now that it's complete!
Overall, I am very satisfied with the way it all came out. The template that I found is very neat and professional, but not boring, and I did some serious customizations to it in order do have it both work well, and also be pleasing to the eye.
However, that being said, everyone has different tastes, so some people will probably love it as much as I do, while other people may not like it as much. I am remaining open-minded for suggestions on ways to improve it, and I'm sure that its present look and feel will be improved upon as we move forward.
In addition, I did manage to get most of the functionality in place that I had envisioned, although there were some things that just weren't ready to be set up until I got some feedback from the users. I have a list of potential ways to improve the site, but I am going to wait to hear from all of you before I go making any more changes.
All of the details can, of course, be found at the Personal Development Partners site, and here are some of the highlights:
- A huge forum that I have pre-populated with several categories, each broken down into individual subjects. In almost every instance, I have put up the first post in each section in order to get the conversation started.
- Completely customized profile system, including the addition of suggestions made by community members here at the blog. Not only can you fill out all manner of information about yourself, your goals, your success systems, etc., but every single field on the member profiles can then be searched by other members. This will allow all members to find, network with, and partner up with the type of people who fit their unique needs.
- A Buddy List system that includes icons much like a MySpace friend's list. The buddy list system allows you at a glance to look over the network that you built with the PDP interface, and also gives you one-click access to all of your personal development partners.
- A "Favorites" system that allows you to bookmark conversations or individual profiles that you are interested in keeping track of. Your Favorites will always only be a click away as there is a Favorites activation link in the sidebar, as well as in your User Control Panel.
- There is a standard Private Messaging system on the site as well, which allows you to instantly send and receive messages with other members without having to exchange email addresses. Also, you can customize the folders that are used for the storage of those messages in order to track your interactions on the site.
- The addition of "Thought Leaders," who are people who have contributed to the site with their knowledge, their products, and/or their generous donations. Thought Leaders get a lot of perks and link love on the site, and there is an unlimited amount of space for new Thought Leaders, so be sure to check out the details on how to take part in that.
- I decided to add a Premium Membership to the site in order to give people the chance to get some cool benefits for dirt cheap, and also to surf the site without seeing any ads. Premium membership is not required to use the site, however, and all members have access to the core content of the site for free.
- A free member Classifieds section. This was going to be a separate module, but I decided it was easier for the members to simply use the forum interface that they will all quickly become familiar with. The Classifieds cover everything from buying and selling personal development merchandise to bartering goods and services.
- There is also a community calendar where events and opportunities related to self improvement and personal development can be listed for all to see and potentially take part in.
Okay, I think that is about it for now. There are other standard message board features that you will see at the site, so just cruise on over there to get all of those details. Be sure to let me know via email or in the comments section below what you think of the site, or about any questions that you have!
I would like to thank all of you for your wonderful support and patience while I basically disappeared from the blogosphere for 2 weeks in order to make this happen. Whether your assistance came in the form of encouraging words, suggestions for the site, monetary donations, or simply the act of patiently waiting, you have my deepest and most sincere gratitude!
On that note, with the exception of a quick look at email in the morning (it is almost 1:00am where I am right now), I will be out of the loop for approximately the next 12 hours, so I will thank you once again for your patience.
I am off to go look at what will very likely be the manifestation of something that I have been visualizing for many months now, and I need to take a brief trip out of town to do so. I will be back on the 'net soon, however, and in the meantime, go beat up on the new PDP interface and let me know if anything breaks! 
