The Beginnings of Yola

A project I started almost two weeks ago as an exercise in learning PHP has turned into quite a little adventure. I call this adventure "Yola."

First note: this is a codename. The name comes from the last four letters of the word "Crayola" - a box of crayons next to my laptop heavily influenced this on-the-fly codename. Also, Yola.com is an established website hosting company and I have no plans to compete with them by any means. I do, however, plan to bring this moonlighting project to my friends and family later this year or in early 2011. Around then, of course, the name will change.

In short, Yola is a small, private alternative to Facebook. Realizing that my private data really is not mine once it is on Facebook's servers, I decided that I should only put my full trust into a system that I write myself. Combined with my desire to learn new technologies, the birth of Yola came very naturally, which is why I am so excited by it.

Yola is built around my personal needs first and foremost, but it adheres to a strict design that encourages future expansion. I have a very short list of needs, and they are as follows:

• K.I.S.S: (Keep It Simple, Stupid): I am not out to recreate every facet of Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, or LinkedIn. I am trying to host a version of my basic Facebook profile in a way that I can control without the constant changes that plague Facebook. My needs are few, so the design and ambition of the entire project should be modest as well.

• Status Updater: Provide a means to let me post status updates in real-time. A large character limit means I could potentially treat the status updates as a limited blogging platform.

• Image Gallery: This will provide a place to quickly upload images and share them. I do not want to be a photo hosting platform, merely a place for each profile to upload around 50 or so pictures for sharing at a time.

• Link Sharing: Similar to the Status Updater, this will be a place on my profile where I can quickly drop a URL and share my wonderful findings on the web. I will be able to order these items so my favorite links can standout on my profile.

• Privacy Comes First: Unlike the open nature of many other networking platforms, the focus of Yola is to be small, concise and local. By default everything in Yola will be private: only your Yola friends will be able to see your profile. As an option, each of the three core components (Status, Images, Links) will be sharable on the open web should you so choose, but this will always be a very explicit option. This will very much be a walled garden.

• Open It to Friends & Family: The modest uses of Yola means I do not mind letting a couple dozen of my friends and family try the service out. Should the unthinkable happen and I see thousands of users sign up, I would be screwed. This is a small, local service first and foremost.
  

These basic elements make up version 1.0 of the Yola project. My plan is to get these basic elements working over this summer, a beta by the end of summer, and a final version running on a dedicated web server in the fall.

I will be using Critically Correct to update everyone on the project's progress, so stay tuned if you want to keep up.

B3 out.