Project Plus - Project Management Web Application
As you may know I was a student of PHP beginner course on City University, London during this spring. I have to say I have learned a lot and it was time well spend and worth the money. That is the reason I have singed myself to PHP Advanced course in the same school. The course started 2 weeks ago and it has been very cool so far and I am looking forward to other lessons.
I actually do not use PHP in my daily work. I mainly use XHTML, CSS, JS, AJAX and ColdFusion at work. So you might be asking yourself why do I study PHP.
Project Plus
Some time ago I had a dream to build web application so I was looking for which language I should learn. I have found out that PHP is the most used language on the web and usually the chose of web standards coders as well. So I made my mind and chose PHP.
During the first part of my PHP course I have found out that the application I need most is tool for managing my projects. I don’t necessary mean web stuff, any projects. Studying, Sport, Photography, Design, Typography, Coding etc.
Logically I came with the idea to build Project application. It is going to be called Project Plus. I have spent some time recently designing some of the screens for the application. Here are few of them.
Coding of the web app
I am still holding back in terms of coding this application because I want to use object oriented programming first and then code the application that way. I should be able to start coding it in 2-3 months, until then I should design all the screens and maybe even build some templates. I would also like to increase my knowledge about building databases so I do it right way in terms of security, performance and scalability.
Your feedback is welcome
If you have any ideas about such application let me know. Once the application is build it is going to available for free to all of you.
Comments
when I was starting to learn PHP, I planned to write a project management, too. but it struggled with some other hard works (and also heavy indolence!) and made me stop dreaming!
I’m using Collabtive for now, and I’m also waiting for your Project+ to be released.
The interface is a brilliant job! simple and absolutely smart. finally one day I can design simple-smart themes ;)
Thanks for the nice comments. I was looking at the Collabtive site. It looks pretty interesting.
Most of the project management tools on the market allows you only 1 project for free and if you are not a company monthly fee can be a bit too much. I want to create my own one to train myself in php, to be able to manage my own projects and put something out there for free to promot myself in the industry. I will keep posting about the development process.
Hi Lewro,
I just checked your about page and you don’t seem to have a real Project Management background, so how come you intend on creating such an application?
I have checked both images you provided for Project+, and it’s gorgeous (I hope you’ve secured the domain), it’s probably the most beautiful online PM tool I’ve ever seen. What functionalities do you wish to implement in Project+ (btw, here’s an article about the ideal PM tool, written by the CEO of PM tool company), and why are you releasing it for free when you can certainly make money out of it with little advertising?
Thank you for the link to that article. It sounds very interesting. I have planed to implement some of the features mentioned in the article. For example the email notifications. I will think about the other features mentioned in it.
Why I have chosen PM tool? I need one to manage my projects. I have tried couple of PM tools before (MS Project, Basecamp, @task). Some of them I found overcomplicated. Basecamp is the closesed one to my requirements but is missing the most important featured (for me) the time counting widget for task.
Why is it going to be free? Couple fo reasons. I have been working as web designer and developer for about 13 months only so I am quite new to this industry. I could probably build it and try to sell it by whatever way (subscriptions, as a product in a box) but that would mean providing support and doing some marketing etc. I am not frealancer so I do not think I can afforded (time or money). The way I see it is to give it a way so it can provide marketing for me and my work for the feature. If people like it they will tell their friends or collegues about it. This way the product could bring me more opportunities for the feature. The other reason giving it there for free is. I am just a beginner developer and this will be the first big application so it is going to be my playground where I can test my knowledge.
Beautiful template.
Thank you Fubiz! I am happy you like it.
I agree, the design looks very clean. There’s some real potential here. I assume you’ve got the domain. You should create a preview site with an “email me when available” field.
I do both front-end and back-end development. Let me know if you want any help to take this further.
Thank you Travis! Actually I do not have the domain because I plan to launch it here on my domain. Probably something like lewro.com/project for start. If it really gonna grow then I will consider moving the app somewhere else and buy domain. It is my school project for now and the time will show how it will be and what steps I will have to do.
Thank you for your offer! I would like to ask you if you can recommend any good source of information about building databases. I underestand the process of creating tables and relations etc, but what I would like to know is some kind of “best practice” for creating dtbs. So I do not have to go back in the middle of development to add more columns, tables and so on.
Thank you.
I like the interface. BTW, we use DeskAway.
Thanks Sal. I did not even know there is so many online products out there about PM. My one is trying to be as simple as possible and easy to use. DeskAway looks really good. Wish you guys luck with your product.
hi lewro, what is the font name in titles?
@mike its Helvetica Neue. The same which is used on my blog. My favorite :)
[…] For the time being I schedule my tasks in Google Calendar and iCal. They are synchronized with my iPhone so that would be fine. The problem is I don’t get the overview for the projects I can only see individual tasks in my Calendar. That is the reason I cam with the idea to create my own project management application. […]
Hi lewro,
Please let us know when you expect to release Project+. We would like to write a review about your project management application here at http://www.pmtoolbox.com.
Regards
Pmtoolbox