Exit 719 is up. The address is exit719.com. This post is the current shape of the product, not a promise about next month. I am still changing it in the open. Go there, register, and poke around. Send me your comments.
One account, many groups
You register once. A group is the unit of work. It has members, pages, files, and classes. A group owner runs that group. A member uses the groups they have joined. The person who operates the whole site sees a Site menu the members do not see.
If you already belong to a group, Find a group says Member. It does not ask you to request a join you already have. If you request a join, the page tells you the request was sent. When the owner approves it, you appear on the member list and you get a mail. The owner can rewrite that mail. The default is a plain sentence: you were approved to join the group.
What a member sees
The top of the site shows the site name and, under it, your name.
Your profile is a page other signed-in people can open. It shows your photo, the description you wrote, and only the contact lines you marked public. A public address that has map coordinates has a Map button. The map opens in a new window. So do the other links on that page. Private phone numbers, private addresses, and the sign-in email stay off the profile.
My info is where you edit those lines. Each address, phone, social link, and contact email can be changed, and each row says Public or Private. The sign-in email is listed there as the primary address. Changing it sends a confirmation mail. It does not switch over in silence.
On that same profile you can pick a look for the site: the site default, or one of the built-in styles. Visitors, and members who leave it on the site default, still see the style the operator set.
The home page shows a calendar of public events, then the journal. You can write a post, keep a draft, and sort the feed by newest, oldest, or most popular. Signed-in members can comment and react. A visitor can read a public post and cannot comment. The calendar has a week view and a month view, Sunday through Saturday. Click an event and a popup shows the details, including the group that owns it.
Mail is in the top menu. When you have unread mail or an invitation, the menu shows it.
What an owner sees
The group profile is the public face of the group: logo, name, description, the contact lines marked public, pictures, and documents. The edit screen shows the logo you already uploaded and lets you remove it. Saving the group brings you back to that edit screen with the values you just stored.
Inside the group, the owner can write pages, set which page is the home, choose a top or side menu, keep a file library, and build classes. A self-paced class is a list of lessons. A lesson can require you to mark it finished, or to pass a test, before the next one opens. A survey is recorded and not graded. A group owner can also put events on the calendar. Other members request them.
What I am not showing yet
You cannot pay for a class in this version. If a class has a price, the page says checkout is not part of this version. I would rather show that sentence than a payment button that does not charge anyone.
There is no video player in a lesson yet. I have not chosen a host. The lesson can remember a host later without me storing the video file in the database.
Why I am writing these posts
I build systems for a living. The part I want you to see is not a screenshot of a menu. It is the sequence: a specification, a review that changes the specification, a stage order, and a site that matches the stage I claim is done.
If you run a studio, a class, or a membership and this shape is close to what you need, tell me which part is missing. If you build systems yourself, tell me where you would have broken the stage order. I am going to keep publishing the next cuts as they land.
The series so far:
- The specification comes first
- The specification had to change
- Build in stages
- This post, which is the site as it stands.
Check out the site at exit719.com. This is my test site, live 24/7. Go there, register, and play around with it. I eagerly await your feedback.
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