Overview

Readingful.com is intended to be a reboot of the original Readagogo.com reading practice web app. While much of Readagogo's function will be retained or updated, we'll also be adding several new features, along with a full redesign. Readagogo is still operational at the outset of this project, and will continue to be throughout its development (though will be shut down and its domain redirected to readingful.org upon the project's completion). Nevertheless, Readagogo's code will prove instructive, and should serve as a good starting point for thinking about how to ultimately program Readingful.

Data Transfer

None of Readagogo's user data will need to be transferred to Readingful. That's because the usage of Readagogo at this point is small (it drops the closer we get to summer), and in the fall, any interested teachers who were using Readagogo last school year, will be directed to use Readingful, moving forward.

Time Frame

The goal is to have readingful.org production ready by August 1st, 2024—approximately 90 days from now. The reason for this deadline is because in the U.S. (where, by far, readingful.org's largest consumer base resides), the new school year typically commences at the end of August or start of September. Yet, choices by teachers and school administrators, as to which web apps and resources to use are often made in the month leading up to the new school year. Thus, it will be crucial to meet this deadline. However, you should do your absolute best to confound this expectation and bring the platform online sooner than this deadline, if possible. Once the full specs are up, you this may or may not seem possible. However, any extra lead time is extremely valuable. In short, I'm okay if it takes until August to reach this goal. I'll be elated if it's completed prior to August. And, in a very real way, your interests are aligned with finishing sooner. That's because if the platform does become highly successfull and, say, began generating 20K of monthly income, or something like that level, you can be sure it would either result in me rewarding you with a sizeable bonus, perhaps ongoing, or even more work as the platform's features expand further. In other words, I'm not a greedy person. Any success in life I experience, I'm always happy to pay forward to those who help me achieve it. Hopefully that's a little extra motivation to stay on task.

Mockups

The mockups in these specifications represent what readingful.org's pages should look like on a screen area of 1424 x 776. I chose these dimensions simply because the browser resizing toolbar I have on my Chrome browser has this exact amount of screen area when I resize to the 1400 x 900 option, as shown in the screenshot above. In the end, since Readingful shall now be fully responsive, and should function on almost any size of display, this doesn't matter too much. But, I thought it would nevertheless be a good idea to let you know this, up front. These mockups are the end result I am expecting to see regarding this project. As you move through Readingful's development, simply compare the result you have, with these mockups, at that screen area. If it looks different, adjustments should be made. I will do my best to outline styling dimensions. However, if any dimension is missing, you can, of course, ask me. But, a quicker way is always to take the mockup and measure the element in any visual program—even Microsoft paint. That should get you very close to the right number, as the mockups have a 1 to 1 pixel ratio. I know we've have discussions about uniformity, and how you'd like me to create general dimensions that can apply multiple places across the platform. However, it's not that simple. Because, often the size of spacing may be uniform (mathematically), but visually, may need to be different, in order for it to look uniform. In short, nothing is going to prevent those 1 pixel adjustments from being a necessity. So, that's something to keep in mind, as we move forward.

Optimization

From the beginning, I would like Readingful programmed with optimization, speed, accessibility, and SEO, in mind. Readingful should load quickly, preload media (where applicable), and it's page elements load smoothly. For reference, a lot of the ways in which Learningful.com fades elements in and out, will be ideal for the new readingful.org. Don't go overboard with different animations for each situation. Uniformity is key. How one page's elements load and operate, will likely be how I'll want another page's elements to load and function, as well. Much like we've done with Learningful.com, in that we use Learningful.org to increase the number of threads for media serving, we do have the option of using Readingful.org, as a supplement to readingful.org, if necessary or desired. Important to keep in mind that readingful.org, while it will load a lot less media at one time for any one user than Learningful, it will have a much, much higher number of simultaneous users (the students who login and use the platform during peak school hours, 7AM to 5PM, Central/Standard U.S. time), and all of them will be streaming audio during this period. For SEO purposes, it's important Readingful has a well written and coded sitemap.

Code

As you code, try to make it as human readable as possible in terms of naming elements, etc. I know you already do this, to a degree. But, we will be implementing a CSS override feature in the admin panel, so that I can make small changes to system colors and styling over time. And, it will always help if components are named literally, and descriptively, when possible.

Environment

Readingful shall be made production ready on my dedicated server. However, consider the possibility that the server's capacity could be eclipsed (if the service does really well). So, as you code, try to imagine that scenario, and someday having to string multiple servers, with a load balancer, or moving the app to a cloud service of some kind. I'm typically not in favor of the latter, as they charge by data transmission, as opposed to a flat fee. But, in this event, we'd explore options, of course. Still, keep this in mind... that the app could need to be relocated eventually.

Index.htm

For the duration of readingful.org's development, I will have a homepage (index.htm) of information that describes Readingful and its function, but has no real content (it's not up now, but will be soon). This is so I can put the platform into Google's search console very soon, and have a record of it existing for 3 months, so that when I begin to market Readingful in August, we'll be at the top of the search results for the term "Readingful." Then, when the platform is production ready, we'll take down index.htm, and put Readingful's true homepage in its place. Thus, during development, you'll need a second URL for Readingful's actual homepage we can test. This is actually a good thing, as we shouldn't need to password protect it.

Funding

FYI, paying for Readingful's development is going to be very difficult for me—not an exaggeration. I've sunk almost everything I have into Learningful's development. And, while I'm giving you the greenlight to work as quickly, and much, as you can on Readingful's development (because unlike with Learningful, I am on a very real deadline, here), I'll also ask make your best attempt to be as efficient, as possible. In other words, we all have a level of productivity beyond our usual. I'm asking you to reach for the exceptional in this regard, every time you chip away at this project, toward completion. Assuming it's acceptable to you, let's go with a weekly payment schedule for this project of every Friday, beginning with May 10th, 2024. This date is simply because I need time to move funds from a retirement account, to my bank account, and then to PayPal. Both transfers have a period of days of waiting before they complete. Keep in mind that if this project runs into August, there's a very good chance I won't be able to afford to pay to have it completed. Again, this isn't hyperbole on my part.

Updates

During development, this page may be updated with additional observations and requirements. I'll always try to update you personally, when changes are made here.