Explorer Nation Blog

It’s finally here! Months of work have finally culminated to today’s official launch of Explorer Nation! The site is out of testing and is ready for full public release. You may see some strange stuff going on here and there as we work out any kinks, but the design team is pretty confident that the site should run smoothly. Get on the site and start sharing and exploring!

I’m going to attempt to get some footage of tonight’s launch party and hopefully work that into a video podcast. The Explorer Nation podcast site will be located at http://podcast.explorernation.com and is currently under development. As the Explorer Nation team travels, we would like to release a podcast detailing our adventures and give viewers some insight into that particular destination.

In the meantime: Start submitting links!

Just a quick update: The site is on schedule for the May 1st launch. Anyone who wants to create an account and beta test the site for us between now and then is welcome to do so. We’ll even give credit to any beta testers on the Explorer Nation ‘About’ page. I’m particularly interested in anyone with SQL or PHP experience who can try to break the PHP or crash the database.

Also, there will be sparse updates on the Explorer Nation blog between now and the week leading up to launch. In the spirit of Explorer Nation, the Explorer Nation team will be in Cabo San Lucas next week for a period of much needed relaxation, drinking, swimming, etc.

Hello Explorers!

The site is moving along ahead of schedule, so we should be able to throw in some of those last minute features we had on the backburner. Not only that, but the near completion of the site has allowed us to set a hard launch date of May 1st!

Assuming our lead PHP Developer (me) can put down Puzzle Quest for the PSP, here are some of the features we are currently working on:
1) A Friends List: Add your Explorer Nation friends to your friends list.
2) Comment Promote: Promote good comments and sort comments by highest promotion.
3) Add a MyPlaces List: Update the userpage to show where you live, where you’ve visited and where you’d like to visit.

I’ll keep you updated!

The site is currently in the process of being converted to the W3 standards, and moving at a pace quicker than expected. We are still on track for an end of April launch.

Can you think of a feature you’d like to see added before launch? Now is the best time to get new features implemented…it will be a slower process once the site officially launches due to the additional load on the server. Suggest a new feature now!

You may have also noticed a bit of color has been added to the site. Rather than a static image, the Explorer Nation logo has been converted to a randomly generated image that displays a scene from somewhere around the world! Move your cursor over the image or right click to view the image properties to see where the picture was taken.

Welcome to the first post of the Explorer Nation blog! Here, the Explorer Nation staff will communicate site development progress, new features and company news. Explorer Nation is currently under construction, but is expected to ‘go live’ by the end of April 2008.

Those wishing to register new accounts may do so. Although the site is in development, most of the features, such as link submission and link comments are working properly. You may notice some funny stuff during the dev process, so please bear with us. If you notice any bugs or formatting issues, please send a message to feedback@explorernation.com. Thanks!

The dev team is currently working on: Formatting issues with Firefox browsers, the ‘Top Stories’ sidebars, user entry validation and refining the site’s search feature.