30go30

When I first launched 30GO30, I created a basic, online 30-day challenge tracker. It wasn't sexy, but it did the job, letting people create projects and add log entries to track their progress. Of course, like every launch, I was left with a wish-list of what didn't get finished, and I'm happy to say that version 2.0 of the challenge tracker is now live.

I filled in the gaps.

One of the items that didn't make it into version 1.0 was some basic editing features. I'm happy to say that you can edit your profile, projects, and individual log entries now. In addition, you can shift any log entries within a 2-week time window. Now that I use the tracker daily, I realized how big of a missing piece that was. I often forget to log an entry until the morning after.

I learned how to share.

When I started posting my own challenges, I decided to make my current log public. That was great, but it got me thinking: "Why can't everyone share their logs?" I really wanted to avoid creating yet another site where you have to harass your friends to sign up so that they can friend you just to see one page, so I took a page from YouTube's book and made it easy. When you create or edit a project, you get this option now:

From your main project page/log, you'll then see a link called "Share Project" – it's a public permalink to that project. Tell your friends, and keep yourself accountable. Your shared page has a built-in Facebook "Like" button, too, just to make you feel warm and fuzzy. Here's an example – my Undiet Challenge page:

I turned on the lights.

I couldn't quite make out your shining faces, so I've added Gravatar avatars to the blog comments. Gravatar is free and ties your avatar to your email address – it's used by quite a few blogs and really helps standardize the process. They didn't pay me to say that – I just think it's a nifty concept.

What can I do for you?

Of course, this version 2.0 is still a pretty basic tool, and I'm creating it as I go (and as I learn what the gaps are). What would you like to see in the online challenge tracker? Feel free to share comments or criticisms below.