An Appetizer

The time is near for releasing the next major update to CaringMeals.com!

To whet your appetite, you can take a look at a few screenshots of the new site.  In addition to being more attractive, colorful, and easier to read, many new features and functions will be part of the upgrade:

• Meal Comments - When a user signs up to bring a meal, they will have the option to enter a description of what they plan to bring.
• Most Recent Plans - At the top of the screen you will see shortcuts to the most recent Plan you have viewed.
  
  
  
  
• Easy to Remember URLs - When creating a Plan, you will specifiy a Unique Name.   This name can then be used to access the plan.  For example, if you choose "JohnMeals", the address will be http://www.caringmeals.com/plan/JohnMeals
• Friends - For security purposes and to maintain an address book, a "Friend" system will be in place.   Friends are simply email addresses that you have marked as trustworthy  (If you have used Facebook, this concept will be familiar to you). To view a Plan, a user must be a friend of the Coordinator.  The old "Plan Password" concept will be removed in favor of this system.  You will also be able to view a list of your friends, view their contact information, and invite them easily to help with meals.  More on this to come.
• Receiver emails - Specify a receiver on the plan, so they can stay informed about the meals.
• Searching! - In the past, we did not allow searching, because there was no mechanism to restrict access to the Plan.  Now, with the Friend system, a user can search for a plan, and if they are not a friend of the Coordinator, they will have to send a Friend Request before they will be allowed to view the Plan.

There is more, but I think this is enough to let you know that the wait will be worth it.  A date has not yet been set (some more testing to be done), but February 27th is the estimate.

The site will still be considered "Beta", which means that it still needs your feedback.  A big "thank you" for all of your input and suggestions that have contributed to the making the site successful!

Blessings,

Vijay