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Comments
Excellent! Not to hype this
Excellent! Not to hype this (although I did sign up), but this is bound to succeed as the go-to calendar we all need.
Not quite 'excellent'...as it stands now.
On one hand, it's very cool that the creator didn't just say "There should be an X" but actually went and implemented X. Big thumbs up for making and sharing new tools.
The interface is visually clean and intuitive - for both readers and contributors. But at this point, it's not very extensible (eg, no way to add a new tag if none of the pre-determined ones fit, limited reoccurring events, etc). And it's not very flexible (eg doesn't scale well for anything that's not a standard desktop browser window, looks to be a bit ponderous at events >20ish, etc).
Additionally, I would argue with the initial Statement of Need. The 'About' says that it was created because there were no "Boston event calendars...specifically geared towards the cost-conscious reddit user/young professional/student simply looking for something cool to do around the city."
On that I have to call bullshit - that's exactly the most typical demo that nearly all the various existing calendars are shooting for.
It's very early-days for this project - hopefully Sean and Saurav will continue to work on improvements/refinements - right now I'd give them an A+ for initiative, a B+ for open process, a B+ for implementation (source is clean), and a C for overall design (B+ for aesthetics, but a C- for adaptibility and a C- for flexibilty).
Everyone in Boston should vet
Everyone in Boston should vet their ideas for Universal Hub commenters before making anything new, they are experts at all, and if they just didn't spend all their time commenting would probably have invented this and everything else that is written about here, and much better.
Jeff F, any worthy competitors...
...to TBC? 'Cause I'm not familiar with any.
A few - all have pros/cons
City Hall maintains one.
Trumba (who make tools for creating hCalendar-compliant (ie opensource) sites, thread the city's data through here. More of an intermediate form for dev'ers than a public resource.
The Glob's event page (has email list too).
The "Daily Dig" over at Dig Boston (also with email list).
The family-centric BostonCentral listing (again - with email/RSS/etc options).
There are myriad others, many with more specific focus.
My intent was not to shoot down Sean's work, rather to offset the somewhat hyperbolic expression of the first commentor, maybe create more reasonable expectations for people going to take a look.
***
To the anon above, a couple points. First (broadly), I assume you are not a close associate of Sean's, since you would then know that he's done the whole project pretty much in the public eye - welcoming feedback and collaboration. And secondly (specifically), I happen to be a reasonably competent professional software UI/UX designer with experience in general-public tools (eg, if you've ever used an Accu-Chek glucometer, you've used my work - or a descendent of it.) I feel pretty confident analyzing public tool sw.
Not seeing an RSS feed on BostonCentral
It's either buried or they don't have it. It's a pretty useful site though.
(specifically), I happen to
(specifically), I happen to be a reasonably competent professional software UI/UX designer with experience in general-public tools (eg, if you've ever used an Accu-Chek glucometer, you've used my work - or a descendent of it.) I feel pretty confident analyzing public tool sw.
yeah ok wanker. I am a level 80 battlewizard and conquered the fields of mordor.