Outsourcing or Communitysourcing Software Development?

Yes, the coupons site currently looks ghastly – but at least the script works quite well (VERY well). I’ve had an idea about how to improve the Web site itself, but was waiting for the search script developer to make a few necessary changes… which are now in place.

I’m considering outsourcing the design / Web site structure to one of those third-party services. Someone very knowledgeable in building software teams clued me in to oDesk.com. I’m likely going to submit a RFP there tonight, but wanted to see if you: (a) wanted to make a bid, (b) had any feedback about oDesk’s workflow, or (c) had a better outsourcing option in your rolodex.

I want to overhaul the site, independent of the script that is running in /rss/ on the same subdomain. There’s nothing wrong with the form that’s at the top of the site right now, although it could use a bit of touching up style-wise.

Every page would include this form at the top, and below it a list of coupons appropriate for the semantically-structured URL. I’d also like to add an email newsletter form (which is handled, much like the ‘latest’ RSS feed, via FeedBurner). The front page would merely list the latest items from the database (as based on a specific RSS feed), as well as the most recent searches that yielded results.

We can currently output two master OPML files:

• http://coupons.lockergnome.com/opml/categories
• http://coupons.lockergnome.com/opml/stores

And completely dynamic OPML files can be created from any given keyword, with the RSS feeds changing within the OPML as well:

• http://coupons.lockergnome.com/opml/categories/keyword
• http://coupons.lockergnome.com/opml/stores/keyword

I need the Web site to pull these master OPML files and create subdirectories accordingly. Upon the following URLs would be displayed the latest coupons:

• http://coupons.lockergnome.com/stores/storename
• http://coupons.lockergnome.com/categories/categoryname

I would also like new pages created whenever a new keyword is searched (that contains results):

• http://coupons.lockergnome.com/stores/keyword
• http://coupons.lockergnome.com/categories/keyword

There are to be NO other ads on-site. For design inspiration, look at the MovableType Action Streams. Would be preferred to use open source software as a framework, as I’d consider open sourcing the ‘OPML-to-dynamic site’ that I’m looking to build here.

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