I Went Away .com

This evening I pushed live a new pet project.

The whole idea stemmed from one morning running out for a quick Starbucks run I wanted to leave a note in case anyone came over to see where I was. In the end the fastest way I could find to show a big clear message, was to dive into firebug and add the message to a blank HTML page and set the font to 20em’s. With the browser window at the top of the stack, I was left with a big clear text message on my screen for anyone to see.

Now that struck me a very inefficient. So I picked up a chap domain, gathered up some CakePHP goodness and after 20 minutes of initial coding I was able to launch.

The idea is stupidly simple. You go to an easily remembered web page, type in a message hit enter and then leave in the knowledge that others will know where you are.

It also has the added bonus of a unique yet obscure url, that you can share, for example add it to your “on vacation” auto responder.

Of course as with all good plans it has a million holes. What if your screen saver comes on, what if someone doesn’t come over to your desk, what if they check your ichat status, etc, etc, but hey, 20 minutes of work is a great investment even if it’s used only a dozen times.

If anyone has any great ideas on additions I could make, I’m totally open to suggestions.