igotmunchies

SAVE CHILDREN IN MALAWI, WHILST SAVING MONEY ON FAST FOOD.

2008-12-26T00:47:00.001Z

For further information contact Daniel Lewis on support@drunkendiscounts.com or 07505 834358

25/12/2008
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

SAVE CHILDREN IN MALAWI, WHILST SAVING MONEY ON FAST FOOD.
Looking to do your bit for charity this coming year? Well one young British entrepreneur has come up with an idea to help save lives of thousands of children in Malawi, whilst helping beat the credit crunch. By offering fast food discounts to students via text messages.

Unlike traditional ways of helping charities, this intriguing idea offers any of the 2.4 billion mobile phone users of the World a way to help change lives without spending a penny. In return for registering with the service (which is free), users will receive local fast food discounts to their mobile via text message.

The site is the brainchild of a young British entrepreneur Andrew Cargill. Fed up of seeing horrific images of famine and the fall of the British economy he decided to do something about it. By using his experience of running the UK's largest online student menu site, iGotMunchies.co.uk, he decided to fund and produce a new site interestingly titled DrunkenDiscounts.com.

Andrew Cargill commented, "When people register on the site their mobile number and postcode are inserted into our database. We can then send out fast food related discounts specific to their location, saving them money. Fifty percent of the profits raised by advertising revenues will be sent to the charity, Mary's Meals. Which helps educate and feed the children of Malawi."

DrunkenDiscounts is encouraging people to do their bit for charity this year by registering for free on their site by visiting www.DrunkenDiscounts.com.

For further information contact Andrew Cargill on 07505 834358, or support@DrunkenDiscounts.com.

- www.DrunkenDiscounts.com is a website which helps both lives of local and international people of the World, via fast food.

- The service is unique in that we don't charge anyone to use the service, yet generates income which helps change lives.

- DrunkenDiscounts is the only service in the World dedicated to fast food discounts via text message.

Top of Google!

2008-12-03T10:02:00.003Z

Hey guys just wanted to share the fantastic news! iGotMunchies has reached the top of Google it seems. Please see attached photograph. This is great news and we are now starting to get a huge amount of traffic coming through. Something like a 60% increase this week. My applogies in not updating the blog much as late, but I have been working hard on numerous things. One of which is a Newport micro site which I will then duplicate across all our bigger towns. This gives you easier and quicker access to the information you need. This is to launch sometime this week, so keep your eyes out :)

New site launched! - i Love Yummies

2008-11-09T22:03:00.002Z

Hey guys the new site is launched and ready for your browsing pleasure. There is still an incredible amount of work to be done on the site but what's there will get you started. The login and registration system is fully working for once and you can leave reviews whenever you please. All information inputted on the website will also be displayed on the Facebook application and vise-versa. I have made a couple of corrections to the menu.php page as well so now if someone enters a title in all lower case it will format it in correct english with the first letter been capitol and the rest lowercase. As time goes on I will work this through the rest of the site to make sure everything is how it should be.

Other then the website launch the facebook application has really took off. We have over 250 people using it now, which is incredible. I have been updating it today so to include news feeds etc. These are still underconstruction but are kind of working already and should help in spreading the word.

Also on the menu page I have included a section of code which people can copy and paste to include in blogs, myspace, bebo etc. This again should help in generate hits to the site.

Yummies Fastfood takeaway in Newport

Somthing Special This Way Comes!

2008-10-20T17:38:00.003+01:00

It has been a while since I last posted a message on this blog. During the time I have spent away munchies has undergone massive redevelopment. Myself and Dan have learnt a lot from the first two months of running the site. Within the past minute or two our Facebook application has reached a 100 subscribed users. This is absolutely fantastic news. I am hoping that by the end of this month the fiqure will be up to atleast 500!

We are just about ready to launch a brand new version of the site! The new site contains an incredible amount more content and really helps the user find what they are looking for easier. Munchies now even has a bit of a brain behind it. Recommending places to eat based on what you have looked at before. And automatically remembers your location and previous food type.

Any way much to be getting on with. We are hoping to launch the new version live with our first ever radio show at 4pm tommorow on International Radio Noize! http://www.newportunion.com/noize/

Google Page Ranking on the UP!

2008-09-28T17:21:00.000+01:00

Hey guys, I have been working hard on increasing our Google Page Ranking and it finally seems to be working. Although or rating of importance is still fairly low I am sure it will raise dramatically in the next couple of days thanks to some big sponsorship deals we have been working on. Aside from the Google Page Ranking I have also been working on rewriting our urls to make them easy to read and more search engine friendly. It seems to be a bit of a pain in the arse but I am getting there. You will see what I mean from the attached snapshot. We are also about ready to go live with all our online order system so keep your eyes peeled for news.

The Facebook Application,

2008-09-03T16:44:00.001+01:00

Just incase you guys have not seen the Facebook application I thought i'd take a little pic and whack it on here for you all to see. It works in pretty much the same way the site does with a little fewer features. I am still learning all the api programming gubbins that goes with it but would eventually like it so you can press a button and it sends a message to all your friends telling them your hungry. Then they can reply and you can all live happily ever after eating together. Anyway here is the link to the application. Get it added to your account today!

http://www.new.facebook.com/apps/application.php?id=26500966404

Page pagination now working!

2008-09-02T01:54:00.000+01:00

Hey guys its been a long evening but finally got the pagination thing working so now each results page is split down into a max of 15 listings. This will help greatly with the loading times of the page, as it only has to display a max of 15 results at a time. It's possible in the future that this fiqure of 15 could be changed dynamically depending on the users preference...but for now i am just glad to have it implemented. The only downside of this implementation is that we have lost the listing preview drop down thingy-ma-jig but i am sure i can spend a little time to get this back online. As ever there is a pic attached for your browsing pleasure.

4,000+ restaurants added!

2008-09-01T22:17:00.000+01:00

4,000+ restaurants have finally been added to the database. It was a bit of a headache getting them all online and working out how I was going to separate restaurants from fast food outlets but it seems to be working great now. Only one slight issue is with the online booking system but that should be all fixed and sorted by the end of tomz. So you better all be looking forward to booking your tables online! Take a look at the snaps for a overview.

Registration complete and favourite system nearly there

2008-08-29T00:55:00.000+01:00

A productive evening in Munchies Towers. I have managed to complete the registration process for new businesses now, which is fantastic news. There is many more things I yet add but at least the basics are working. And as a bonus it looks fairly pretty.

Something else I have been working on is a students account which allows for people to save their favourite menus in an easy to access place. This means you won't have to worry about searching the entirety of the iGotMunchies database to find what you want. So far it is allowing you to add a menu/restauarant as a favourite but not yet remove them. I have still got to fiqure out all the array gubbins that is required to achieve this.

In other news we were featured in the Louth Target today I believe and two people in Newport reconginised us today.

Finally a descent registration pae is on its way!

2008-08-26T00:33:00.000+01:00

Finally guys I think I have managed to construct a registration page that is easy to use, nice looking and grabs much more information then ever before, making our listings better then ever! I have attached a sneak peak image of the page. Everything is still done in a fancy ajax kind of manner. This makes the whole registration process much easier. So whats still left for me to do on the registration;

Form validation
Very important to make sure all the data we need for the system to work is entered correctly.
Database input
At present the pages are static and don't push anything to the database. This is of course no good and so tomorrow will be spent on getting all the information entered into the correct parts of the database.
Image upload
Still contemplating how I am going to arrange the image upload feature. Many requests are coming in for PDF upload. This presents a problem as my server doesn't seem to like imagemagick the software I need to convert PDF to JPEG. I need to run this conversion and split each page of the document into individual images. Then dynamically list all of this on the businesses profile page. At the moment only 2 images can be uploaded but if someone uploads a 10 page PDF not everything is going to get shown. I am looking at having two seperate forms one for PDF upload and one for JPG uploads. But ohh man this is a headache lol.
Send emails to both iGotMunchies and the end user
Something I havn't done so far in any version of the registration form was to send an email to both myself and the end user. The end user would recieve a welcome letter and account details. And I would just be acknowledged of a new registration, just so I can keep tracks on things.

Anyway thats enough for now. Check back tomz for more news.

It's all gone a bit mental!

2008-08-15T11:01:00.000+01:00

Long time no see guys! Well I am back online now and will start constantly updating the blog again. A lot has happened since my last real post. We are now officially an up and running business - iGotMunchies Ltd. How cool is that? The site has now be drastically improved, although still as ever has a lot work still to be done. The Facebook App is now on version 2! and is spreading like wildfire throughout the networks. We were featured on the front and inside page of the South Wales Argus yesterday and on Wednesday were featured in the Louth Leader back up north. I will try get the articles scanned in and uploaded for you to see. Busy busy busy so must dash, catch you all soon x

All please register for Donate Wales - It doesn't cost a penny.

2008-07-25T10:46:00.000+01:00

Donate Wales – Tell a Loved One is a campaign that gives you the chance to make a life-saving difference.

Right now more than 400 people across Wales are desperately waiting for a transplant to save or transform their lives. Because of the desperate shortage of donors though many face the reality of having to wait years before getting that second chance a transplant could give them, while others may sadly die.

One of the biggest obstacles to more lives being saved is that four out of ten families refuse for their loved ones organs to be donated – often simply because they didn’t know what they would have wanted.

You have the power to change this by talking about your donation wishes with your family and friends and joining the biggest life-saving club in Wales – the Organ Donor Register. More than 775,000 people already have, but that still means 73% of the population in Wales can do their bit.

In the last five years more than 750 lives in Wales have been transformed by a transplant and the generosity of a donor. Sadly in that same time 150 people have died, many just children, and without more donors more lives will be lost.

There is no age limit to joining the Register or restrictions because of a person’s sexuality. Likewise all of the major religions support the principals of organ donation meaning everyone one of us has the chance to make a life-saving difference.

If you already carry a donor card you should still join the Register as this is most secure way of making sure your pledge.

Please talk about your organ donation wishes with your loved ones and if you want to help join the Organ Donor Register. It only takes a few minutes and could save someone else’s life.

Click here to find out how to join.

Even more new pages to preview :)

2008-07-24T14:27:00.000+01:00

Hey once again. I have some more pics for you to look at. I got frustrated with working on the other pages and so have now started redesigning the registration form. The registration form has been a pain in the arse since I started the site. But I think I am finally getting there with it. I have now split it up into 5 separate tabs. This makes the page much cleaner and easy to handle. Take a look at the two images I have attached to compare the difference between the two.

Bonjourrrr

2008-07-24T10:59:00.000+01:00

Well I woke up bright and early this morning and have already done some very productive stuff. The new search results page is online (although has not been tested in IE) it is not yet complete as it needs the page pagination working on it. This means that only 15 results will be displayed at a time. I also need to add the sponsored listings. But other then that it seems to be working a dream.

Whilst working on the pagination I have also been working on the profile page of the take away. You can see in the image attached that it is now a much cleaner and easy to use page. I just need to work on the reviews section of this page and it will be complete.

Much improved search result page coming soon!

2008-07-24T00:39:00.000+01:00

Hey guys today I have been working on the results page of the site. I have rebuilt it from the ground up and you can see an early preview of the pages new look in the image attached to this post. It is much more dynamic and easier to follow. All listings now appear as just title and phone number. Then if you click on the name of the restaurant or use the plus and minus buttons it will reveal a preview of the full details. This includes the address, description, phone number and images of the menu. This will hopefully make things much easier to use. So keep your eye out for the live version in the next couple of days.

iGotMunchies menu upload now much improved.

2008-07-12T21:13:00.000+01:00

Hey guys this morning I realized that people want to be able to upload pdf's and may not have JPGs of their menus. And so I set out on the challenge of creating a PHP image converter. I thought this was going to be a right pain in the head but was relatively simple once I found a descent tutorial.

You should also notice that the form actually works in all browsers not just Safari and Firefox now. There is still a lot more development work to do on the registration forms, but that will come in time. This Monday I have a meeting with my universities press officer. So by the end of the week I am hoping iGotMunchies will be in all the papers!

Bye for nowww :)

A great day for iGotMunchies

2008-07-07T17:37:00.000+01:00

Today has been a fabulous day for iGotMunchies. Many things have been happening many of which I am unfortunately not able to tell you about for a week or two yet. But next Thursday I have a meeting which could potentially be huge! It also gives me a nice day out down London.

In terms of site development I have today managed to get the menu images to optimize dynamically on all pages. This means that pages should load much quicker now. This evening I will be working on watermarking the images with the iGotMunchies logo. Till next time..

It's been a couple of days,

2008-07-05T13:38:00.000+01:00

It's been a couple of days since my last blog, so thought I best update you. This morning I received an email from Richard offering some more suggestions on how to improve the site. One thing he pointed out was that the registration form wasn't to clever and defiantly needed fixing. It had a few css and layout errors on. I have now rebuilt it from the ground up, take a look and let me know what you think.

I have been working closely with a gentleman from Fast Food Jobs UK, check out his site at http://www.fastfoodjobsuk.co.uk/news.php, we are both currently working together to create something massive! So keep your eyes peeled.

In other news, the postcode search is still under construction. I have the basics in place now I just need to link it up with the food type box, and we will be ready! Have a great day guys!

New homepage design.

2008-07-01T12:45:00.000+01:00

Hey guys I have just done a little bit of work on the homepage. I think it looks much more professional then having that crappy sign post thing I made. Say hello to the chef instead. Any feedback will be greatly appreciated.

Postcode search on its way!

2008-06-29T23:30:00.001+01:00

One of the biggest comments I am getting is weather or not there is a better way to search by location. It didnt occur to me as a problem to begin with because I live in Newport a fairly small city in south wales. And so there is only really one area. But in places like Manchester and Leeds there are many areas covering a huge distance. And so it has been suggested that I change from asking what town you live in, to what is your postcode. I have been working tirelessly today trying to get this working, and still isnt quite there. I have emailed a tech friend to see if he can help out. At present if I enter my postcode to the search engine it tells me london is over 3000 miles away! So not very good at the moment. Hopefully by the end of the tomz it will be working. Bonne Nuit guys.

iGotMoney live and online!

2008-06-28T12:54:00.000+01:00

iGotMoney is now live and online! Pretty much everything seems to be working on it. Although I have yet to check it out in internet explorer. It has loads of bits and bobs to play about with. I have also included a forum room so reps can now chat to one another offering advice on how to make a sale etc. I have also now managed to work it so no one has to literally sign a contract and post it down to me. Now by registering as a rep you automatically accept the contract and terms and conditions. This will hopefully speed things up dramatically. I will be emailing everyone who contacted me about working for iGotMunchies and tell them to register on this site as things are explained in a much easier fashion.

I look forward to hearing your feedback.

A lot of development work tonight for the reps.

2008-06-28T01:07:00.000+01:00

I posted a ad on gumtree a couple of days ago and have received well over a 100 responses from people all over the country wanting to help out. Unfortunately I don't think I was nesseseraly prepared with the information people required to go out and sell the adverts. And so after some great help from a guy called Richard Madders and the hundreds of emails I have been receiving full of questions about the job. I decided to make things a little easier.

Tomorrow will launch a new section of the site called iGotMoney. iGotMoney is an exclusive section of the site only available to people who want to work with iGotMunchies. The section will be loaded with stats, information, help, advice and numerous other bits and bobs. It will also hold check lists of what you have to do, and the documentation that needs to be completed by the restaurants. I have even included a nice little balance counter at the top that will tell you exactly how much you have earnt. As you will see in the picture attached to this post.

I also made contact with the welsh business angles today. The angles are like the dragons off dragons den, but I hear are a much nicer bunch. And so next Tuesday I will try and arrange a meeting with the area manager, to chat about possible investment for iGotMunchies.

Numerous universities onboard

2008-06-27T10:38:00.000+01:00

Hey guys just a quick update. I wanted to say a big thanks to everyone who has been getting involved in the site and epically to the following universities,

Sheffield Hallam,
University of Sterling,
University of Bath,
and of course University of Wales, Newport.

If you are a Sab, student or employee of another university why not get yours on board?

Application approved!

2008-06-25T12:36:00.000+01:00

Great news guys. It has only been a couple of days and already the iGotMunchies Facebook application has been approved! This is fantastic news as any one can now find the app on Facebook through their application directory. The app already has many users and I am sure soon enough it will have many many more.

Facebook application now LIVE!

2008-06-23T23:23:00.000+01:00

Hey guys I have spent the evening working on a Facebook application. It was something I always thought would be a fairly good idea, but never realized just how good it could be for the site. And I also never thought I would be able to make one. But I did and it seems to work an absolute dream. We already have many people using the app, which is great! Check out the still and then get yourselves over to Facebook and add it for yourself.

http://www.facebook.com/apps/application.php?id=26500966404

Just a quick update.

2008-06-23T14:10:00.001+01:00

Just wanted to update you guys and let you know all menus now have a hit counter on them. So everyone can see how popular a establishment is.

Loads of new menus have been added!

2008-06-23T10:11:00.000+01:00

I haven't been able to work much on the site this weekend due to other commitments. But I have been able to upload loads of menus for my home town of Grimsby. So be sure to check it out. I am still working on the sponsored listings. Catch you soon, Cargi

More issues fixed and front page modified.

2008-06-20T13:25:00.000+01:00

Whilst one of my friends was testing the site out he noticed a few problems with the menu page. These have no been corrected. Although I still have one to fix and thats the counter for the number of reviews submitted.

Aside from these issues I have also been playing around with the front page form. So now the button looks more like a button and the boxes are bigger to input your type into. This evening I will be working on a new graphic for the right hand side.

Problem with the menu.php page fixed.

2008-06-20T10:27:00.000+01:00

Hi had a slight problem with the menu.php page yesterday. Something I had done that counted up the amount of menus online which made the whole page duplicate over and over again. Not what I wanted lol. Today I am going to try and finish the terms and conditions of advertisement contracts. A right pain in the arse but must be completed before any sales are made. Thats all for now folks.

Design for results page

2008-06-19T00:05:00.000+01:00

I am having a little difficulty with the results page at the moment. I have tried a few lay outs this evening but is always looking very messy. I suppose its a problem when you have so much information to display. I have now developed it on from what you may of seen before so each row is much more spaced out and easier to read. I did try alternative row colours but it was just looking to messy and very dated. I am kind of liking what I have now for the main listings. Although I think I am going to split the page into say 15 results per page just to make things clear on the eye, and ease loading times. In the future I will also include the star rating on here.

I have also removed the google ads as i think they were distracting away from what people really want - the menus. I will be having advertisements there, but will leave the space blank until I figure out what to do with it. The long advertisements 'sponsored links', at the top of the page will also have to be redeveloped. Currently they are just temporary and are not pulled from the db. But hopefully by the end of tomz I will have this sorted. I think they need to stand out a little more, to be worth making a sale on.

Anyway I have uploaded a picture of the results page. Any ideas or comments will be much appreciated.

Now able to upload mulitple menus

2008-06-18T21:40:00.000+01:00

This evening I have had some great feedback on the site. So keep it coming. Any ideas or features you would like to see implemented, please let me know.

I have spent the past couple of hours working on developing the admin area of the site.
This is the area members will access once registered to upload or modify their menus. They will also be able to check out stats and other bits and pieces. In the image attached to this post you will see the form looks very similar to the registration one. I have simply removed the requirement for account details. Although it did take forever to get working lol.

I am now thinking about creating a few job opportunities. If any one is interested in working for iGotMunchies and earning a bit of extra cash then let me know. The job will require you to visit take aways and get them to register for 'sponsored listings'. It should be fairly easy. I am still figuring out the rules, regs, terms and conditions etc. So keep your eye out.

I-Gotmunchies Blog

2008-06-18T17:57:00.000+01:00

Hi guys this is my first blog on my blog which will track the progress of my new website iGotMunchies.co.uk. The idea behind the site is to list all of the takeaway menus in the country in one place. Other sites exist that list menus but don't seem to be used much or are very difficult to use and navigate. I feel I have produced something which is really simple to use and appealing on the eye. Let me know what you think I will be updating this blog as I go along. Have fun :)