I've just thought of something to make this site even more useful. An online scheduler!

Okay, so there are lots of them around already. But hey, this one will be totally free, and specifically targeted for fitness trainers and facilities operators, so why not?

I don't envision Scheduler.WorkoutABC.com competing with anything like MindBody Online. But I do see it as a viable alternative for trainers' personal use, and it will be robust enough that even small facilities could benefit. Why pay all that money for a simple daily planner on your computer?

Okay, so there's e-commerce abilities involved, whereby clients can log on themselves and pay via credit cards. That's something that would really make Scheduler.WorkoutABC.com useful, and it's a whole other world I have to explore; for example, what if the credit card companies charge fees, and so forth; okay, yes. But those are probably just details which need ironing out, not deal-breaking obstacles as such -- maybe I can add a paid credit card option to offset any "kickbacks" to the card companies. Whatever. The biggest challenge I see is implementing such ambitions within Drupal.

Given my own lack of technical expertise, that is. There seems to be modules out there that handle various aspects which would be involved in Scheduler.WorkoutABC.com, but I can't begin to imagine how to integrate them all. Frankly, I do not even know whether it makes any sense to devote a whole subdomain to such a site function (perhaps, incidentally, to be featured under Community). I have no idea about anything at all at this point, except that what I envision is possible.

So far, I see an appointment book-like interface, right here, in this space where you are reading this blog entry; in CSS terms, the main content container. In this main container area would be what looks like a calendar, but on a daily basis, such that boxes are not individual days but times of the day, available slots that may be filled by clients. It would be a table, essentially, that cross-references clients with trainers and times.

But it would be an interactive table, so that appointments can be amended on the fly. Hmm, click-n-drag capability comes to mind (note to self...). It should also be leaf-able, as if leafing through the pages of a physical daily planner, only that nothing changes on-screen except of course the dates and times and other such particulars.

There would also have to be user profiles, user profile pages, where people can review their accounts, their programs, etc. Perhaps the best way to think about things is to approach the matter from the two different perspectives that will be brought to it: the client's and the trainer's or facility owner's.

The client would log onto Scheduler.WorkoutABC.com and book a session. S/he would be able to view a history of sessions booked or canceled and all credit card charges. There would also be a link available to any trainer's or facility's WorkoutABC.com Personal Pages, for informational purposes.

The trainer/facility would log on and see who's booked what for when. S/he would also be able to make appointments and cancel as necessary.

Best of all, Scheduler.WorkoutABC.com wouldn't even have to be used for only fitness industry purposes. A hair and nail salon owner could also use it to schedule appointments! A contract plumber could use it to see the jobs he's got on any given day! Anybody can use Scheduler.WorkoutABC.com for free -- it's simply open to one and all for any scheduling or daily planner-type needs...if only I can figure out how to make it happen!

It might come down to learning Drupal programming myself (that is, module development), or, even, hiring out the task to someone -- but now that I've glimpsed it in my mind's eye, I'm obsessed with the idea! To make it really useful, it'd have to offer something beyond "simple" scheduling, though...Point of Sale functions come to mind -- but that's yet another layer of complexity!

I'd love to end this entry with an optimistic "stay tuned!" but if anything Scheduler.WorkoutABC.com will be practically a whole website in itself and take another half-year to get off the ground, so this isn't an announcement so much as hopeful, though determined, musing...for now!