As much as I’ve always dreamed of launching a great web 2.0 community site with a long, exclusive private beta phase that would generate a lot of buzz on blogs, but it appears that it would not be the ideal way to launch a cruising site.

All of the essential functionality is in place, so it’s time to move to the public beta: you can rush right now and without wasting a single second to www.webispink.com (among many domain names; they were free with my server, and I’ll only regret it when the time comes to renew them) to see the best gay site ever designed (and currently being designed before your very eyes).

Since I realize I didn’t get into much detail in the previous post, let me show you the site’s functionality right after this commercial:

• bilingual English/French right away (other languages will be introduced after the next Euromillions)

• Facebook-style homepage that displays changes and updates from the profiles you’re following (I know, it’s stalkerish, but it doesn’t do anything you couldn’t accomplish by refreshing those profiles every day)

• friending and hotlisting profiles notifies them automatically (I had a fancy “you only see someone hotlisted you if you hotlist them back” system on GayAttitude, which in retrospect wasn’t a good idea)

• detailed user search (under construction, it isn’t a priority until there’s a lot of people) that displays contacts and hotlistings, and possibility of associating personal tags to profiles and then using them in searches

• Google Maps integration, and search by distance (displaying the results on a map will come later)

• detailed profile with a personal public URL (nothing new compared to GayAttitude), and you can choose the base domain name from a dozen

• Tumblr-like blog, with WYSIWYG editor (not homemade, I’m not insane — for now it’s TinyMCE, and I’m not a fan but it works well enough), with easy integration of images, videos and links

• Twitter-like (or Facebook-like) status updates on the profiles

• two profiles per user (or maybe three, I’m not quite sure yet), entirely separate as seen from the outside, but managed conveniently from the same account (a couple of French gay sites have a very inconvenient system that lets you login from different front doors with separate profiles)

• pie-in-the-sky attempt to mix sex-oriented and more social chat on the same platform and with no segregation, with options (in construction) to choose where you want to appear, and who you want to talk to

• no frames (that’s not a political choice, just what worked best this time), an optional detachable chat popup, but the entire chat can function without ever opening a popup window (except for detailed profile display)

• iPhone version, and generic crappy mobile version soon (WAP might come later if there’s demand for it)

• and lots of little details that don’t amount to much in a bullet list, but contribue to general usability and must be experienced first-hand