Thanks for getting back to me. It's pretty straightforward: A Drupal site has data in two places: the code base (essentially a bunch of php files in a directory structure), and the database (generally MySQL). Transferring a site requires copying the codebase and database over.
The trickier part is in choosing hosting. Drupal is a robust system that has non-trivial requirements. Shared hosting won't cut it - we will need a VPS of some sort. This is part of why I recommend a cloud architecture for eventual hosting, actually. We could get a very cheap Amazon instance running as the base server, and use a simple clustered cache system like Varnish to expand our ability to service traffic. Of course, the way the caching works ultimately will have a lot to do with the intricacies of the ProjectPM system we're building... but for now, it's straightforward.
Do we have a domain name bought already? I also happen to have a paid nameserver service that I use, so it's no big deal to use that for our names if necessary. Beyond that I can get us set up with a projectpm site for our basic needs in under an hour. I would want a conversation about exactly what we want to do first - define a sitemap, that sort of thing. The whole deal shouldn't take too long though, I think we're looking for something basic at this point.
Here's how I propose we proceed:
Week 1 (Oct 4)
* Build sitemap
* Identify functional requirements
* Connect with designer to start the theming process
* Build wireframes, mockups as required
* Buy domain name
Week 2 (Oct 11)
* Base site installation
* Content entry system done
* Menu navigation, simple pages and contact form done
* Temporary design "theme" applied
* Site open to the public
* Caching enabled, performance stress testing
Week 3 (Oct 18)
* Feature additions
* Apply final theme?
Do we have an agenda system in place for the Wednesday meetings? We should start talking about this in IRC asap to knock this out quickly.
That certainly sounds like an ideal solution to me. I imagine we won't have particularly high bandwidth requirements initially while we set up and develop the site; can you tell me a little bit about the process of making the transition from one server to another, if and when the time comes to make the switch?
I was looking over the task list, and I see that you're working out the hosting/website situation. I actually rent a couple of servers of my own, and I'd be happy to host the site while we get started. I also help several large and high-traffic activist organizations work out their hosting, and I'd like to put my experience at your disposal in choosing a host once we get too big for a single server. Please let me know if I can help at all with this process.