A plan I’ve had for a several months now is to make an informative website complete with things like video guides and articles I’ve written myself, and I already have some material compiled. Would colleges actually take a look at something like this if I mentioned it, and if so, would it have any meaningful impact assuming the scale of the project is large enough?
Maybe, maybe not. They have thousands of applications to get through in only so much time!
If it’s a meaningful project for you, then it will have meaningful impact. Don’t worry about the size of it.
It depends. If you are hoping to impress tippy top colleges, it needs to be operational, have visitors, ideally have advertisers, etc… If it’s just a casual thing you do for fun, I suspect HYPSM won’t bother, but again, it really depends on the rest of your app too. I suspect the less selective the school, the more likely they will be to look at it. I suspect at a top scholl, the better your app, the more likely they will be to look.
As long as you put it near the top of your application (because the EC’s are usually ranked by importance).
Regardless of if colleges look at it, if it is something you care about then do it. If it turns into a business (with advertisers, visitors etc.) then it is more likely to impress.