Make a difference - start “doing” not just “watching”

David October 31st, 2008

I believe that we are just seeing the tip of the iceberg where there will be opportunities in our communities where good people can make a real difference.  Our society is going to continue its downward spiral if we just sit back and watch those that have an agenda or who want to make a quick buck control the media, influence legislation benefiting special interest groups (instead of the majority), and good people fail to make a stand.

What am I trying to say?  Take an opportunity to make a difference, even if it is very small.  Don’t wait for someone else to do it. 

  • Are you passionate about a political issue?  Make a stand, start a blog, contribute to political causes, research and vote!  Do something other than just let the other guys make the decision for you.  (Find your polling location at http://maps.google.com/vote)
  • Have some talent or interest in software?  Set aside some time in your busy schedule to contribute to the community in whatever cause you feel to be important.  (Check out the LDSTech or FamilySearch Dev communities, if you are so inclined)
  • Enjoy reading or writing but tired of all the graphic or immoral material out in the market?  Join an online community to share what you have learned and to learn from others (LibraryThing is a good one, but be careful about some of the discussion groups).  Even if you haven’t ever written a novel before, now is a good time to start.  November 1 starts the National Writing Month and there are whole support communities to help you write.  My friend, Ty, got me interested and even though I wouldn’t call myself a "writer" I’m going to give it a shot this year.  Wish me luck!

This is just a start.  There are a whole multitude of areas where good people can make a difference for themselves, their families, and their communities.  If you have any ideas or links, share them in the comments!

Using open standards lets the community redesign your site ;-)

David March 25th, 2008

LibraryThing designA scary thought… letting anonymous users on the internet redesign the look of your web site. But the folks over at LibraryThing are doing that very thing. Well, almost. They are letting user submit proposed designs so that they can be reviewed by the internal development staff.

So far, some two dozen members have contributed CSS stylesheets and one, zanix, produced a highly original design, executed entirely in Photoshop. MarkBarnes, acting on a suggestion from Abby, produced a very attractive design, based on the design of Cork’d, “LibraryThing for wine.” All told, there have been some really interesting ideas, and fetching new color palates. I’m still not sure where to take the design, but it’s given me a lot to think about. (It’s certainly pointed out some structural problems with our mark-up too.)

I don’t know how many active users are over there, but they have collectively submitted over 25 million books to their collective virtual book shelves. This goes to show that when you have built the right kind of community for your site, you can get all kinds of feedback and contribution back to the community.

So what does this mean for you?  If you take the time to design your web site from the ground up using standards based HTML and CSS (even if you just have a blog site), it will pay off many times over when you need to make minor changes to your design.  All of the popular PHP open source projects have taken this to heart, making it easy to create themes associated with their products.  (For example, there are literally hundreds of WordPress themes available to download for free use or purchase.)