8 Ways to Sunday

About a week ago, I launched a new weblog on the Zenscope Studio site. There are a lot of other Web developers and graphic designers with blogs, but most of them are writing posts that only interest other developers and designers. This is a great way to share knowledge and find collaborators, but it shuts out the client.

With Zenlog, I’m aiming for both audiences. There’s advanced tips and design analysis for fellow pros. There are also beginner tutorials and business-oriented articles for potential clients.

Client communication and education is sorely lacking in this field. Too many design professionals seem to look at their customers as a necessary evil. I’m doing my small part to change things.

Risky Business?

I’m not sure how this approach will work out. Business owners may not be interested enough to tune in, and I wouldn’t be surprised to get some blow-back from other developers and designers. My latest article — stating that the Web industry should “get over itself” when it comes to client relations — will probably raise some eyebrows (and tempers). But how else should I respond when the latest issue of A List Apart refers to clients as “schmucks with money” and “the well dressed nemesis”?

Sound Off

Love it or hate it, I’d like to know what you think. So check out Zenlog, and leave some comments telling me where you stand.

Be sure to subscribe to the new blog, and stay tuned for “How to Find and Hire a Great Designer” — coming soon.

According to Manuel Amador, there are benefits to offending your weblog’s audience, as well as a right and wrong way to do it. His essay on the topic is being featured on Weblog Tools Collection as part of that site’s blogging essay contest. It’s a good, thought provoking, and occasionally funny read.

If you like the article, you might want to check out Amador’s personal site. He has some good stuff there, including a cheeky formula to calculate the duration of modern copyrights and instructions on how to fix an unbootable Windows XP computer… using Linux.

I’ve been preparing to upgrade WordPress — the software that powers this blog — by upgrading all the WP plugins that I have installed. Somewhere along the way, the form that allows people to subscribe and unsubscribe to e-mail notifications of new posts stopped working.

I’ve taken the form down until I can fix whatever has gone wrong. If you have an urgent need to change your e-mail subscription status for this blog, you can send me a request using the contact form and I’ll make it happen.

I just noticed that the word count on this blog recently passed one hundred-thousand. That’s more than some novels.

Wow.

I quit smoking a couple of months ago, because it’s bad for me and because I was getting way too wheezy for a 29 year-old man. I’ve put on weight since quitting, but I feel better in every other way so it was worth it. I quit instant messaging many months ago, because it was a huge distraction and time sink for me. I’ve been more productive since quitting IM, so that was also worth it. I will not, however, quit blogging.

I have been a bad, bad blogger. Two months; no posts. Even worse, many of my distant friends keep in touch by reading and commenting on one another’s blog posts. Not only have I not been posting here, I also haven’t been keeping up with my friends’ blogs. I could do the usual “I’ve been so busy yadda yadda yadda” thing, but the fact is that isolating yourself from your friends is an asshole thing to do. For this, you have my apologies.

Updates are going to be more frequent here in the future. I’m also going to start blogging about Web-related stuff over on Zenscope.com. That means fewer posts about geeky Web stuff here, and more posts about things like music, politics, and hot chicks. You know, the important things in life.

Stay tuned.