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Blogging, Web 18

Flash-Based Blogging Platform

Posted By on November 30, 2008

WHY?!?

That was my first gut response.  And it was a deep response… starting down in my toes and working through my entire body upward as the feeling came wildly upward into my chest, out of my lungs and through my mouth into the open air.

Again, say it with me now:  “WHY?!?”

Feel better now?

Ok.  Now, that’s better.

Kontain, which recently launched is a flash-based blogging platform, and although my initial reaction still holds very very true, the thing does have merit and we should pay attention.

And here’s the big $100-dollar-winner reason why:

The reason we should be paying attention (Unifyer…?  wakey wakey…!) is because it’s built on a platform that has advantages that others, even WordPress, do not have.

It’s built from the ground for a particular techno-demographic (and future) that sports HD media as it’s playground.  Nothing has to be hacked together via plugins or widgets.  It’s all there from the start.

And if you’re a “product” guy, this should jive with you well.

You see, building a platform is a tough job.  And once you start, especially when the “core” architecture is built, it’s often times hard to change.  In fact, in many cases, it’s nearly impossible and would be much easier to start from scratch than do some ductape retrofitting.

Embeddable widgets for other websites?  Built right in.  HD video and imaging?  No sweat.  Media players for tranferring content and viral adoption?  Check.  True-inline editing, real time rich-text and notations like Flickr?  Double check.

Do any of these things come out of the box in your blogging platform of choice?  The answer should be a “no” (unless you’ve chosen Kontain as your weapon of choice).

If you want more to wet your appetite, just check out their roadmap for upcoming functionalities, which they’ve published as “Coming Soon” product developments.  It’s actually exciting, even for a “jaded” dev-guy like me.

So, even though I’m still asking why (because of the inherit issues with flash which I’ve briefly mentioned here in a post about Unifyer) it’s evolved into something more along the lines of “Why not…?”

Here’s hoping, right?

Social Media, Web 3

WorldWideOpen is in BETA

Posted By on November 30, 2008

I’ll be quite frank: Sometimes, but not all of the time, I get tired of seeing new websites.  About a trillion new ones go up every day.  And I’m starting to get pinged about everything under the sun for “coverage”.

Let me just say that if it doesn’t look like it’s going to impact the kingdom, or if it’s not already, or if it doesn’t look like it could potentially be used, both strategically, philosophically, or provides a model for the Church… don’t waste your time.

You’ve got only a limited amount and make it count.

//rant off

So, WorldWideOpen is now in BETA.  I can’t remember but it was either @TonySteward or @DJChuang or … I don’t remember… that passed me this link.

First reaction: “Wow, is this a site that helps me build widgets?”

But, obviously not (and if you’re into tech and web for a while… a lot of widget-factories go all web 2.0-ish with bright colors, rounded edges, and a whole lot of blue…. bleh).

So, I gave it a whirl.

It’s got a profile, your church, service ops, news, resources… and a LinkedIn-esque “percent profile complete” bar too (which I liked at first when LI did it… but now it’s annoying).

Again, I’ll be honest.  I won’t be using the service any time soon, but if it continues to grow at a healthy rate, people begin to see the use of it strategically, and it builds out it’s partnerships with other larger orgs, then I think it could be a winner.

But what I’m really trying to find (and someone help me) is where it’s really “innovative”.

Is it another social network with a christian-swing and some added church-like add-value props and functionalities?

Or maybe (omgoodness, //venting on) it’s just another group that’s got some cash together, built another app and launched it without engaging with other orgs that are trying to do the same?

Let’s have some synergy…!!!

I suppose I’m wishing for more collaboration, more inclusiveness to the product, and a more open discussion about saturating the market.

It hasn’t reached critical mass yet, with less than 400 users currently hanging out (unsure of the usage though) but I do hope it grows.

I LOVE when I’m proven wrong.  And I’ll be thinking about you World Wide Open… go DO it!

Twitter, Web 10

Managing Two or More Twitter Accounts

Posted By on November 29, 2008

Managing 2 or more Twitter accounts can be a pretty tough job.  Finding the time to tweet is probably even harder… and then let’s not even start with attempting to build a community around them…!

Well, at least the first issue can be nipped in the bud with the help of 2 services that I’ve recently discovered:  Splitweet.com and TheMattinator.com.

Both allow you to easily manage multiple twitter accounts and be able to send tweets to either one or both of them at the same time.  There are also a number of different functionalities that each one provides, so you should probably check both of them out if you need this type of service.

This can be extremely if you have a personal twitter account and/or an organizational/ministry account perhaps, but don’t want to struggle with having to login multiple times and/or use different services.

On a personal note I’ve been struggling with how to manage two:  I have a personal one @human3rror and one for this site @churchcrunch.  Now don’t get me wrong, I’ve got big plans for the latter account… but it just isn’t “time” yet for those things to occur.  At the same time though I’m not building community, if at all on it.

Frustrating.

I’d love to hear people’s thoughts and if they’re busting the dual-accounts…!

Interviews, Web 5

Friday 5 – John Dyer

Posted By on November 28, 2008

Today’s Friday 5 is with John Dyer, a guy that I’ve gotten to know through the web and also our convenient association with Dallas Theological Seminary.

The guy is not only smart but also well grounded theologically.  This, in particular, is something that’s refreshing, especially for me, and if you haven’t checked out one of his newest blogs, Don’t Eat The Fruit, then you should… two posts and it went on my gooreader.  I don’t just say this because he has a familiar theological background… check him out for yourself and test the waters.

Also, stay tuned to what he’s doing… because he’s a developer… which means he’s always cooking up something cool.

Name?

John Charles Dickey Dyer. I have always enjoyed having four names.

Blog/Website[s]?

Code: http://johndyer.name
Theology: http://www.donteatthefruit.com/
Bible: http://www.bestcommentaries.com/
Work: http://www.dts.edu/

Time Bandits or Favorite Websites?

http://ajaxian.com/
http://smashingmagazine.com/
http://ted.com/
http://engadget.com/
http://io9.com/

Whatcha Working On?

Just launched a new www.dts.edu, and now revamping DTS’s online education platform. I’m also writing about viewing technology from a theological perspective at www.donteatthefruit.com and looking to expand www.bestcommentaries.com.

How do you see Web Technology impacting The Kingdom?

As someone with multiple computers, an iPhone, and a long list of development languages, I love making web site and web apps, especially for ministries like Dallas Seminary. However, in reading about the influence of technology on the church over the last 2,000 years, I’ve begun to see that for all its good effects, technology usually also has some unintended not-so-positive effects.

For example, as a youth pastor I bought a projector to show verses on screen for kids without Bibles. However, I later noticed that fewer kids brought or opened their Bibles in church. My use of the projector turned out to be a trade off, rather than something that was 100% “good.”

When it comes to the web, I want to us to be careful that we are not coming with “[fancy and persuasive websites], but with a demonstration of the Spirit’s power” (1 Cor 2:4) and that we are not more enamored with fast and easy online relationships than with the difficult, messy, and beautiful people around us. If we get to a place where we are more excited about the latest web craze than we are about what the Father can do through the Son and by the Spirit in the world He created then we will have massively misused our ten talents.

With those warnings in place, I do see the web, when used cautiously and judiciously, as enabling the church to do its basic mission of teaching the truth and loving people well. In my own line of work, I am most excited about the many seminaries that are implementing online education programs which make it so that students no longer need to move across the country to train for ministry, but instead can stay in their existing communities and receive both education and on the job training. In this case, I think the technology is being used in a way that strengthens real-world relationships and enables the basic mission of the Body of Christ.

Web 7

Quickest Chat Room Creation Ever

Posted By on November 28, 2008

ChatMaker.net just crossed my desk and I’d say this is probably the fastest “chat room in a box” creation tool I’ve ever seen.

Create a room name, hit “go”, then ctrl-c/ctrl-v that junk to people that you want to join the chat.  Since it’s so simple and easy, I’m not sure there’s much of a review here but like a few other simple sites, the simplicity shines here.

Applications for ministry?  Lots I suppose.  I can think of a few good ones off the top of my head that I may employ it.

Thoughts?

I also wanted to throw in a review of Stinto.net, another easy one, but it’s down right now.  Sad.  No love from ChurchCrunch then.

Blogging, Code, Plugins, Web, WordPress 41

Top 5 Commenting Platforms and The Winner in My Book

Posted By on November 27, 2008

I’ve been experimenting with a number of commenting systems within the past two months and I have discovered one common thing among all of the 3rd party commenting platforms:

They all suck.

But let me be clear the airwaves of the negativity because, for starters, they are all better than the system that comes out of a white and vanilla install of WordPress and all the “other” blogging platforms, which we shall not name.

So here are my thoughts on the top 5 commenting systems and platforms that will do you no wrong and where I’m going to finally put my foot down and commit.

Things to know before you proceed any further:

  1. I can neither guarantee an “equal” nor “neutral” review because you can’t forget that all of them “suck”.
  2. The following is a bit “tongue in cheek” so if you have light sensibilities, please go read something else on your gooreader.
  3. The reviews showcase my own personal experiences with the platforms… your experience may vary greatly.
  4. I tend to push all of the platforms to the extreme, doing tests, development with their APIs, etc…
  5. I will explain the “suck” part at the end.

Ready?  Let’s begin.

Sezwho.com

Sezwho was founded in October of 2006 and was released with decent fanfare and review.  Touted as a “universal profile service” it first caught my attention when it went mainstream back when I worked for the man.

This was probably the most attractive thing about it because the homepage looks like an enterprise product mapping with funny looking faces.  Add some additional industry-lame quotes like “making the social web truly social” (ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooh please..!!!!!!!11111111) and you’ve got a winner grand enough (and is likened) to selling an enterprise-level product (with an enterprise-level price) to a startup with no green.

# of Blogs that unfortunately experienced an install: 2
# of Comments made before “suckage” level was met to force uninstall: 102
Final Thoughts: Watch the demo and get a laugh about how this guy talks about their revolutionary product.  You know, it’s almost 2009… right?  Web 2.0 isn’t that “new” anymore, is it?

coComment.com

coComment is another comment-enhancement platform which also came out in early 2006.  I stayed away from this one initially like one of Roenne’s poopy diapers that I left under her bed.

When it first came out you had to do something to the effect of installing a “bookmarklet” on your browser and using that “bookmarklet” instead of the perfectly good blog interface to leave a comment.  Users then, if they so chose, could push those comments and content onto their own blogs with a widget…?

Wait a sec… see the logic here?

And guess what?  After a healthy round of funding and some “massive” changes, you still have to install those fuddy duddy “bookmarklets”.

Lame.

# of Blogs that unfortunately experienced an install: 0 (Why? because I had a “bookmarklet”!)
# of Comments made before “suckage” level was met to force uninstall: 78 (I reinstalled FireFox too…)
Final Thoughts: There are some other services that don’t “suck” as much. I’d say something creative hear but words escape even the most *ahem* creative…

JS-Kit.com

JS-Kit has been covered extensively by a number of large editorials and has gotten a good number of rounds going for funding.  More of a Widget-factory, their commenting system first caught my eye because of the sheer amount of coverage.

Period.

Installing was simple, getting it to work, not so nice.  They’ve rolled out a number of features over the past few months and the product has gotten better over time.  Unfortunately partnering with someone like AOL automatically puts this in the suck-bucket, even if it’s just a distribution play.

In addition, there is no back end networking which means that your comments and content get holed into a little place called the “corners of the internet” and all that means is that your comments can have fun, by themselves.

Finally, they have a strategic partner with coComment that was announced not too long ago.  coComment, covered above, also sucks, which means by default (and let’s not forget AOL) that JS-Kit sucks too.

# of Blogs that unfortunately experienced an install: 3 (I really tried… I did…)
# of Comments made before “suckage” level was met to force uninstall: 245 (Not bad…!)
Final Thoughts: JS-Kit’s commenting system is awesome for a site that doesn’t already have comments, like the first site you made with Microsoft’s Frontpage.  Otherwise, save yourself some time unpacking, uploading, and installing this bad boy.

Disqus.com

Disqus was established in mid 2007 and has already gathered together a number of high-profile bloggers.

Like many of the networked commenting platforms, the more you use it the more others will use it and adopt it for their own.

Only until recently this service completely sucked because it remotely stored your comments in their proprietary systems.  This means that if you decided to stop using the service it would be likened to chopping off one of your arms; those comments would be gone forever.

Although they’ve recently updated it so that the comments are now sync’d I’ve personally found a ton of buggy user experience glitches and if you like cacheing your blog (which you probably should) then this thing hates that.  Also, if you like refreshing the page every single time you post a comment, then this one’s for you!

Finally, if you like your Disqus commenting “forum” to be ranked high on the Google ranks, then go for it.  This, personally, sucks.  I’d rather you get the content and link to my site instead of the forums (which I’ve never ever used outside and independent from my blogs).

Nice try, but as one review noted, it still needs to “evolve”.

# of Blogs that unfortunately experienced an install: 5 (I really really really tried…)
# of Comments made before “suckage” level was met to force uninstall: 720 (Yeah. A lot.)
Final Thoughts: I’d much rather prefer a “full-cycle” evolutionary experience than a half-baked one.  It’s like growing back half of the arm that you had cut off when you first installed it…!  (Perhaps half an arm is better than not any at all…)

IntenseDebate.com

IntenseDebate is the final review that I’ll be showcasing tonight, even though there are a number of other commenting systems and platforms that I’ve tested, but I’m too embarassed to share that list.

IntenseDebate has been cursed for me from the get-go.  After installing on my two most traffic’d blogs I lost 30% of all my comments instantly.

Yes. 30%.

Now I’m not a comment monger, but losing 30% of your comments is like losing… well, 30% of your comments.  It’s one of those “OMG… why isn’t my heart beating anymore…?” moments.

A development flaw was found an I was asked to re-import and re-sync them.  So, I did.  This messed it up even more.  But let’s move onto style, shall we?

Apparently IntenseDebate hates your CSS and doesn’t play nice.  For those that value the look and feel of their blog and likes a sense of consistency, then you might want to skip the painful process of managing this potential battle.

Also, if you like having to manually “hack” their widgets to get them to work which also requires you to memorize your blogs numerical ID from their dbases, well, then you’ll have lots of fun and you should install this immediately!

Finally, if you like some of their cool “perks” like being able to reply via email only to find that it really doesn’t work as intended and makes you paranoid forever because you’re never quite sure if your reply ever got there… then you must really like Halloween and should also be an instant “install-me-now” move.

# of Blogs that unfortunately experienced an install: 3 (Not bad… I learned from Disqus.)
# of Comments made before “suckage” level was met to force (thinking about an) uninstall: 372 (And counting…)
Final Thoughts: If you love painful installs and broken functionalities then rock it solid bro.

Which leads us to the end and my pick for the platform that didn’t suck the most.  But let me first explain a bit of background…

The first thing is that I’ve only highlighted all the stuff that went terribly wrong and the things that irked me the most about the platforms.  I did not write about what I really liked about them, which is unfair, but that’s how I decided to write this post.

There are, in fact, much more “positive” things that I could write about each of them than the negatives, and that’s why I could, with a safe and secure conscience, recommend most of them to any blogger who was curious enough to throw down an install.

But all of them still suck.  And here’s why:

  1. I’m not found of putting my comments into the hands of a 3rd party system.  For many, this doesn’t really bother them.  I’m all about being “social” online but I’m also highly protective of the content produced, as well as the conversations developed.  Having them stand in a 3rd party system lessens that level of control as comments and conversations can be now taken out of the original context and can be read independent of the original post.  This can be a major issue.
  2. I’m not able to completely control the styling.  Yes, many of them can inherit the CSS of the parent site and made to look and feel similar but it’s still a 3rd party service and unless they go completely open source, there will be limitations because of their construct.  I’m into aesthetics as much as the next guy and I like to manage it well… the readers deserve it.
  3. Plugins, in general, can increase overall page weight.  That sucks.  Period.  They can also cause conflicts with other plugins and scripts and just do screwy things.  That sucks too.
  4. 3rd party systems are, well, 3rd party systems.  If the service is unavailable… well, so are your comments.  And heaven forbid one of the systems goes out of business… whoops…?
  5. Platform advertising and branding.  I’m a stickler for aesthetics and sometimes I just wish I could use services without saying “Powered by…” or “This comment system is brought to you by…”… Leave my readers alone!  If they like the experience the proprietary registration system will kick in and you’ll get a new user.  And what if their logo “clashes” with my color schematic?  Boo.  (Sometimes hacking their embed plugin code, like Disqus, can get rid of their logos… hehe.)
  6. Functionality crapshoot.  Essentially, with the different product offerings that each system has or does not have, you’re just stuck.  For example, I really liked Disqus’s Seesmic attachment.  That was awesome.  IntenseDebate doesn’t have it but has very cool features that Disqus doesn’t have.  I want the best of both and all worlds… but that’s too much to ask.
  7. Finally, the user experience that I ultimately hope for is still incomplete.  NO commenting system is perfect or provides the best uX… yet.

So, now that you have heard the rant, here’s my pick moving forward:

IntenseDebate sucks the least.

And here’s a few reasons why:

  1. Their dashboard is awesome.  It’s just functional and not overcooked.  I appreciate that.
  2. I can manage the comments right in my own WordPress admin instead of having to go to their site.  I like that.
  3. Sync your comments actually works as intended.
  4. Multiple options to enhance or simplify the end user experience.  A lot of the other platforms have this too, but it’s dead simple here.
  5. User’s ratings and reputations are shown with their avatar.  That’s nice.  That’s very nice.
  6. The profile system is robust and pretty.  Mouse over a user and you can see their additional social networks, their blogs, and stats.  I mean, it’s like getting to know your commenters even better than just what they choose to spew on your blog!
  7. You can follow particular commenters and see what else they are commenting on.  This is a good and bad thing, perhaps, but I like to see where some of my trusted community goes to hang out online.
  8. Twitter hook up is cool, but I’m not using it… but some may really like it.  For example, you can tweet your latest comment automatically… this could have some really good affects to drive traffic…!
  9. This one is EPIC:  You can directly reply to a comment through your email inbox.  When it works, this thing saves me TONS of time.  You can auto delete, call spam on it, or just ignore too… I mean, snap… that’s a beautiful thing.
  10. Add-ons are half-way decent.  The top commenters plugin is used on this blog and my other one as well.  I’d love to see more options crop up for customization (like resetting the scores every once in a while) but it’s cool to increase the level of engagement and visually see who’s coming back.
  11. Metrics, metrics, metrics.  You should see the metrics dashboard, especially if you manage multiple blogs like myself.  I can see the number of comments made in total, per week, and percent of the comments that are mine and/or from others.  It also shows you total comments ever on your blog, the number made today, the number of blogs that you’ve commented on that have the ID system, and the average length of a comment in characters…!  A simple to understand metrics-pull was something that won me over big time.
  12. Automattic owns them.  This is a big *sigh* of relief because Automattic isn’t going anywhere.  And if you happened to either forget, they’re the makers of WordPress.  Oh yes.  That’s right.  So having WordPress and IntenseDebate on the same team means that tighter integration is possible, better offerings for Automattic’s other joints (Gravatar and Akismet), and a resulting better and more robust product offering as a whole.  WordPress is constantly evolving and getting better and that type of philosophical backing will make IntenseDebate really shine.  And, since Ma.tt is all about Open Source… who knows… but ID could go Open Source too…?  (I can dream, can’t I?)
  13. Finally, their logo is awesome looking.  I mean, the flame-design is kind of old, but I like it.  They also offer their logo in an official press kit for easy manipulation and other Photoshop-foolery.  Small beans to some, but hey… I like it!

So, with that, I’m diving deep into IntenseDebate.  It’s not perfect, but it’s got a good start.  If you’re using one of the other mentioned platforms and comment-enhancing systems, I won’t be dogmatic and do something like suggest you ditch it for an obviously superior product…

But I’d kindly suggest you give it a try.

Cheers!  Have a great Thanksgiving everyone!

Google, Strategy, Web 10

Building Apps for the Heck of It

Posted By on November 27, 2008

Are you passionate about what you do?  Would you do what you do if no one paid you?  Since starting Full Time in the Ministry world I’ve begun to hear this a lot from people I talk to both in and out of the ministry sector.

I probably hear it a lot more from people who aren’t doing it.

They’ll say: “Wow, you’re in ministry now…?  I’d LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOVE to be doing that!!!!111111111″ or “Wow, you’re finally getting paid to do what you love? That’s so tight (and I wish that were me)!” or some other nonsense that sounds good but is really a bunch of poop.

It’s hard to find (but not hard to hear about) people who are genuinely passionate about doing what they do and who would do it if no one knew about it or paid them to do it.

That’s why when I see little sites like these that are pretty much a grand waste of development time and serve little to no purpose I give MAD props.

Why?  Because of their “About” statement at the bottom.  It was “inspired” by a lunch conversation and they built it, not for profit (obviously) but because, I imagine, they enjoyed just doing it.

Are you doing “it” (whatever it is) because you’re paid or because you’re passionate about it?

Take it one step further (if I dare) and let’s ask the harder question… are you doing “ministry” because you’re on payroll or because there’s really nothing more important than it and you’d be doing it anyways…?

Web 9

Logos360 Announced – The Wait Begins

Posted By on November 26, 2008

This crossed my desk only a few minutes ago and I was extremely excited to be made aware of it.

From the official press-release:

360HubsTM, a developer of turnkey Web 2.0 collaboration software, and Logos Management Software, Inc. today announced a partnership to develop the first fully integrated church management and online community solution for churches.

Slated for release the first quarter of 2009, “Logos360” will seamlessly integrate the Web 2.0 and social networking features of 360Hubs 360Connected Church software, with the accounting, record keeping and database management capabilities of Logos II church management software.

The two companies hope to create a “one-stop-shop” for religious administrators to manage their churches, while creating a safe, relationship-building community to connect churches with its members.

I’ve already contacted them for a possible followup demo and an interview with the company execs for more information.

It is, without question, simply a matter of time before we see what’ll it’ll really do to the digital landscape for Church Management Software.  It isn’t a saturated field, yet, but the “players” are lining up.  And to have an expected release date of first Q of 2009 means that their either going all-out on their development squad or it’s been planned and roadmapped for a bit.

I’d guess the latter scenario.

I’ll keep you posted and see if I can get some exclusive insight into what the game plan is.  Full press release below:

360Hubs and Logos Management Software Join Forces to Develop First Integrated Church Management and Online Community Solution

RIVERSIDE, Calif. (Nov. 26, 2008) – 360HubsTM, a developer of turnkey Web 2.0 collaboration software, and Logos Management Software, Inc. today announced a partnership to develop the first fully integrated church management and online community solution for churches. Slated for release the first quarter of 2009, “Logos360″ will seamlessly integrate the Web 2.0 and social networking features of 360Hubs 360Connected Church software, with the accounting, record keeping and database management capabilities of Logos II church management software. The two companies hope to create a “one-stop-shop” for religious administrators to manage their churches, while creating a safe, relationship-building community to connect churches with its members.
“There’s no question that today’s churches are uniquely positioned to take advantage of powerful technologies that can help them streamline their processes, while empowering stronger relationships within the church,” said Tony Ferraro, president of 360Hubs and licensed minister for Sandals Church. “We are both blessed and excited to be working with Logos Software and executing on this shared vision and ministry.”

Logos Management Software, a developer that has been creating solutions for churches, schools, and other non-profit organizations for 30 years, currently supports 6,000 organizations in the U.S. and Canada, including 23 Catholic Dioceses.
“As both a licensed minister and software entrepreneur, Tony Ferraro understands the power of technology and the needs of churches just like we do,” said Tom Bunker Director of business development. “With Logos360, we hope to continue our ministry to help church leaders efficiently manage their churches, build relationships and spread God’s Word.”
About Logos Management Software, Inc.
Logos II keeps records and enables communication with an unlimited number of individuals, families, and groups. Its time-saving features are designed to help larger church organizations quickly and efficiently streamline their processes. The office system links to family/individual (census) information and provides a flexible member profile, confidential contribution records and groups/attendance tracking. Logos II instantly updates and populates inputted information throughout the database alleviating the need for multiple data entries in multiple screens.
About 360Connected Church
360Connected Church is a Web 2.0-based online collaboration solution that creates relationship-oriented communities to connect churches with its community members. It provides a simple “point and click” interface giving members a MySpace-type environment that is controlled and “owned” by the church. Without training, they can create online profiles, personal blogs and interact with other church members. Leaders can also manage individual group/ministry websites that are personalized to meet each group’s needs. Each includes group-level discussion boards, collaboration, blogs, photos, prayer request management, podcasting capabilities and more. 360Connected Church integrates with popular church management software solutions.
http://logoscms.com/360/
About 360Hubs
Established in 2005, 360Hubs is an award-winning developer of Web 2.0 business collaboration software with more than 60 modules. Earlier this year, 360Hubs received AeA’s High Tech Innovation Finalist Award for “Best Internet Product” and also won the 2007 “Best of the Web” award from Building, Design + Construction Magazine.

Blogging, Web 22

Weekly Tech Blog Topic 1

Posted By on November 26, 2008

Today is the birth of a new and simple and fun initiative to bring conversations and community together surrounding a particular tech topic of the day.

Here are the rules:

  1. The Weekly Tech Blog Topic happens (wait for it…) once a week.
  2. It always is on a Wednesday.
  3. The topic is either created by ChurchCrunch or suggested by a reader (or a tweet!).
  4. Those interested will blog about the particular topic of the day and then return to ChurchCrunch.com and throw down a comment with a direct link back to their post with any additional meandering thoughts they may still have.
  5. Conversations characterized by “sheer awesomeness” will occur as the blogosphere is invaded by a unified front of single-minded tech bloggers.

So, the first ever “Weekly Tech Blog Topic” is:

If you could “get rid” of one piece of technology in your life, what would it be and why?

BEGIN!

Oh, and if you’re in a more cheery mood since it is Thanksgiving… head over here to share your technology thanks…!

Creative, Design, Strategy, Web 2

Know It When You See It

Posted By on November 26, 2008

I can remember when I was younger that I’d spend a lot of my time climbing things (I also spent a lot of time destroying things…).  There was always another tree to climb, or wall, or something to scale.

I can remember countless times the loving words of my parents running through my head as I ran up those trees: “Be careful or you’ll poke your eye out.”

And I can remember thinking “Yeah, whatever…!”

It was up until the point where my Heavenly Father decided that my eyes weren’t as good as I thought them to be and I needed glasses.  My eye sight was indeed a precious gift (and of course at the time I thought this looked extremely nerdy… but now I’ve found it makes you a “cool” guy).

There’s something special about how the mind works with our eyesight, how there’s, for a lack of better terms, visual memory that we employ almost every day.  How many times have you thought

“Well, I can’t remember what I was looking for or what I needed, but I’ll know it when I see it.”

This effect hasn’t been well developed nor thought out for the online space… but we’re getting there.  And it’s things like Ryan Sit’s PicClick and FavThumbs that are kindly and gently reminding us that we should definitely be spending a little more time with how we develop graphically.

You see, besides the “coolness” factor of PicClick or FavThumbs is a foundational design element that is based on need.  It’s this marriage, between visual styling and consumer-felt need that is the most crucial, especially in today’s online digital extravaganza.  You can be “wow’d” almost anywhere, but are those things that go pop satisfying a need or a sensation?

That’s where it’s most crucial for us, the Church, in the online space and I struggle with this every single day.  As one who is leading the “creative” for potential high-volume, high trafficked websites, my job is to make sure that functional and pragmatic elements of the site are married with a visual appeal that matters.

I don’t take this lightly, and neither should you.  In a digital world where few sites are truly “sticky” we’ve got to provide something that doesn’t offend the audience’s most basic sensibilities but shows them something truly worth investigating further.

Make it so when the come, they say “Ah, now that was what I was looking for…”

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