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davidbehan

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Hello ladies and gents,

I'm writing to you today about a project I've been playing in my head that kinda formulated from Michele's post on possible upgrades to IWF. Basically, a couple of years ago, I registered webdesign.ie while with another company. I've just talked to the owner about doing a project for the web design community and using the domain webdesign.ie and he's interested.

What I was thinking was putting together a couple of sections to the website:

- Directory (companies/freelancers) with county/town/keyword search
- Graphic Design
- Web Design
- Database Development
- MS SQL, MySQL, Access, etc.
- Web Development
- ASP, ASP.NET, PHP, CFM, etc.
- Domains & Hosting
- SEO/SEM
- Projects
- Area for potential clients to post projects they have and for members to quote on
- Blogs: News, Tutorials, etc.
- Categories: Graphic Design, Web Design, Databases, Web Development, Domains & Hosting, SEO/SEM
- Each of these section could be run by 1 or a few specialists that could post up blog style news, rants, tutorials, etc. for their given area.
- Forum: linked with IWF maybe

- Web Design Showcase: the best Irish websites showcased for all to see



The website would act as a resource for individuals/companies in the web design industry and as a resource for businesses wanting to get/upgrade their site, etc.

The domain is currently redirected to another site but as I said the owner is interested and would be able to make it available for use in the project. I would be interested in hearing from people who would like to be involved in the design, setup and running of such a project. This would be a non profit project but done the right way, whoever is involved will get featured links in their area of expertise or something like that.

So, if you're interested, please let me know where you see yourself contributing and any ideas you might have. There's a few people in my head that I would really like to hear from that I've gotten to know on IWF and possibly to get involved too... looking at Michele, Red Cardinal, EdenWeb, mr. doran, redfly... you know who you are!!! :D

Look forward to hearing from ya all! :D

Dave
 

davidbehan

New Member
Hi David,

I would be willing to give a hand.

Niall

Excellent. Where can you lend a hand? I suppose I'm asking... what are you good at?

I am half way there with a long term plan :)
Spoilt

My focus is on the design end of things though and not development.

So, would you be interested in getting involved. Maybe doing the web design blog, feeding your blog or certain entries into the site? Or possibly doing the design for the site?

It's Alan isn't it? We met once at the H365 new office launch last year I think.
 

daviddoran

New Member
I'm never one to pass up some experience or exposure.
My main area of "expertise" is PHP but I could also pitch in with HTML/CSS ,ideas etc.

mr. doran
 

davidbehan

New Member
It is Alan, hi david. You can use the feed. :)

That sounds good. You interested in helping with the set up of the site? No worries if you're not. I'm just trying to get an idea of who would like to be involved and how much they can contribute.

I'm never one to pass up some experience or exposure.
My main area of "expertise" is PHP but I could also pitch in with HTML/CSS ,ideas etc.

mr. doran

Good to have you on board. I've seen 1 or 2 bits of your work. Looks good. May get you to help glue the bits and bobs together on the site if you're interested? I'm an ASP guru so not that great with PHP. You're good at AJAX as well right?
 

daviddoran

New Member
Good to have you on board. I've seen 1 or 2 bits of your work. Looks good. May get you to help glue the bits and bobs together on the site if you're interested? I'm an ASP guru so not that great with PHP. You're good at AJAX as well right?

I've discovered it's good to be in the "blogosphere" or "developersphere" or whatever you want to call it so I'm on board for whatever little there's to be done. I usually use an AJAX framework (don't reinvent the wheel). I've done quite a bit with AJAX, yeah.
Will the site be running Windows ASP or Linux based?
 

davidbehan

New Member
Will the site be running Windows ASP or Linux based?

Haven't even thought that far ahead. I suspect that some of the site could run in PHP and other bits in ASP. I'm saying that so I could build a number of the modules but use some blog/forum/etc stuff on it. If it's hosted on linux and using PHP... I'll only be able to manage content and oversee things. I won't be able to get my hands dirty in the code, which is what I like doing! :D

It could be hosted on an IIS server which runs ASP and PHP and sit MS SQL/MySQL databases alongside it. I'll look at this more over Christmas and outline the areas that would be needed and what would be the best technology/approach for it.
 

figment

New Member
That sounds good. You interested in helping with the set up of the site? No worries if you're not. I'm just trying to get an idea of who would like to be involved and how much they can contribute.
I am interested but to be honest just dont have time for the next two months. If it is still in development then give me a shout.

Alan
 

davidbehan

New Member
I am interested but to be honest just dont have time for the next two months. If it is still in development then give me a shout.

Alan
That's no worries. If there a few people involved in this, the idea would be that it wouldn't take a massive amount of time from any one person.

Dave
 

grandad

Member
This all look like a great idea. [though I notice my name hasn't been mentioned ;) ].

Pity it didn't crop up earlier, as I've had a quiet patch - deliberate, I might add. But the New Year looks like it might be busy for me, otherwise I would be very interested in throwing my hat in.
 

davidbehan

New Member
This all look like a great idea. [though I notice my name hasn't been mentioned ;) ].

Pity it didn't crop up earlier, as I've had a quiet patch - deliberate, I might add. But the New Year looks like it might be busy for me, otherwise I would be very interested in throwing my hat in.
Hi richardo. Sorry I didn't include your name. Just pulled names off the top of my head that I've chatted with on here. It'll be an ongoing project so if you're interested... it'd be great to have you on board.
 

louie

New Member
if there is anything I could help then count me in.
I'll do my best despite the fact that my schedule is very busy, but... why not.
 

TheMenace

New Member
It sounds like a good idea folks but in terms of 'showcasing the best of Irish Web design', sadly you'll need to be quite careful how you tread. A similar incentive nearly took off at the start of this year but falled at the final hurdle. The main reason being the sensitivity of some of the people trying to establish it. Essentially, if you want to claim to be in a position to guage the best of Irish web design, then you need to ensure that you're a principal at the very top of your game - otherwise you could find yourself being rubbished by those more experienced, talented, etc. than yourself. And your work itself could come in for some serious criticism. It really depends on how you vet entries. Being exclusionist or judging showcased sites based on subjectivity will not go down well with some people. Being a self-proclaimed authority on Web design is not an easy business apparently! :D
 

grandad

Member
Hi richardo. Sorry I didn't include your name. Just pulled names off the top of my head that I've chatted with on here. It'll be an ongoing project so if you're interested... it'd be great to have you on board.

Hi David. Only kidding :D
I might be able to throw my hat into the coding area, though I am more of a PHP dabbler than ASP.
 

figment

New Member
Being exclusionist or judging showcased sites based on subjectivity will not go down well with some people. Being a self-proclaimed authority on Web design is not an easy business apparently! :D

A point you made very well at the time :)
The thing is not to pitch it as an "Authority on webdesign" but instead "Sites we like this week". Same effect but less egos put out of place.

Also be careful that you pitch it as an independent site and not affiliated with any particular business or web firm.

At the end of the day you cant please everyone all the time. Just do your thing, be consistent with how you apply it and stick at it.
 

TheMenace

New Member
Absolutely. Everyone's entitled to their opinion and is free to set-up their own enthusiast sites and say what they like, don't like, etc. I'm merely saying that a body or group should be very careful about claiming to vet or guage the best of Irish Web design/development, etc. The subjective "Sites we like" approach is obviously far more diplomatic.

Ironically I do feel that web professionals could do with a representative body/guild of some kind but I'll be damned if I get involved in the politics of setting one up again.
 

grandad

Member
Ironically I do feel that web professionals could do with a representative body/guild of some kind but I'll be damned if I get involved in the politics of setting one up again.

A good point. The problem is though - what constitutes a web professional? A transition year student whacks up a site for his dad, and gets paid €10 for it - is he then a web professional? Or would it be limited by qualifications? Or portfolios? Or company owners? Or members of IrishWebmastersForum [:D]? A nasty can of worms....
 

RedCardinal

New Member
It's a very interesting proposition, but also fraught with difficulty.

Some thoughts:
  • As Alan said, don't pitch it as authority, but I think to succeed you must plan on becoming an authority;
  • Plan from the outset to be an impartial judge if you are going to evaluate anything, and build this into your processes, which should be completely transparent (multiple anonymous peer review?);
  • Make it as inclusive as possible from the outset - make everyone welcome to take part (and I would include purchasers if you intend showcasing anything - maybe guides, tips, a place to source help like EI board);
  • Differentiate yourself with at least one element that is unique to the site (and has potential to be newsworthy);
  • Define and set expectations early on so that everyone knows where they stand and what the purpose and goals of the endeavour are.
Time allowing I would be happy to pitch in. Would love to see something like this pulled off, but it requires clarity of definition and focus to suceed IMO. Super domain though :)

Rgds from LOS

Richard
 
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