Let’s start in the beginning (because there’s a lot of things to cover here).
I’ve been reading Smashing Magazine for more than 2 years now. I started reading in their very early days as ‘Smashing Magazine’ (Before, it was a smaller online magazine with a different name).

They actually caught my eye with very very interesting articles that focussed on one topic. Every article covered ways to do things and things you shouldn’t do, in a very specific aspect of (web) design.  That content was of great value since it was on-topic and very high-end.
However Smashing Magazine’s content  not only caught my eye… Lots of people started reading it on a regular basis and subscribing to the RSS feeds. That’s when they really started making money, and therefor stopped actually writing ‘real’ articles and started going down the ‘lists‘ road. At that point, it only took me about 2 weeks to stop caring about Smashing Magazine (besides when they linked me). I still check the site every now and then, but honestly: If an article starts with a number I don’t even read the rest of the title. It’s all they’ve been doing ever since…

The worst part: Lots of other site have been doing it too, just because Smashing Magazine prove the concept works. I myself have only published 1 single post like that in the 2 years I’ve been blogging. And hell: I’m proud of it!
And the more I actually talk to other people about this issue, the more I realize the very people we write for think the same way. They don’t want a list of whatever. They want your secrets. They want to know why you did something the way you did it. They want to know why you prefer ketchup instead of mayonaise. They want a personal opinion. If they want a list, they’ll just Google whatever it is they need. Google lists everything by default anyway.

Community
I’ve been a FlashFocus team member for a few years now. I’ve come to learn the invaluable importance of a living and talking community. The community, the members, they are actually FlashFocus. Not the design of the site, not the features. It’s the people. It are the minds that are conflicting, the minds that are making us work. It’s those very people we put time and effort in a site for, so they can go on and have fun, share experiences and projects, ask questions, write tutorials, etc. And man, believe me: Every time we -the FlashFocus team- come up with a project, our team is so full of motivation because we are about to give the community something new to play with.

That’s all we’re working for: The people.
The same goes for the web: The Web-community, the Flash-community, the CSS-community, any niche you can think off… People are doing stuff, creating cool experiments, sharing thoughts. Those different people in a niche, sharing their ideas, experiences, opinions, etc… Those people are what we actually refer to as ‘The community’.
Back in the days when Smashing Magazine wasn’t that popular, I remember reading lots of blogs – some of them even contradicting each other –  because there was so much interesting stuff to read.
However since ‘lists’ became the holy grail, these blogs either died a silent death or became ‘copycats’. So I stopped reading… Those blogs lost their personality. They weren’t what I was looking for…

Lists
But what’s so bad about those lists you say? Yea, okay, they’re an interesting resource. But that’s it. They’re a resource. A reference. But I only use reference lists when I need them. Not when I’m up for an interesting read. The bad thing about those lists: They’re just a list. Not an experience, not a tutorial, not a story about your latest project, not a personal opinion about the latest FWA site.

I love to read personal blogs of friends. A lot of my friends are still students, and therefore only have about the same amount of experience as I have. So I’m not really getting any/a lot smarter regarding the topic they blog about (which is mostly the same as I write about). But they have a fucking personal opinion. That’s what I care about. Sometimes that opinion is completely different from my own, which results in a discussion and makes you think. And that is what connects people. Thats what connects the community.

Hmz… But why?
So why would they actually do that? They’re a great site with great writers, right? Yes they are! In the end it’s all about the money… It’s business. End of discussion. Just check the sidebar, the content-top, end of content… Ads everywhere. Not too disturbing but it tends to flirt with the levels of acceptance…

(This is a major problem these days. Everyone tries to puts ads EVERYWHERE. Look at Youtube: Putting ads INSIDE the video’s. I’m sure the visitors/users percentage is going down. But even then: they are still making more money than before, so why bother? They don’t care (enough?) about their community to actually not put ads in videos… As long as they’re monetizing as much as they can, they’ll just leave it like that.
I myself tried putting up ads too, and yes: I made some money off it. But it just doesn’t feel right. Using my readers as a way of earning money makes me kind of feel like I’m trading my soul to the devil)

So in the end, for Smashing Magazine: It’s about making money. And money is only a good reason to get a job. Not to have a personal opinion… So basically… Smashing Magazine is a great resource… But it’s nowhere near an inspiring blog anymore.

And having said all this: This is my personal opinion. Speak your mind! I’d love to hear your thoughts on any aspect of this topic.

By the way: The actual article I was referring to in the very beginning of this post: Link

FlashFocus went down for scheduled maintenance on Friday, June 12th. The team worked for 3 days straight in order to be able to present a new FlashFocus running from our new server over at our sponsor Easyhosting.

The work the team did during the past 3 days was the first big step in order to be able to roll out a lot of new features in the coming weeks.

If you speak Dutch and you’re intrested in Flash, Flex, Air, After-Effects or any other Adobe product, don’t hold back to join the biggest Dutch-speaking community on the web. Ask your questions, share your knowledge, show off your coolest projects.

Register on FlashFocus
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After having held successful events at Toronto, Chicago, Winnipeg, and Hollywood, last year FITC came to Amsterdam. I don’t have to tell you that Amsterdam was at least as successful as the other events. And in a little less than 2 weeks, FITC Amsterdam will kick off for the second time!

Only a few days ago FITC announced that the Amsterdam event was already sold out. Again. And I’m one of the lucky ones to go!
Also, no different than last year, Adobe Max Award winner Thomas Joos created an event guide for your mobile phone. Make sure you check it out!

I’ll be attending FITC for the first time, so I’m very excited.
I’ll be there with Jeroen Beckers, my FlashFocus colleage. If you’re there make sure to come by. I’d love to meet you guys (and gals)!

Soooo… Who’s coming?

Je voelt het al komen: Juist. Ik heb er een leuke gevonden: Simpel, klein, en clean. Perfect voor het idee waarmee ik al zolang speelde.

Ik ging meteen aan de slag en installeerde een nieuwe WordPress website. Ik startte de upload van het thema, en maakte ondertussen een nieuw domein aan.

Nu is het zo dat ik verwachtte dat het betreffende thema afgewerkt ging zijn. Maar wat ontdek ik tijdens het finetunen van het thema? Geen archief, geen zoekfunctie, geen zoek resultaten pagina… Ik ben niet bepaald de persoon die WordPress thema’s ontwerpt of schrijft, en ik ben dan ook volledig niet begaan met de WordPress Codex. Maar gezien ik nu toch al zover was vond ik het zonde om dat een reden te laten zijn, om het project weer neer te leggen en te wachten op een betere kans.

Dankzij wat geluk met Google zoekresultaten, en wat wat uitleg op de WordPress site ben ik erin geslaagd om de zoek functionaliteiten, en het archief zelf in te bouwen in dit thema. Ik ben erg blij dat ik deze kans heb gegrepen om zelf eens aan de slag te gaan met WordPress thema’s te schrijven (Nota: Ik heb het thema niet zelf ontworpen, alleen afgewerkt). Het heeft me een goed beeld gegeven van wat er me te wachten staat als ik mijn volgende persoonlijke portfolio zal maken, maar dat is een ander verhaal.

Maar dat is niet de reden van deze blogpost: Alles gaat om wat je nodig hebt als je geen creativiteit hebt.

Het idee is gebaseerd op mijn taak als Freaking site Manager op FlashFocus: Ik verzamel coole sites en post ze op regelmatige basis op de frontpage. Op een gegeven moment dacht ik bij mezelf: ik vind zoveel coole sites dat ik ze niet allemaal na elkaar kan posten, zonder dat er leuke links verloren gaan. Zou het niet fijn zijn om gewoon alle sites te posten op een centrale site tussen mij en FlashFocus? Daarenboven denk ik wel dat iedereen het af en toe eens leuk vindt om enkele sites te bekijken, bij nood aan inspiratie, of bij een overschot aan vrije tijd… (De volgende stap is natuurlijk de RSS feed van die site nemen, en in Flash inlezen, en daar cool stuff mee te maken! )

Ik wens jullie veel plezier op deze kleine verzamelsite, en ik hoop om jullie feedback te zien verschijnen: Cool site of niet? Of beter nog: Heb je een coole suggestie? Laat het me weten!

If you have no creativity… Go get some!