If you happened to visit this site in the last couple of weeks you might have noticed some strange changes going on as I redesigned, then went on vacation, then came back and redesigned again. I’m still working on this, the 18th incarnation of my blog, but hopefully this design will last a little longer than it’s predecessors.
This is not an article about my design, or about redesigning, or about the changes I’ve made or how I made them. I have to agree with Dean Allen who he said, “…you couldn’t give a flying roll of monkey doughnuts”. I only point out the changes around here because they got me thinking about the importance of a web professional’s blog, and why we care so much about them.
Have you seen American Psycho, starring Christian Bale? There’s a scene in that movie involving business cards. If you’ve seen it you’ll know exactly where I’m going with this. Web professionals, both designers and developers alike, are more than just a little bit like this.
Perhaps we’re not as competitive and passive-aggressive (we’re actually quite overt with our aggression), but the analogy is still relatively strong. Our blogs are very similar to the business cards, representing who we are and how we want to be viewed by each other. We can get REALLY caught up in this. We can take it REALLY seriously. We can take it TOO seriously.
Designers can get so wrapped up in perfecting their blog’s design that they will say “screw it” and take down their site completely. Developers have all experienced that moment of shear panic right before they launch a change or revision, fearing what the standardista posse will find. It’s very personal, and it’s very important to us.
I don’t really have a point here. It’s just humorous food for thought.