A Web 2.0 Validator from 30 Second Rule

Found the Web 2.0 Validator while checking out Tad’s Spot.

It’s a pretty nifty little idea, and allows for some semblance of checks against a site. Dev Dawn gets a 5 at the moment, which is okay in my books.

Some of the checks I want to immediately address … which is why I like the site. Rather than making me feel like I have to keep up with the times, it’s more that the Validator pushes me to think about enhancing my site, and what would make it better.

web2validator001

So kudos to 30 Second Rule for a very cool little idea that originated in a Coffee Shop (the Office). Nice.

SoftVelocity Gets Community

Soft Velocity is the company that is currently "making" Clarion. They have always had an active community, mostly through the news.softvelocity.com newsgroup, but I’ve noticed, over the few years I’ve been a clarion user, that they, and the clarion community in general, have been slow to take on some of the better sides of the Interweb.

One of these, not so obvious at first glance sides, is that of giving back to the community. It’s so easy with functionality like a blog these days. Just becoming a little more human. There is something within us that likes to hear actual opinions and ideas from people, especially when we’re in a similar situation.

Anyway … Community Server :: Blog is one half of a new initiative by Soft Velocity.

soft001

The Other Half of the initiative are the forums. But I’m not interested in that part at the moment.

What I’m interested in, or more, wanting them to take on, is more than just that blog. I’m speaking as two people I guess. One is the Reader, and one as the Thinker. Both of these combine to tell me …

I want to see an easier-on-the-eye blog. With pictures. Pictures are good, as I’ve recently begun to see …:).

The blog should be self-contained. When you click on a post, why would it go to a completely different theme/scheme? Make it a little more friendly for the casual browser, who finds it through posts like this. Easier to navigate. To find out exactly what Clarion can do for them.

And start pimpin it, if not already. Get it onto blog sites, get other bloggers to do articles, interviews, shouts to the community. Because although it’s a great community, we want to expand. I want to be a better developer. And I want Clarion to get better. In heaps of different ways, not just functionality.

It’s an exciting time, and we should be taking hold of the methods and means that are becoming very real today.

Anyway … just a note. This is in no way a flame ladened missile. Whether right or wrong, it’s how much it makes people think. If it doesn’t change a thing, then cool. But perhaps a thought might occur while disagreeing that leads to someone becoming a better developer, furthering their understanding.

And that’s the purpose of Dev Dawn.

The Article Title

Up until just recently, I thought it was more unique to come up with cryptic and funny titles for my posts. Now I’m not so sure. Or rather, I’m thinking that for the most part, a descriptive title is better. Not always, I’m not gonna let a good funny title pass by, or one that plays on our social vernacular, or something something.

Anyway, hopefully this is part of the growth of understanding when doing something over a period of time. Pushing yourself further. Maybe.

How Many Slashdot Rejections?

The thought came to me, I’ve only been blogging for a few months, and haven’t been going hard yakka posting to Slashdot, so there must be others out there with much larger rejection numbers that me.

I’m sitting, as of right now, on 10 Rejections and 1 Pending.

Please note, this is in no way a whinge or flame on Slashdot. They’re doing a great job, and I love their Why didn’t you post my story? reasons. Specially the last one.

Anyway, how many Rejections have you gotten from Slashdot.

And have you kept going, especially if they are your own articles/posts?

Cheers, Thanks for Reading.

Edit: Make that 11 Rejections. Heh heh.

How Often Do You Look Back At What You Write?

This evening I had the wonderful experience of going back through all the previous posts (of course, all in my case is less than a hundred, so it’s nothing for most), pushing them into the new categories.Which incidentally will not necessarily stay the way they are. Experimental is the word.

Anyway. As I perused through the posts, which aren’t that old, I found myself thinking, Why did I write that?, and What a dingus. As short as my blogging career has been, have I really moved far enough forward to see previous lameness?

I don’t think so. I’m still going to write as I did, although hopefully with a little more skill each day.

I guess I’m wanting to know if people read their previous posts and get a little embarrassed. And what, if anything, you do about it.

I want to become a better blogger, or whatever the new term will become. I think blogger is okay. It’s like saying your a journalist without being a journalist. Although I’m sure actual journalists would go bezurk over that. But it is … when I tell family members that I have a blog, there is still a sense of mystery. Or authority might be the better word. Maybe.

It might just be that I’m very tired and lacking in any usual facilities that will stop me blabbing on.

Thanks for your time.

Stu (DevDawn)

stu_avatar

Here is Stu, me. I’m bigger than your average bear, and not so grumpy … most of the time.

Description Tags

Loud, Excitable, Simple, Iron-Skinned, Eats A Lot, Belly Laughs, Hairy, …

History

I’ve had an amazing life. In that I am so very blessed, and have been, despite the ups and downs we experience in life.

  • Got beaten up a lot in late primary school/early highschool.
  • Went to a Boarding School in Sydney
  • Grew.
  • Learned that most people felt wierd about the fact that my Dad was a Presbyterian Minister.
  • Grew.
  • Found that after a while, friendships were made despite any eternal differences.
  • Grew.
  • Found out about the power of being cool.
  • Wasn’t Cool.
  • Was Cool.
  • Grew.
  • Finished School and started Uni.
  • Kept growing.
  • Preached on the lawns at Sydney Uni while slowly doing a Bachelor of Science
  • Played a lot of touch footy.
  • Went to a lot of camps.
  • Made some very close friendships.
  • Met my wife.
  • Around four weeks later we started going out.
  • About seven weeks after that, we got engaged.
  • Then, around … six months down the track, we got hitched.
  • Part-Time Uni while doing Youth Work.
  • Part-Time Uni while working at Dick Smith Electronics.
  • We get pregnant.
  • Again with the Uni while working at a Deli.
  • Finished Uni, finally, six years after starting. Who says dumb people can’t finish stuff :) … heh.
  • We move northward, into the great Australian Outback … sort of. It’s dry, and lots of flat country.
  • Have three children, all of whom bring so much blessing it’s amazing.
  • Start getting into development by accident, learning how to use the first windows version of Clarion.
  • Start thinking I could do this on my own, plus the drought means people start running out of money. That, and bad management.
  • Developing Systems becomes my main endevour for a couple of years.
  • Not enough money is coming in. Too much hard work, not enough smart work.
  • Get my current job.
  • Move back to Sydney and start my current job.
  • Learning (brain) curve spikes out of control. So much stuff is getting plugged into my head I’m beginning to wonder just how much of a newb I was before.
  • Still learning.
  • Started up a little blog called Dev Dawn.

Future

  • Dev Dawn becomes a raging massive huge and unalterable success, projecting us into stardom.
  • We cannot walk out of the office without being swamped by fans of all shapes and sizes.
  • We refuse to "Sell Out To the Man", whoever that is at the time.
  • Dev Dawn becomes the last bastion for hope against the evil oppressors.
  • We triumph over the dark abyss that is Goosoft, the Microogle Overlords.

    Finis