Monthly Archives: December 2007

Dec 31st, 2007
22

Ringing in 2008 With a New(ish) Design and a New(ish) Blogging Mindset

I’m proud that I have used several different blogging formats. In my mind, it shows that I’m always trying new things (sometimes over and over again just to make sure!) To date openswitch has donned at least three distinct styles of blogging. The first is what I call the “essay blog.” This is what I did for most of my blogging days. An essay blog is basically a collection of essays. The blogger — more often than not — tries to write original material for these essays. A good example of an essay blog is The Fight Spot.

The second type of blog is the “hub” blog. There’s not much difference between a hub site and an essay blog. The major difference, in my mind, is what kind of content is located at the root URL. In my case, the root URL is openswitch.org. With an essay blog, the root URL serves as not only the home page but as the page which contains the blog essays. With a hub site the root URL serves as a sort of “hub” that highlights all the different places one can go to at openswitch.org. A good example of a hub site is Jon Hicks’ site. Note that on a hub site there’s not only a blog but other content as well such as downloads, link logs, etc.

The third type of blog I’ve experimented with here at openswitch is the tumblelog or a “tumble-hybrid” some will call it. It’s a collection of images, links, quotes, thoughts as well as more “blogish” journal articles that I collect and/or write as I experience daily life on the Net. It’s this third type of blog format that I think suits me best.

Now, before you go saying, “Yeah, we’ve heard that before” I’ll just admit up front that I’ve told myself the same thing. However, I can’t escape the fact that I’ve been slowly changing the way I blog. I’m not sure if you’ve noticed it, but I certainly have. I’ve stopped writing the original essays I used to. I’ve stopped and I think there are several reasons for it. 1) At one point or another I’ve expressed virtually every personal belief I have at least once, sometimes twice. I don’t want to write again about a topic I’ve already written about. 2) When I do think of something to write it’s usually commentary on something else someone else wrote already or on a current event. 3) Most of the topics I’d like to write about are already written about elsewhere, and are written better than I ever could write. I’ll get an idea for an essay and then I’ll remember, “Oh, I read this same thing over on this other site.” I can’t justify writing about the same stuff that other people do unless I have a unique viewpoint. And what I’ve found is that my opinion is rarely unique to me. There are hundreds of other bloggers out there who have similar views and have already written about them. I’d much rather link them and add my own commentary that regurgitate it all over again.

For those reasons, amongst others I’m sure, my blogging has changed from an essay style blog to more of a link-with-commentary type posts. Most of this has been done on my del.icio.us account rather than my blog.

Of course, I had to allow myself the chance to write longer articles should I desire (such as this article.) And all that’s available here. Really, when you sit down and think about it, what I’m doing here is not too different from what Jason Kottke has been doing for a long time now: links with commentary and a few original articles thrown in for good measure. Derek Powazek is another who’s been doing something similar.

I’ve come to the realization that I much enjoy reading other’s work, linking the good stuff, and adding in my own commentary. Sure, occasionally I like to write an original piece (or pseudo-original as is often the case) but mostly I like reading what others write.

So there you have it.

Dec 28th, 2007
8

The Problem With Recognition in Blogging

Everyone likes being recognized for their hard work. In fact (this is a note to all you bosses out there) the two most effective ways to recognize the hard work of one of your employees are 1) public recognition, praise them in front of a lot of people at once, and/or 2) give them money. I don’t know why this is true, but it is.

tires I find it interesting that bloggers have been utilizing these two forms of peer recognition for some time now, linking being the most obvious form. Everyone loves to get linked; especially when you’re linked on a well known blog. Linking has been accurately called the “currency of the web” specifically because it’s such an effective means of giving recognition to hard and good work.

You may be thinking that advertising is the monetary recognition part, but you’d be wrong. Advertising has nothing to do with recognition, just money. “Tip jars” or “Buy me a beer” buttons represent the means by which peers recognize a blogger’s hard work through monetary means. They’re at least marginally effective too.

The problem

The problem with garnering recognition for your hard work in blogging is that it’s tempting to find quick solutions in order to get more peer recognition faster. People are constantly trying to work the system to get more links, better links and bigger links (do those even exist?). Or, maybe they’re not really after the links, maybe it’s just the recognition they want.

One of the ways people try to garner recognition is by getting accepted into “elite” blogging communities. The problem with this is if you’re only in the community to be recognized as “elite” then you’ll quickly learn, as I have in the past, that the joy of being recognized by an “elite” blogging community is very short-lived. You soon realize that people don’t really look at you any differently just because you have a nifty, “elite”, badge or logo on your blog.

The solution

The solution to the problem lies not in trying to deny that we as bloggers want recognition for our work. Instead, we need to understand what real recognition is and how it’s gained.

“Quick fixes” of recognition, like a mind altering drug (i.e. caffeine or nicotine), give only momentarily intense feelings of joy. These include, but are not limited to, getting on the front page of Digg, getting Slashdotted, Boing Boing-ed, or Scobled. Sure, it’s fun to get that recognition but it’s fleeting.

Real recognition is not getting linked by someone famous. It’s being famous to the point where people crave links from you. That kind of recognition can’t be manufactured, it’s earned.

A lot of it is earned through due diligence. The fact of the matter is that peers will usually only recognize bloggers who have been at it for a while. In fact, I argue that having a blogging record that is long (i.e. your blog has been around for a long time) is worth more toward recognition than the personal authority you bring to the blog.

By personal authority I mean that some people bring certain knowledge or expertise to their blog that produces instant recognition, and that’s what gives their blog weight. Scobleizer is a good example of this. Most of us, however, don’t bring this kind of authority to our blogs. We have to build that authority and a large part of that is due diligence.

The other part of building recognition, besides due diligence, is building authority. This means that you have to be a credible blogger. When you write about something controversial, or breaking, you need to back up your claims. Going around flippantly declaring that the sky is falling will do nothing for your credibility. If, however, you link to Google Earth which shows via satellite imaging that the sky is indeed falling . . . well then you’ve got something.

Conclusion

In conclusion, we bloggers need to keep in mind that recognition is not given, it’s earned. It’s earned through due diligence and credibility in blogging.

Dec 26th, 2007
7

I Have a Weird Family, and So Do You

joseph I have a weird family. In fact, blame them for my own personal weirditites (I make up words as I go here people, learn to roll with it). Well, when viewed as an individual, each member in my family is pretty much a normal participant in society. Sure, we’ve got our quirks but by and large we’re a pretty normal group of people. Interestingly, for one reason or another, when you get us together for the holidays and when we’re hanging out in the same house, all that “normalcy” goes out the proverbial window. And regardless of how much you (the reader) want to believe otherwise, I know your family is the same way: holidays make them weird.

I like to call this the Family Togetherness Phenomenon. Inexplicably when you get a bunch of family members together in one spot people get weird. Of course, I’m no exception to this rule.

But you know, as weird as my family is, as goofy as they can be, they’ll always be my family. We’ve got history together. Granted, some of that history is unpleasant to varying degrees, but much of it . . . MOST of it, is full of great memories. My family has known me longer than anyone else on Earth. They’ve seen me screw up, they’ve seen me succeed; and I’ve seen them do the same. Still, we continue to love each other without question.

Christmas is over. 2008 is but days away. As great as my Christmas was, as much as I enjoy celebrating the birth of my Savior and all that entails, it’s my family that makes this holiday special, meaningful.

Dec 24th, 2007
4

Almost Everything I Learned in 2007

The year is coming to a close more quickly than I’d like. I mean, yesterday it was January, now it’s the day before Christmas, what happens to the time? I don’t know. All I know is in a couple months I’ll be one year closer to thirty (the end of life as I know it . . . so I’m told) and that much further away from my “fun” years.

But ya know what? I actually like getting older. Mostly because I find myself making fewer less obvious more forgiving more interesting mistakes as years go on. At least I don’t bore myself. So here, for your edification and/or entertainment is my list of almost everything I learned in 2007.

  1. Losing your temper while driving is never worth the brief moment of satisfaction you get as you flip the other guy the bird.
  2. If you’ve got $400 to throw around, you’re better off throwing it in the direction of an iPhone than anything Microsoft. —cough— Vista —cough—.
  3. Facebook and all those infernal invitations may annoy me to no end, but I’m obviously in the minority.
  4. The RIAA really is the Devil.
  5. I’m not the most creative person on Earth . . . yet again.
  6. I’m a geek and so are you.
  7. Spanking your children may one day become illegal. Of course, for this guy it already should be.
  8. The only thing standing between me and a career in modeling is a professional photographer and photo retoucher.
  9. Location is everything
  10. If my plans of one day running a nation don’t work out, I can still have a shot at getting that Nobel Peace Prize.
Dec 22nd, 2007
2

What We Discovered This Xmas Season

turbulence This Christmas season has been full of interesting developments. First, Toddler Boy took his first ride in an airplane. FWIW, Air Tran has some excellent prices. The cabin is a little more cramped than, say, Delta or United, but the prices can’t be beat. But anyway, Toddler Boy LOVED the plane ride. His favorite part was the turbulence. While all us adults were white-knuckling our arm rests and imagining wings ripping off the fuselage as the distinctly heavier-than-air plane plummeted back to Earth — going down in a blaze of glory indeed — , Toddler Boy was shouting “yippees” of joy followed closely by “AGAIN!” Yes, my son has serious thrill issues.

The second discovery is that Toddler Boy has a peanut addiction. You know how you always hear about those poor kids with peanut allergies? How they pretty much can’t eat anything because everything is made with peanut products or made in some location where peanut dust is possibly located? Well, our son can’t get enough of these things. It’s just slightly disturbing the way he keeps begging for more peanuts. “Son”, we say, “you just ate a whole crate of peanuts! That crate could have fed a village in Darfur! You can’t possibly want more!” To which he echoes the refrain, “More peanuts please.” It’s just weird. I’ve never seen anyone eat that many peanuts in one sitting. in. my. life.

The third and final interesting development this season is me and my wifest discovering that our Toddler Boy already has the Pledge of Allegiance memorized . . . he’s three years old. Seriously, when did he learn this? And furthermore, why can he memorize at the age of three something that I didn’t memorize until the first grade (six years old), but he still can’t wipe his own butt? Something seems out of whack there, maybe it’s just me. I mean, he’s pledging his life to a nation, but he can’t do number two without parental assistance.

Feliz navi-xmas!

Dec 17th, 2007
7

How to Easily Implement hReview With Textpattern

I wrote previously about incorporating an hAtom microformat feed into Textpattern. I’m now going to expound on this topic by showing you how Textpattern is perfectly set up to utilize the hReview microformat. For a visual reference to what I’m going to show you how to do please see this review I wrote: The Weakerthans – Reconstruction Site.

An overview of hReview

The purpose of hReview, as per the book Microformats, is to

. . . provide a standardized format for publishing reviews and . . . “enable and encourage the sharing, distribution, syndication, and aggregation, of reviews.”

There is currently a wide array of review sites on the Internet already. Amazon, Insider Pages, Epinions, Zagat, Yahoo Local and IMDb to name a few. None of these sites markup their reviews the same way. hReview seeks to standardize the reviewing process.

I maintain that reviews on personal blogs represents one of the least-utilized sources for product opinion on the Net. As the old mantra goes, if you can’t think of anything to blog about, write a good review of something. We need more reviews. Thus, we need a way to markup our reviews so they’re easily found.

How microformats work (dummy edition)

Microformats are not complicated or only for the elite. Microformats, in a nutshell, are just specific classes applied to any HTML tag in your code.

Every microformat needs what is called a “Root Element.” A Root Element is an HTML tag, with a certain class being applied to it, that contains the rest of the microformatting.

So, microformats are basically just classes applied to HTML tags. That’s it. Easy.

How to incorporate hReview

hReview requires two things: the Root Element and the Item. There are other optional parts to hReview but let’s just cover the required parts for now.

Root Element

The Root Element is a class of “hreview”. It’s wise to put this root element into a <div> tag like this:

<div class="hreview">
. . . hReview data goes here . . .
</div>

We write the Root Element as a <div> tag because <div> is a block-level element. As opposed to something like <span> which is an inline element. To put it simply, we do this because while you can put an inline element within an block-level element, you CANNOT put a block-level element within an inline element. While we very well could write <span class="hreview"></span> we would then be limiting ourselves to using only inline elements within the <span>. Got that? Good.

Now, everything else, every other class that’s applied to our hReview, is going to be put inside this Root Element. That’s important to remember. All parts of our hReview must go within our hReview Root Element.

Item

Ok, so now we’ve got the Root Element. Let’s add in the Item. This is the only required part of our hReview. The Item should be unique identifying information about whatever is being reviewed. Ideally the Item should include a name and an URL for the item you’re reviewing.

For the Item we need to include a class of item and a class of fn url inside it somewhere. The way I coded my site it looks something like this:

<span class="item">
<a href="http://websiteaddress.com" class="fn url">Name of the item being reviewed</a>
</span>

Easy, right? Good.

Optional parts of hReview

There are only two required parts of hReview: the Root Element and the Item. But there are several other parts we can include to make our hReview more detailed. Here are the fields I use on openswitch.

Version

This field specifies the version of hReview that is used to markup the text. At the time of this writing the most current version is 0.3. The markup can look something like this:

<div class="hreview">hReview version: <span class="version">0.3</span></div>
Summary

This field does what it says. It’s a concise summary of the review. The markup can look something like this:

<div class="hreview"><h2 class="summary">Summary text goes here</h2></div>

Now, the summary class can be applied to ANY HTML element, it doesn’t have to be an h2 tag. It can be a <span>, a <div>, a <p> and so on.

Type

This field is used to define the type of item being reviewed. There is a limited number of options for Type:

  • product
  • business
  • event
  • person
  • place
  • website
  • url

Most of my reviews are of the product type. So my markup can look something like this:

<div class="hreview">Review type: <span class="type">product</span></div>
Rating

I use this field in my hReview markup. It does what it says. The markup can look something like this:

<div class="hreview">Rating: <span class="rating">4</span>/5</div>
dtreviewed

The date on which something is reviewed. This is usually the same as the post entry date. The markup can look something like this:

<div class="hreview">Date reviewed: <abbr title="10061118" class="dtreviewed">November 18, 2006</abbr></div>

Other optional fields

Other optional fields that I have opted to not include in my site can be found here. They include Reviewer, Description, Tags, and License. I may be missing some, but that’s what I could find.

How to accomplish this in Textpattern

As I said earlier, Textpattern is perfectly, if not unintentionally, set up to make implementing hReview a breeze.

Step 1: Create a new category

First, we need to create a category called, “review”. This will be used to call the hReview custom fields only when a post is actually a review.

Step 2: Create some custom fields

Second, we need to create some custom fields in Admin>Preferences>Advanced:

  • review-item
  • review-item-url
  • review-rating
  • review-summary
Step 3: Edit your default form

Now we only want the hReview information to show up when the article is actually a review, right? So we’re going to edit our default form and add in a conditional tag. Here’s a simplified version of my default form. Pay attention to the if_article_category tags.

<div class="hentry <txp:if_article_category name="review">hreview</txp:if_article_category>"> <!-- here's my Root Element -->
<h3 class="entry-title"><a href="<txp:permlink />" rel="bookmark"><txp:title /></a></h3>
<div class="entry-date"><abbr class="updated published" title="<txp:posted format="%Y%m%d" />"><txp:posted /></abbr></div>
<div class="entry-content">
<!-- Begin hReview data -->
<txp:if_article_category name="review">
<span class="item">Item: <a class="fn url" href="<txp:custom_field name="review-item-url" />"><txp:custom_field name="review-item"/></a></span>
<br />
Rating: <abbr title="<txp:custom_field name="review-rating" />" class="rating"><txp:custom_field name="review-rating" /></abbr>/5
<br />
Summary: <span class="summary"><txp:custom_field name="review-summary" /></span>
<span class="type">product</span>
<span><abbr title="<txp:posted format="%Y%m%d" />" class="dtreviewed"><txp:posted /></abbr></span>
<br />
hReview version: <span class="versions">0.3</span>
</txp:if_article_category>
<!-- End hReview data -->
<txp:body />
</div>
</div>

Do you see what I did there? Now, this is somewhat unorthodox to implement hReview in this way. I gather from the microformats site that the spirit of hReview is to add in the markup as part of the content. Instead, what I’ve done for simplicity’s sake is separated the hReview data out of the regular content. As far as I can tell this method does not nullify the effectiveness of the hReview but it does, at worst, go against the spirit of microformats.

Step 4: Write reviews

So now the process of adding hReview to your reviews is fairly automated. When you write a review on your Textpattern blog just be sure to do two things:

  1. put the article into the “review” category
  2. fill in the custom fields you just created

If you have any questions or need further explanation please don’t hesitate to ask. I may not spoon-feed you, but I will do my best to point you in the right direction.

Dec 15th, 2007
4

A Mouse Made of Rice and My Thoughts on Christmas

I went to a Japanese steakhouse for the first time today with my wifest and Toddler Boy. All that slicing and dicing was pretty nifty. Toddler Boy was a bit freaked out by the flames from the onion ring volcano at first. That is, until the chef made a Micky Mouse out of rice . . . which we then proceeded to devour. Nothing like the consumption of a Disney character to make a small child happy.

Speaking of Disney and consumption, Christmas is coming fast. I’ve come to a conclusion about Christmas and what it means to me. FWIW my views are pretty much inline with what Bill Lollar wrote.

I used to get upset that the “focus” of Christmas was shifting from being about the birth of Christ to a celebration of greed. But you know what I’ve found? Christmas has never really had much to do with Christ at all. There’s no biblical precedent to even celebrate His birth. Not that we shouldn’t celebrate His birth, I’m just saying. So, I’m done with getting bent out of shape about this magical time of year. I’ll enjoy it for what it is: a great time with family and friends. Sharing gifts, and a few meals together. And yeah, we thank Jesus for everything He’s done for us too.

But will I get upset about the commercialism? Or about anything else that accompanies this holiday? Probably not.

commercialism

Dec 14th, 2007
3

Alternative Xmas Carols

1. Schizophrenia

— Do You Hear What I Hear, the Voices, the Voices?

2. Amnesia

—I Don’t Remember If I’ll be Home for Christmas

3. Narcissistic Personality Disorder

— Hark the Herald Angels Sing About Me

4. Bipolar Disorder (Manic Episode)

— Deck The Halls And Walls And House And Lawn And Streets And Stores And Office And Town And Cars And Buses And Trucks And Trees And Fire Hydrants And…….

5. Multiple Personality Disorder

— We Three Kings Disoriented Are

6. Paranoid

— Santa Claus Is Coming To Get Us

7. Borderline Personality Disorder

— You Better Watch Out, You Better not Shout, I’m Gonna Cry, and I’ll not Tell You Why

8. Antisocial Personality Disorder

— Thoughts of Roasting You On an Open Fire

9. Obsessive Compulsive Disorder

— Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells,

10. Agoraphobia

— I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day But Wouldn’t Leave My House

11. Alzheimer’s Disease/Senile Dementia

— Walking In a Winter Wonderland Miles from My House in My Slippers and Robe

12. Oppositional Defiant Disorder

— I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus So I Burned Down the House

13. Social Anxiety Disorder

— Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas While I Sit Here and Hyperventilate

14. Attention Deficit Disorder

— We Wish You……Hey Look!! It’s Snowing!

15. Bipolar (Depressed Episode)

— “I’ll Be Home for Christmas, But What Difference Does It Make? (sub’d by Pistol)

Dec 13th, 2007
12

So Much for Separation of Church and State

streetsigns H. Res. 847 disturbs me greatly. It’s not a long bill at all so you really should give it a read, three minutes max. The crux of the bill is surmised at the end with this:

[be it] Resolved, That the House of Representatives—

(1) recognizes the Christian faith as one of the great religions of the world;

(2) expresses continued support for Christians in the United States and worldwide;

(3) acknowledges the international religious and historical importance of Christmas and the Christian faith;

(4) acknowledges and supports the role played by Christians and Christianity in the founding of the United States and in the formation of the western civilization;

(5) rejects bigotry and persecution directed against Christians, both in the United States and worldwide; and

(6) expresses its deepest respect to American Christians and Christians throughout the world.

Pardon me, but I don’t want the government “approving” or even “supporting” my religion. Stay out, stay out, stay out.

[ht Jake Bouma]

Dec 12th, 2007
1

18 Thought-Provoking Technology Quotes

technology-montage “If the human race wants to go to hell in a basket, technology can help it get there by jet. It won’t change the desire or the direction, but it can greatly speed the passage.”

Charles M. Allen

“In guessing the direction of technology, it is wise to ask who is in the best position to profit most.”

Ben Bagdikian

“The environmental crisis is somber evidence of an insidious fraud hidden in the vaunted productivity and wealth of modern, technology-based society.”

Barry Commoner

“America’s technology has turned in upon itself; its corporate form makes it the servant of the profits, not the servant of human needs.”

Alice Embree

“Technology . . . the knack of so arranging the world that we need not experience it.”

Max Frisch

“If there is technological advance without social advance, there is, almost automatically, an increase in human misery, in impoverishment.”

Michael Harrington

“In an age of advanced technology, inefficiency is the sin against the Holy Ghost.”

Aldous Huxley

“Modern technology has led to the concentration of economic and political power, and to the development of a society controlled (ruthlessly in the totalitarian states, politely and inconspicuously in the democracies) by Big Business and Big Government.”

Aldous Huxley

“A world technology means either a world government or a world suicide.”

Max Lerner

“Our technology, wiser than we, has given us to the unforeseen and unforeseeable means of worldwide understanding at the moment when worldwide understanding is the only possible means to lasting peace.”

Archibald MacLeish

“The nihilism of technology lies not only in the fact that it is the most perfect expression of the will to power . . . but also in the fact that it lacks meaning.”

Octavio Paz

“The technocratic imperative: ‘What can be done must be done.’”

Theodore Roszak

We are too prone to make technological instruments the scapegoats for the sins of those who wield them. The products of modern science are not in themselves good or bad; it is the way they are used that determines their value.”

David Sarnoff

“Technology . . . is a queer thing. It brings you great gifts with one hand, and it stabs you in the back with the other.”

C. P. Snow

“The law of unintended consequences governs all technological revolutions.”

Joel L. Swerdlow

“Technological innovation consists of three stages, linked together into an self-reinforcing cycle. First, there is the creative, feasible idea. Second, its practical application. Third, its diffusion through society. The process is completed, the loop closed, when the diffusion of technology embodying the new idea, in turn, helps generate new creative ideas.”

Alvin Toffler

“Man cannot live by technology alone.”

Arnold J. Toynbee

“Technology: the invention, manufacture, and use of tools.”

Arnold J. Toynbee

Dec 11th, 2007
8

Bible Shark: A Review

I’m always on the lookout for new online ministry resources. So when the creators of Bible Shark emailed me and asked me to have a look at their new online application I was more than happy to oblige. I even offered to write a review of it, and they liked that idea so here I am… writing a review.

General overview

If you click the “about us” link on Bible Shark here’s what the creators say,

The staff at Bibleshark.com is made of two computer geeks who believe that the internet is the future of bible study. We will provide convenient, intuitive, and accurate Bible study tools that are easily accessible on the net. If you are a first day Bible reader or an experienced theologian, Bibleshark.com will provide you the bible study tools necessary to advance in your knowledge of the scriptures.

So, at the time of writing, Bible Shark only features a parallel Bible lookup application. Other features are promised in the future. I’m looking forward to some more features to go along with the parallel.

The site utilizes Python and the Django framework for it. I’ve used Python a little but never Django; they tell me it’s the bees knees though. Database is MySql. Other software used includes Subversion and then CentOS to run the servers.

Technical overview

All of the above software makes for one blazingly fast application. From looking up a passage to adding new translations alongside existing ones, Bible Shark is the fastest online parallel Bible I’ve ever used. No contest.

User actions are obvious, buttons do what they say and everything is really easy to find. I never felt lost or confused while using Bible Shark.

I trust that in the future there will be other Bible study tools available, but since I don’t know what they will be or when they will be released I can only comment on the parallel Bible application. That said, my biggest frustration from a technical point of view was the selection of translations from which to choose.

So far, these are the Bible translations available:

  • Darby
  • Young’s Literal
  • American Standard
  • Bible in Basic English
  • Webster (1833)
  • World English
  • New American
  • Douay-Rheims
  • King James Version

Not that those are bad translations but for this tool to be usable, I need at least these translations added to that list:

  • New International Version
  • English Standard Version
  • New Living Translation
  • New American Standard

The selection of translations was the most glaring down-side of this application.

Design overview

Bible Shark looks like it was designed by programmers from a utilitarian point of view: function over form. Functionally it’s fantastic. The form needs some work though. Color choice leaves much to be desired. I question the decision to have text spread from one edge of the window to the other, it makes for extremely long lines of text and I frequently lost my place. This problem is remedied somewhat when I choose to display more than one translation at a time.

The site logo is good. But it could be great. I don’t like the oversized Trebuchet MS fonts spread around the application. I think some other font family and font size would be a better choice for the buttons and search fields.

Conclusion

The design of an application should definitely come secondary to how well it functions. Functionally, Bible Shark shows a lot of promise. Once those extra applications are in place it could do with a professional web designer’s input.

I’m going to keep my eye on Bible Shark. If its creators continue to put work into it (which seems like their plan) then I can see it being a great resource for ministers and lay people alike.

Dec 10th, 2007
10

The Graphic Truth About Youth Ministry

Being a youth minister can be a very rewarding vocation. It can also be the major factor in a psychotic episode. Taking an idea from The Graphic Truth I’ve drawn up this simple line graph regarding youth ministry.

youth-ministry-graph

Dec 9th, 2007
8

We Must Get Jesus Out of the Manger

jesus-in-the-manger Why are we so fascinated with babies? I mean, they’re just so cute and cuddly. I wonder if it’s partially because they’re so innocent, haven’t done anything wrong. They’ve not yet learned how to stomp their foot in defiance. They’re just babies doing what babies do. Of course, there’s also the fact that their heads are SO disproportionately HUGE compared to the rest of their bodies; you don’t get much cuter than a mini-person with a ginormous head.

At Christmas time too we’re fascinated with a baby. Manger scenes abound, baby Jesus and his Mom and Pop all sitting there on your front lawn with light bulbs up their butts or in their backs. We love that stuff. It reminds us of why we’re celebrating Christmas: the birth of our King.

It’s fascinating to me that Jesus was born just like I was. He experienced the joys and sorrows of life just like I am. But I can’t leave Him there, in that setting; unless we get Jesus out of that manger and onto a rough cut cross, it’s all for nothing.

This Christmas as we see that cute little baby laying in a bed of hay surrounded by those light up animals let’s not only celebrate His birth, but remember too that this baby was born to die. He was born so He could show us how to live in perfect communion with the Father. He then died so we could all have that relationship with God in a very real, personal way.

Don’t let Jesus be only a little baby in a manger. Let Him grow up, die and rise from the dead. Let’s make this Christmas a celebration not only of the birth of our King, but of everything He means. God with us.

Dec 8th, 2007
8

The Textpattern Plugins I Use on Openswitch

Textpattern is a tabula rasa of a CMS. It’s extremely flexible out of the box and can be crafted through the use of sections, pages, forms and plugins to make it into almost any kind of site you want. I wanted a blog, so most of these plugins add specific blogging functionality.

When people find out that I’m using Textpattern instead of the ubiquitous WordPress, I get a lot of questions. One of the questions I get asked is what plugins I’m using. I wanted to take a minute to list, link and describe each plugin I’m currently using for this site.

— note that not all of these plugins are necessary. Several of them are more for vanity than anything else. —

ajw_comments_feed

“This plugin extends Textpattern

Dec 6th, 2007
10

Five Things I Did Wrong When I Started Blogging

Have you ever thought that if you could go back and live your life over again there are certain things you would do differently? I have. For instance, I’d join some clubs in high school. I’d work harder to get good grades in college too. But sometimes I extend this thinking to openswitch. If I could go back and begin this very blog over again there are certain things I’d do differently.

1. Ask commenters to be more specific

There are many times when someone will read a post of mine and then leave a comment (yay!). However, sometimes the comment is a little vague, or could be taken several different ways with several different meanings.

In my early days of blogging I made the mistake of jumping to conclusions. I’d assume that the first way I read a comment was the way in which the comment author wanted it to be read. This is often not the case.

If a comment could be taken in more than one way, or if it’s a little vague in its meaning, then it is more than OK to ask the commenter to be more specific. Press them for additional information. Trust me, 99% of the time they’ll be happy to do so.

2. Don’t worry about how often (or not) you change your design

Some bloggers are neurotic about changing their site’s design (you’re reading one right now.) Others couldn’t care less about their design and focus instead on their writing (cf. The Jolly Blogger). Frankly, either way is fine. I know that I was constantly worried that I was changing my design too much. Nowadays I don’t care. I’ll change my design as often as I want and feel no guilt.

When it comes to design I don’t think it matters a whole lot if you change designs every few months or every other eon. What matters, as far as I’m concerned, is that the overall “feel” of your site remains somewhat constant or, if the “feel” is changing, it’s doing so fairly slowly.

Here at openswitch I’ve definitely got a “feel” that has been carried between redesigns. The degree to which that feel has been carried is open to debate. But one thing I’ve heard over and over again is that even though the design changed, people have always known they were still looking at openswitch when they landed here.

A lot of that consistency, I think, has to do with the logo. I decided about a year ago (give or take 6 months) to stick with the double red arrow as a part of my logo. When it comes to design, I find that you can get away with changing it around a lot as long as you have some good continuity between iterations in the form of a logo or some other distinguishable element.

If you’re one of those bloggers, however, who doesn’t really care to change your design much, that’s fine too. My only advice would be to make sure the design you’re sticking with doesn’t detract from the end user experience.

How do you know if your design is detracting from the user experience? Well, you could ask your users in a post for starters. But don’t do this too often. Readers can get sick of helping you design your site.

Alternatively you can go to one of many web design forums and ask them to ‘review’ your site. Point out that you’re not a designer and you’re simply looking to make sure that your site is giving a good user experience. They’ll probably be understanding and help you out. But again, don’t do this too often as people will quickly get tired of helping you design your site for free.

3. Never apologize for not posting

You never have to apologize for not posting. Never. It’s not that no one cares about how hectic your life is. Most of your readers actually probably do care and would love to hear about it. Hey, as far as I’m concerned you should write a post about how your dog pooped in your shoes as a tree fell on your house while the water boiled over on the stove at the instant your hard drive crashed and that’s why you didn’t blog yesterday. But your readers don’t feel that they’re owed an apology. So when you insist on apologizing it makes your readers feel awkward … like, high school dance and you really want to dance with your friends but you feel like you have to dance with you date, kind, of, awkward.

OK, maybe Dooce can get away with apologizing for not blogging. And maybe Jason Kottke. But not you.

4. Don’t be afraid to step on toes

I still struggle with this. I want to be the nice guy. I don’t want to hurt anyone’s feelings. But let’s face it, you can’t please everyone all the time. Also, readers like it when you take a stand. It’s almost counter-intuitive but it’s true.

I know that I read more blogs who are written by people with strong convictions than not. Even if their convictions differ from my own, I read them. So hey, maybe you actually want to go and step on toes, I don’t know.

Think of some of the most popular blogs on the Net. Got ‘em? They all step on people’s toes, don’t they? They all blog like they have authority, right? Of course they do, otherwise they wouldn’t be popular.

But, when you take a stand, don’t be a jerk. Take a stand in a nice, well thought out way. And most importantly, back up your argument with facts … and link to those facts.

Also, I’m not talking about taking a stand just for its own sake. Take a stand on issues you believe strongly in. And then support your platform with well thought out and well articulated writing.

In any case, when you blog, blog like you’ve got a pair. (sorry mom)

5. Lastly, stop writing list posts

Stop writing articles like, “Five things I’d change about how I blogged last year” or whatever kind of freakin’ drivel you come up with at midnight. You know what? I’m going to boycott list posts. Frickin’ wastes of time.

Dec 6th, 2007
10

My Job vs. My Ministry

Much of my past frustration with ministry was a result of me having a wrong and/or unrealistic expectation of what being a minister really involved. At some point in the past, I’m not sure when or how, I got the idea in my head that being a minister would mean that I was doing ministry 100% of the time. This, I’ve come to realize, is clearly not realistic.

What I’ve found is that being a minister is much like any other job. There are parts I don’t much like, as well as parts I love. However, these things I don’t like are part of the “job” as it were. And this “job” enables me more time and opportunity to do real ministry.

I’ve made a simple pie chart here:

ministry-job

What I’ve found is that around 40% of my time as a full time minister is spent doing actual ministry. The other 60% of my time is spent doing the “job” of minister. In the past I have rejected this idea that being a minister involved anything other than ministry. However, recently I’ve come to see that this really isn’t a bad deal.

See, if I were, say, a full time web designer I would by spending close to 100% of my time doing the job and almost no time doing ministry. Ministry would largely be something I would do in my spare time such as volunteer work, leading Bible studies, etc.

For sure, throughout the course of the “job” there would undoubtedly be ministry opportunities with co workers and clients. But I’m not convinced that it would be a 60/40 spread like I get when I’m a full time minister. I think that as a minister I’m able to spend a greater percentage of my time doing ministry than if I had a different job.

So in my mind, there’s almost a dichotomy to being a minister. On one hand there are things I have to do that I may not enjoy. These things are part of the “job”. On the other hand there are things I truly enjoy and these are usually the “ministry” part.

I hope I’m making sense here because this revelation was a large part of what God used in my life to re-call me to full time ministry. I just wish I’d figured this stuff out earlier ;)

Dec 5th, 2007
5

How I Regained My Vision

vision Those that have been reading my blog for a little while know that recently I’ve been questioning a lot of things regarding the traditional church. What most of you don’t know is that I actually had plans on leaving full time ministry and pursuing a career in web design/development. I had a job offer, even.

I was fed up. I was done. I was out. I was … free.

For the first time in my life I felt truly close to God. I was questioning everything about the Church, even down to the existence of the Church (building) itself. I had finally focused my whole life completely on God. I was no longer living for the Church, or the job it represented to me. It was God that had my focus.

I walked with Him, talked with Him, argued with Him to my heart’s content. Hell, it was at this point when I was planning on leaving ministry for good that I spent more time talking with God than any other period I can remember. Actually, that’s not true. I was speaking with God as much as I was when I first accepted Christ as my Savior. Fellowship like that is unspeakably glorious.

It was during this stretch of extreme closeness that my plans changed. I heard the unmistakable voice of my Father. His calling was clear as crystal. God was indeed re-calling me to full time ministry.

Why this happened I can’t say. My views of the Church haven’t changed. I feel that what has changed is my view of myself and others. I’m no longer dreading Sunday mornings; I actually look forward to them! I enjoy spending time with other people, instead of feeling drained and burdened by it.

The only thing I can think to attribute this to is the change in focus that a seemingly imminent career change brought about. Instead of focusing on my job, and on the frustrations it entailed I was able, for the first time, to look past it all and see my Heavenly Father watching this take place. I saw Him, clearly, guiding my life. I saw God.

But I think it’s important to recognize that me ‘seeing’ God was directly related to me spending time with Him. Not just quality time, not just quantity time either. It was both. I was spending quality quantity time with God. And through that I gained a clear vision for my life. Let me tell ya, it’s a great feeling.

Dec 4th, 2007
8

I Like Mike

So yes, I’ll be voting for Mike Huckabee. I’ll be voting for him because of his stance on taxes. I’ll be voting for him because of his stance on the fair tax in particular. I’ll be voting for him because of his stance on Iraq. I’ll be voting for him because of his stance on immigration. I’ll be voting for him because of his stance on education. I’ll be voting for him because of his stance on abortion.

I’ll be voting for him for many reasons. But I’ll be voting for him in spite of the fact that he is a former Baptist Minister.

I have no desire to live in a man-made Theocracy. God has made clear that the only way a Theocracy can work is if He Himself is head of state. We live in a pluralistic society and therefore need a pluralistic government. Our founding fathers were quite vehement in that regard. No religion be set upon nor favored.

On a side note, I think that this video with Chuck Norris is spot on.

Dec 2nd, 2007
9

The Daily Scribe Is Back!

TDS-logo Like a phoenix from the fire The Daily Scribe has seen a full return to the Net. I, amongst many others, are extremely pleased to see this recent development.

Founded by Shawn Anthony, The Daily Scribe is a blogging community which is founded on our commonly held belief that Jesus Christ is our personal Lord and Savior. We’re committed to keeping the main things the main things and having fun discussing the minor issues of Theology.

TDS is built on the belief that it matters little in what way an individual expresses their faith in Christ; but only that they do, in fact, express that faith.

Personally, having blogged for a couple years now, I know how hard it is to find quality Christian content. If that’s the kind of content you’re looking for I highly recommend you check out the bloggers who make up this diverse community. To quote,

[The Daily Scribe is about] quality content regarding Christian ministry, theology, philosophy, design, technology, culture and praxis.

I’m not fishing for compliments (truly) when I say that I’m humbled by the writing ability of the company I now keep. It’s a privilege and an honor to be counted among these folks.

Dec 1st, 2007
5

The Machine That Is Hand Writing the Bible

kuka This robot (made by a company named Kuka) is systematically writing out the the full version of the Martin Luther Bible by hand. Firstly, yes, we all know that the Martin Luther Bible was not originally reproduced by hand, but by press (Gutenburg I believe). It’s just fascinating to me that a burly robotic arm is taking on a task so delicate.

I’m a fountain pen lover from way back, my favorite pen is a Pelikan m200. So when it’s even cooler to find out that this robot is using a real calligraphy pen. I, for one, would love to have a hand written Bible. Especially if it were in calligraphy.

I wonder, has anyone recently written out the entire Bible by hand? I wonder if that would result in a deeper appreciation for the book? I also wonder if it would make memorizing Scripture easier since, you know, you wrote it all down yourself.

I also wonder if people would be less inclined to see a Bible I copied by hand as “the Word of God” as opposed to something Zondervan churns out. I suppose I would have a higher chance of introducing errors into the text. Of course, I have owned printed Bibles that contained type-o’s. Meh. It would still be cool to say, “Yeah, I copied the whole Bible by hand.” That’s some clout right there.

[via]

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