Change, Change, Change And Fun

This post contains ramblings about nearly everything that happened the last few weeks. Be prepared for massive and fast topic changes. I will talk about my new business, plans for Zenbo, my new favorite toy and upcoming posts.

Did you hear that blaze it is live?!

Founding and running a new business is always exciting and fun. The initial plan was created around Christmas. I used the first few weeks in January to design the homepage and blog, look what our creative department created as logo, wasted my time talking to urban administrations and did some plans for the direction blaze it will be taking.

Since I have to run my other business this was no 24/7 job. But I managed it pretty good to take care of my existing clients and spending most of my time working on blaze it.

Zenbo: from fun to profit?

I was a bit shocked to be honest. I work with a media agency if one of my clients needs a promotion video or other stuff. They focus on branding and marketing and just have two guys to create homepages and they are more designers than programmers. Leaving Photoshop and writing HTML seems to cause physical pain to them.

They always used Wordpress which would explain the pain - now after a short talk they started using Zenbo. I did not sell it nor did I tell them to give it a try. We were just talking what projects are currently running. They now manage to run a new project site to present a product in one third of the time they needed with Wordpress. Of course it is another set of features but it is enough for them. And the fact that they have to write nearly no code is a welcome addition.

I got €50 for two projects they realized and they told me that I will receive €25 for every project in which they are using Zenbo. No promises made from my side, but if they request a feature or some kind of documentation we can talk about it. Zenbo will remain free and OpenSource. I am not planning to sell it or add premium plans. I do not see the value behind it to justify that.

But a small thank you, or in this case 1/10 of the money they earn more with every project because they use Zenbo is really welcome and just stunning.

Hopelesscom is still a playground

My long time readers should know that I am always experimenting with Hopelesscom. It is my private domain and blog and I see no reason why I should not use it as playground. When I released Zenbo I wanted to create a small, minimalistic design. And I think it is pretty. Sadly it is a bit limiting.

I think about adding short notes. Since I use Zenbo there is no reason for me to stick to Tumblr. Even using it to share photos would not be the best idea. There are services out there that are way better. But there is more. Blogging with Zenbo is just a pleasure and something in me refuses to use something else.

If I add short notes I would prefer an optical separation between my normal posts and short snippets. Maybe adding links or something else would also be an option, something Tumblr does well, but you know, in a cool way, with Zenbo, on my domain and server.

Web 2.0 sucks

There are sites that let you do everything. Most of them even the same way. You can freely choose which one you like best. They all integrate with Twitter and all of them have some unique features or clients.

But deciding where to put your content is a pain in the ass. And if you put your content on platform A you have to trust them and hope that they will never go down.

I would love an abstraction layer between me and the web. If I have a photo it should be posted to photoserviceFoooBAR and it should be saved on my disc. Maybe Zenbo will automatically generate the new page and add it. Maybe it will just be added after the next generation. And of course there should be an mention on Twitter, maybe on Facebook. But only one, linking to one service. I do not want to spam my followers.

There are some ways how you could realize this but I did not find one that does not suck.

Design is everything and nothing

If I really create a feature for short notes I have to modify or redo my design. If I also add pictures there will be a fundamental problem with the current layout and site structure. If I redo the design it could be possible that I create something stunning. You know, gradients, images, buttons, this whole web 2.0 shit. Would be a great way for an UI / UX study and another page for the showcase of blaze it,... ;)

My current problem is that I have no place where I can put something short that will be associated with me and Hopelesscom. Yesterday I got my new iPhone 4s. I would post some short points what I like and dislike but a post with 200 words is boring and would look a bit lonely with the current layout.

Small steps big changes

There are two things that will happen. First I promise to work on my writing style. Someone told me that no matter how hard it sucks it is still called style. I am not happy with the quality I produce, so I will just change it.

Second thing is that I will add comments again. I miss them. Maybe someone wanted to say something cool and now he or she has no chance because I do not like Disqus and the other alternatives.

Managing files

There is currently a folder for every project on my drive. I have separate folders for templates, Django applications and other stuff. I have folders for projects, for code (private projects like Zenbo) and folders where my websites are saved. I have an media folder Apache is currently serving and other stuff. You know what? I have all those folders.

Thanks to Spotlight I do not have to care. But one day I have to collect all files and put them on a DVD or something else. I have to find single files and maybe I switch my system and have to copy everything over. This they will suck and you will read a lot of cursing on Twitter.

ToDo list for the next few weeks

Well, this will be much longer than I would like it.

If I manage to finish everything till April I would be more than happy.

>> posted on Feb. 9, 2012, midnight in life, project