A tip for the web 2.0 generation

These days, almost everyone is into running a weblog and trying to make money online. The availability of WordPress and cheap hosting has enabled every dreamer to go into micro–content publishing and cash their part of the AdSense pie. However, the weblog plus adsense formula has only led to eerily–similar sites, many of which bordering on content theft or simply just not providing anything valuable at all. That’s a point of argument, though certainly today’s web is not much different compared to a huge echo chamber. Even this entry echoes these entries.

Almost everything has degenerated to a SERP contest without regard for intellectual property, good design, and good content. Even markup isn’t given much attention. Gone are the days of non–passive WASP activism and advocacy. Luckily by some stroke of luck, many of today’s web designers started as Zeldman’s storm troopers several years ago, thus producing excellent themes and tools that produce good markup. Because yes, markup still matters.

In today’s web 2.0 industry, it is not rare to encounter experts in “design,” “blogging,” and “online publishing” that hardly know the difference between HTML and CSS. My almost–instant tip: read up, and read well. You don’t need to be an expert in these topics, but some knowledge will set you apart from the rest. Read the old Zeldman archives, and lots of A List Apart, surely you’ll understand. The ALA Primer [Part 1 and Part 2] should get you up and running. You’ll look never look at the web the same way again.

9 Responses

  1. True. There are also those who think they can post whatever, comment on a high-traffic blog, and end up with a “successful” blogรขโ‚ฌโ€totally forgetting that GOOD and ORIGINAL content does count.

    Hay nako, may kwento ko sa inyo in relation to that (pero syempre, much, much more interesting hehehe) when we meet again ๐Ÿ˜› Paalala mo nga lang sa kin, I might forget. Curious ka no? HEHE

  2. tol noob pa lang me d2 sa blogging. wala ako plano magpayaman sa adsense… nais ko lang gumawa ng personal web presence kc nababanas na ako sa job ko, madalas lang nakatunganga ako dahil kunti na lang clients namin nagpapa-edit. nakagawa na ako ng blog, almario.wordpress.com. gusto ko i-customize yung theme? paano ko gagawin? thanks

  3. almario, you can’t do much customization with a wordpress.com blog. Get yourself a dedicated webhost if you want to have control over everything.

Leave a Reply to markku Cancel reply