Developers Block
 

Good Evening Everyone.

For months now I have been trying to develop a website. I had one in the past that acted sort of as a blog or personal site, but it was taken down due to lack of maintenance and I wanted to revive it again. Unfortunately, I have ran into numerous problems on its path to rebirth, and I dont quite know what to do to get on track.

First off, the last site used a complicated system powered by HTML, CSS, and JavaScript and stored in a single HTML file. As the site grew over the months, everything started to bog down; the HTML file grew to almost 300k, in-page transitions were terrible, and the user experience just went downhill. This time around I wanted something that was coded by me, or mostly by me, to avoid having unneeded features slowing the site down.

I started from scratch, scribbling site designs and ideas on paper, but the past 4 months have just left me with a big trash bin of crumpled paper. Each design was either too complex, too bland, too 'copyright-infringing', too inflexible, etc. I cant seem to pin down whats wrong with the design, or what is missing from the design.

In fact, I am not even sure what I want this site to do. Web sites need content, and thats the one thing I cant seem to find without posting redundant links to articles or blogging internet crap like the 2 billion other web sites out there. I wanted to build something lightweight, unique, interactive, and at least interesting/useful enough to be somewhat successful.

What do you think is the problem, and how do I get past this developers block? Any insight would be appreciated.

-Cool-

I think the problem is that you want a site, but have no valid reason, goal, or role. Quite frankly, that's why there's so much shit out there. When you have something to offer and no way to offer it, your problem will be solved.

The above quote says it all.

And about the content,
1. If you are a student, you could possibly share what you have learnt.
2. If you are a professional in the software industry, you could explain how you have worked on projects and how should one, approach software development
3. If you are a linux enthusiast, you could put up information about it.

And about the layout, you may choose to put a public poll of a number of designs, and decide upon what the users in PFO like...!!!

Find something to do that is worthy of writing about, do it, and write about it. :)

If you're out of ideas, you might write about the process of creating the website of which you speak.

Sit down and take your time to think about things. You want to revive a site that you used and pretty much a blog. Well you could always just go with what you have in mind at that moment design it and if you dont like it then start the design over again. This is a long process but if you think of somthing the best thing to do is get started on it and if it doesn't turn out how you like it then change it. Any sort of block is pretty much to much over-thinking. When you have the idea in your head, start coding and then things will come to you as you find out were you want things to be placed and how you want them to look.

In response to java_roshan's suggestions:

1. If you are a student, you could possibly share what you have learnt.

But watch out for the "empty can rattles the most" phenomenon. Make sure you're right before you publish for the world to read, and make sure that what you're publishing can't be had already within a few minutes off googling. Saying something on your website that isn't already out there is useful, but saying something that is (like how to balance a b-tree for example, unless you have a funky new method) helps nobody.

It's tempting, and I've done it myself, to put up websites expounding a mixture of fact, personally believed non-fact, opinion and utter fiction just to celebrate one's own cleverness ... but it's also extremely dull for anyone unfortunate enough to stumble onto your site.

2. If you are a professional in the software industry, you could explain how you have worked on projects and how should one, approach software development

This sounds like another desperately poor idea, to be honest, unless you have something new to contribute.

3. If you are a linux enthusiast, you could put up information about it.

I think this may well be the kind of shit DaWei was talking about ... if you're a linux enthusiast, you could help with an existing project rather than creating a new one. If we pull together we might be able to make linux a bit less bewilderingly full of choices and raise the beam in terms of quality.

If you have a little to say, post on forums, help out in discussions, answer questions. If you really think you have enough content and something different enough to offer, then maybe it's worth building a real, live website.

Oh, and to refer back to point 1; if you are a student of virtually any subject and have some knowledge to contribute, it's quick, easy and very helpful to pitch in with an effort like wikipedia; this helps to gather information together online and make it more useful to people without giving you the hassle of a website of your own to maintain.

If you just know a few techniques and want the joy of building a website, build a few for yourself and don't bother publishing them out there in the real world; just experiment, develop your skills, and you'll be very thankful that you did when the time comes that you have content, but not the time to work on your coding and design abilities. Once you're pretty good, if you're still short on content, try offering your services to companies; they'll provide you with the part you're missing (i.e. the content itself, along with plenty of design ideas) and then give you money, too. Win/win, eh?

Anyway, I hope this came across as more helpful than nasty :) I'm pretty damn opinionated and have a lot to say for myself without saying anything especially new or insightful - but that's why this is just a forum post and not an entire website. :) Heh, anyway, forgive me if this post borders on a flame here and there; it wasn't meant to come across that way.