DIY Planner - Ringing in some changes - Comments

I really hope...

Sara — Thu, 3 Jul 2008 18:19:14 -0400

to be a more regular visitor again...

Doug n Innowen - you guys are the best! I miss yall very much <3 This website is truly the best... (may be a biased statement).

my artwork | my blog

Change to site request

nay nay — Thu, 3 Jul 2008 17:47:17 -0400

Hi Doug! Is there any way we could make the user submitted template section have it's own search function? It is hard to look through all of those pages of templates when you know what you are looking for. But, if you do a search on the main page, you could end up with 5 pages of posts to scan through... Just a thought! I also wouldn't mind a better/more efficiant tagging system on the templates. Instead of using the same categories that we use for posts, could we have caterogires like Month, Daily, Weekly, Actions, Projects, Finance, Medical, etc??

Thanks for your time and for listening!
nay nay

I like the idea - reduce the

Metropolitan — Tue, 17 Jun 2008 04:40:19 -0400

I like the idea - reduce the resistance between idea and posting, and you may get some even more creative articles.

I really enjoy this site! The creativity, sincerity, and passion of the people here is very clear, and often very inspirational. Though I may never become truly organized, it won't be for a lack of exposure to this strong community of those who are.

Good on you, Doug and

poppingbeavers — Sun, 15 Jun 2008 23:00:01 -0400

Good on you, Doug and Innowen. Yes, nice to keep things sparkling. Kate has it right, lots of great reading stuck in here, here and there. You do need to keep surfing to turn up things. A column that pulls out some of good ones is a good idea, maybe “DIY Gems”?

Resurrecting posts

reepicheep — Sat, 14 Jun 2008 18:41:15 -0400

Many of the print-quality articles of the past are still well worth reading, but a newcomer wouldn't necessarily know there was such a wealth of useful info tucked away in the archives.

This is the only good thing to be gained from the occasional spam attacks we suffer here. The spammers find old threads and by posting to them bring the contents to our attention again.

mobile version?

kmorris — Sat, 14 Jun 2008 17:36:35 -0400

The current site doesn't read that well on mobile devices, maybe a new skin could keep tiny devices in mind?

-kmorris

heh

kmorris — Sat, 14 Jun 2008 17:33:39 -0400

The spam did seem to serve that function, didn't it.

Maybe a random 'blast from the past' function.

-kmorris

Change is good!

btrgrnmal — Sat, 14 Jun 2008 15:15:12 -0400

The only way this community wouldn't work is if it had to stay the same year after year. I learn SO MUCH from this site and appreciate everyone who writes articles, fights the spam wars, and posts helpful advice and answers to questions -- even ygor's "google is your friend" :)

New site theme

dougj — Sat, 14 Jun 2008 14:56:52 -0400

It's on the to-do list. Perhaps we'll be able to get it done for our next anniversary extravaganza come the fall. :-)

all my best,
dj

Good idea...

jonglass — Sat, 14 Jun 2008 14:34:04 -0400

But I thought that was what the spam was for! ;-)

-Jon

I like the idea of

xena — Sat, 14 Jun 2008 05:16:10 -0400

I like the idea of rearranging content. How about skinning the look of the interface, or modernizing it just a wee bit.

Classic Posts

dougj — Sat, 14 Jun 2008 02:51:22 -0400

A good idea, methinks. It's true there's a lot of great stuff hidden away in the three years of posting, and for the most part (since they're rarely about technology) they're just as relevant today.

Hrm. Any takers for a regular contributor who'd like to dig up a classic post or template per week? Please contact me.

all my best,
dj

Old material?

ktb — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 20:23:29 -0400

I've always enjoyed the up-to-the-minute discussion here, and new, shorter articles sounds a great idea that will keep the front page fresh, but perhaps at the same time it's also worth thinking about ways of making the old material more accessible? Many of the print-quality articles of the past are still well worth reading, but a newcomer wouldn't necessarily know there was such a wealth of useful info tucked away in the archives. It would be great to have these pieces made more visible somehow, with any separate parts to an article grouped together.

Thanks Doug, Innowen and team - here's to many more years of D*I*Y P!

Kate

Good ideas.

caligatia — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 20:02:35 -0400

I think the lessened pressure on the contributors will be good, and it'll be cool to see what they come up with to replace the full articles. Good move.

Works for me.

Megan H — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 19:51:43 -0400

Works for me.

*shrinks back into the shadows*

Ringing in some changes

dougj — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 11:05:00 -0400

From now on, things will be a bit different here on DIYPlanner.com ...and in a good way. I'll be detailing some of the proposed site changes in the next little while, especially as we tackle the technical parts. First off, though, one of the biggies: a change in our front-page content.

Lo, in the beginning, DIYPlanner.com was conceived of as an online 'zine style site, with an emphasis on original articles to differentiate itself from the plethora of "me-too" productivity blogs popping up like lemmings in the tundra. After all, when everybody is pointing to somebody else, there are few with anything to say; in fact, if you followed all the threads, most just went back eventually to 43Folders.

This decision meant that everything our writers produced had to be formalised to the point of being suitable for "real" print publication, mostly tied to their own subject expertise, whether that was templates, productivity, creativity or humour --think columns. This was a good idea at the time: we developed a lot of great original content, made a name for ourselves, and attracted a fair degree of mainstream media attention.

The problem is, three years later, this approach has a tendency to wear writers down, especially when they cover the same topics. Plus, it's no longer needed: we're established, the talent of our contributors requires no further proof, and --frankly-- it prevents us from saying a lot of the things we'd like to say. For example, if one of the team purchases a cool new notebook, that person shouldn't have to carefully construct a long and detailed review of the product.

So, change number one: although we'll still ring in with full-size articles, all the team members will now tackle things like product first impressions, mini how-to's, short reviews, links to other sites (with commentary) and other day-to-day happenings as short blog-style posts. And our writers should feel more free to handle whatever subjects they want, as long as it fits within the purview of the site.

Second, there's a lot of great discussions happening in the forums, but sometimes these quickly "fall off the grid" as new ones pop up. So we'll be promoting select forum topics to the front page on a regular basis to give more people more occasions to jump into the fray.

And the last one for now: we'll be contacting certain site members whom we feel have contributed a lot to the site, asking if they'll be interested in becoming regular front-page posters now that that the weight of the onerous "professional article" no longer looms dark overhead. However, if you're fairly new here or just like flying under the radar, and think you have something to contribute, please contact myself or Innowen; we'd love to hear your ideas.

I'll be writing about more changes soon, but what do you folks think of the above? Any other suggestions?

D*I*Y Planner - Ringing in some changes - Comments

I really hope...

Change to site request

I like the idea - reduce the

Good on you, Doug and

Resurrecting posts

mobile version?

heh

Change is good!

New site theme

Good idea...

I like the idea of

Classic Posts

Old material?

Good ideas.

Works for me.

Ringing in some changes

DIY Planner - Ringing in some changes - Comments