Kay lives here

working with the web

Is it time to retire?

This post originally appeared on the now-defunct ‘Zombiecoder Kay’ blog.

This blog, I mean :)

The history of Zombiecoder is thus: I started blogging on my original personal web site, http://kay.smoljak.com/. After the MXDU conference in 2003, I got added to the Fullasagoog aggregator in the ColdFusion category, and eventually to Macromedia/Adobe’s MXNA.

The great thing about aggregators is that they bring you a lot of traffic that you wouldn’t otherwise get. The problem with aggregators is that really, you need to stay on topic as much as possible because the people subscribing to that aggregated feed don’t want just any old rubbish. It’s entirely different from having your own individual subscribers.

I was getting pretty involved in the Web Standards Group and AWIA and our local Perth Port80 chapter and it seemed that web standards, CSS, accessibility and other such topics didn’t fit in so well with the code-focus of a ColdFusion blog – so zombiecoder was born.

However, things have changed. While I’m still involved with the various activities of AWIA and Port80, I just don’t have enough time to devote to the WSG. And since 2003, the general CF community has become more and more interested in the wider web – to the point where web standards and accessibility are not considered off-topic anymore.

Another shift that has occurred is more to do with the web standards community: there just seems to be less web standards blogging going on in general. Some people have different thoughts as to why that’s occurred – me, I think that we’re getting to saturation point. The people who are listening already get it. Specifications move slowly – there’s been nothing new in HTML or CSS for a long time. There’s just nothing much to write about.

So… here’s what I’m thinking. I’m thinking I will import the posts from this blog into kay.smoljak.com. I will set up redirects so no links get broken. Essentially, merge the two blogs into one: a meta-blog, if you will, but rather than calling it a web standards blog or a ColdFusion blog I’ll call it my web development blog and post about topics related to all facets of web development as I see fit.

So… thoughts? Does anyone agree, or disagree? Think it’s a good or bad idea? Like it, hate it, don’t give a toss either way? Let me know in the comments if I’m doing the right thing – cos I think I am, but I’m not sure.