That is the question! And if you write what should you write about?
Today I had a minor argument with Eleni, my colleague, about what I should post in my new blog here. Two days ago I have developed a nice navigation menu with fading mouseover effects using jquery and some very simple XHTML and CSS. I know that there are hundreads of examples of navigation menus out there and that some of them implement the same techniques I used to create mine, there is a good chance that the same menu might actually exist somewhere else as well.
My argument was that even if the same menu exists somewhere else the way that you demonstrate the idea is also a very important factor on how will the reader, or the developer on this occassion, perceive it. I came across many examples of jquery/html/css effects and I can tell from my experience that some of them were just “all greek” to me.
So that is my question! To post or not to post something that might already exist somewhere else but I have designed from scratch using ideas that came from somewhere else. ?
What do you think?
7 Comments
It is beneficial to repost something that has already been done if you’re doing something differently — if you’re explaining things differently, or if you think your code will be more understandable to J. Random Hacker wandering around the swamps of Google.
Imagine someone searching for the topic in hand: Would your webpage, as a result, help them better understand their quest and provide solutions to it? Then you should post.
ofcourse you post it, there’s no question about it. All ideas are based on other ideas that somehow came to our knowledge, nothing is really really new. If so, it would be revolution
Oh, a new twist to ‘is there novelty in art’ debate. Yes, my opinion is that, even if you’re just providing something old in a new way, it’s good for you to do it. Regardless if you’re offering something to the world or not. It’s a free world, and an ever freer web.
You should post. First of all, you never know who will reach your posts, maybe it’s a person who doesn’t know how to do it. And then there are people who are interested in learning about different ways of doing the same thing, comparing etc.. If you have time, there’s no harm in writing informative posts, especially if you enjoy doing it! The [mostly information related] volunteer aspect of the internet is of the things that make it a wonderful place.
Definitely yes. There’s no question here.
First of all, If some of your readers needs a menu one day, he will remember your post and use it without losing time googling. Of course, you could just post about other jquery menus, but hey! your menu may be more suitable for someone. I wouldn’t recommend you to start writing your own menu, but you ‘ve done it, and now it’s time to share it.
I don’t see why you shouldn’t write about it. Well, it might be a bit boring and I’ve-seen-this-a-hundred-times but it doesn’t have to: You could talk about what other good menus exist, why your menu is different, an in-depth tutorial/explanation/study on how you did it or why aliens would love it. You are creative enough to come up with an interesting post.
My opinion is that if an idea is original you should present it even if you’re using someone else’s methods (either by accident or because you’re set to). Most of contemporary work in many fields of human knowledge is highly derivative anyway. To take an existing design and to improve on it doesn’t show an unimaginative mind but the exact opposite of that.
I didn’t just say “don’t post it”.
I just believe one should first do his reserach, gather and understand which are his references before posting stuff.
I agree with Dionysi’s opinion. You should post if you know or at least believe that your post will have something to offer to someone.