John Resig is an inspiration. His blog
is ultra-useful. It's clear, informative, and often cutting edge in the
JavaScript/jQuery/browser space. His posts are often accompanied by
helpful graphs and, more often than not, usable code and workarounds. I
have been a fan of jQuery since I started using it this summer, and
have continued to be impressed with it's creator's output. Even when he
posts an opinion piece, it is on topic and respectful. The important question arises: what makes his blog so useful and how can we emulate it?
Consider a recent post about the accuracy of JavaScript timing. Now, an ordinary blogger would have posted something like "I ran across some odd results in my Dromaeo testing. Anybody know wassup?" But John went deeper, did a lot of testing, graphed the results, and posted what he found. Heck, he even included a graphic explaining normal distributions. (Basically, JavaScript timing in Windows/IE is very coarse - results are rounded to the nearest 15ms.)
By comparison my own blog is a bit of a ramble. It's true that I'm not so single-mindedly interested in browser programming. My programming interests run the gamut from scalable software architectures, front-end architectures, programmer productivity, prototyping, web design, and data design. And of course there's a sizable amount of personal items in this blog stream. But even so I daresay the overall quality of the blog has much room to improve.
I would like to create a new blog that is more like John's - focusing purely on my core technical interests, designed to be useful and educational, rather than just an invitation to discuss. It needs a new, simpler URL - like javajosh.com/blog. Since I only have about 30 (valued) readers a month I don't think the transition would be too bad. And I can always continue to post personal and "off topic" things to this blog. (An important question is what to do with on topic posts to the old blog, but I can tackle that one later.)
Consider a recent post about the accuracy of JavaScript timing. Now, an ordinary blogger would have posted something like "I ran across some odd results in my Dromaeo testing. Anybody know wassup?" But John went deeper, did a lot of testing, graphed the results, and posted what he found. Heck, he even included a graphic explaining normal distributions. (Basically, JavaScript timing in Windows/IE is very coarse - results are rounded to the nearest 15ms.)
By comparison my own blog is a bit of a ramble. It's true that I'm not so single-mindedly interested in browser programming. My programming interests run the gamut from scalable software architectures, front-end architectures, programmer productivity, prototyping, web design, and data design. And of course there's a sizable amount of personal items in this blog stream. But even so I daresay the overall quality of the blog has much room to improve.
I would like to create a new blog that is more like John's - focusing purely on my core technical interests, designed to be useful and educational, rather than just an invitation to discuss. It needs a new, simpler URL - like javajosh.com/blog. Since I only have about 30 (valued) readers a month I don't think the transition would be too bad. And I can always continue to post personal and "off topic" things to this blog. (An important question is what to do with on topic posts to the old blog, but I can tackle that one later.)
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