Does the world need another Open Design Community?
I made a joke about starting another Open Design Community after the controversy created over at Open Designs by accepting sponsored links in the templates. Trin came back at me and and thought that it was not a bad idea.
I don’t want to go into the pros and cons of having sponsored links in templates as the subject has been done to death across the internet in various places by various people. The wise ones avoid them, as often the likes of Google, Technorati and similar think they are little better than spam.
Anyway, it’s got me wondering if the world needs another Open Design Community. Traditionally when these sites break or we don’t agree with them, we start another, hence OSWD followed by OWD followed by OD.
I don’t know what do you think?
This entry was posted on Thursday, May 29th, 2008 at 8:08 pm and is filed under Opinion, Templates, Web Design. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
May 29th, 2008 at 8:54 pm
Thanks for the comment! Yes, I’m alive and trying to show it every now and then. We’ll see what happens this time! Regarding communities: Of course the world need another Open Design community! Any day! Why settle for one? Let’s start THREE communities!
No, seriously, I haven’t been involved with OpenDesigns at all since my request to have template names listed beside the thumbnails was turned down (titles were only shown during mouse-overs). That was shortly after the site was launched, so it was long ago. At that point, I realized that the community was a fun thing - but that the template users are what really matters.
In order to serve users in the best possible way, I would need to improve my own work without any limitations caused by the will of a community. I didn’t want to wait for days to get a template updated if I found an error in it, and I couldn’t stand having a template archive where the template titles had to be hidden from plain sight. It was a useless and forced limitation, and a reduction of the overall site quality - and that is annoying for someone who loves optimization…
I lost a lot the fun of being a part in something bigger - but seeing that the OD templates quickly got filled with sponsored links it appears as if that bigger thing wasn’t as fun as back in the original OSWD.org (or early OWD) days. So what did I gain? Well, I got full control over my work and quick communication with users. It resulted in a whole lot of work. I probably got fewer downloads in total than I would have had if I promoted my work on OD (I’ve had about 3.000 template downloads per day from my website in average, don’t know the OD numbers though). But the users were happy since I could respond immediately and have the templates updated quickly. My templates became more useful overall.
To sum it up, I would say that the community was a great thing for me personally a few years ago. I learned a whole lot, and got lots of great friends and experience. It was really fun, and we did a great job providing the world with designs. It is probably still a great resource for new and learning designers, because it has a lot of knowledge and experience.
But history shows what the weak points with an open design community are, and it is not the sponsored links topic. It is the way multiple ways make the map slow to read. That should be reason enough to not strengthen up OD rather than starting over again - because it is a whole lot easier to optimize something that is bad - than building something great from scratch.
I will stay out, though, I am too old for such adventures…
May 29th, 2008 at 9:52 pm
Hey Andreas thanks for your comment and wisdom
I really didn’t post on your site just to fish you over here.
…and I’m sure you are not old. Good to see you turning out some more themes.
May 29th, 2008 at 11:09 pm
I believe that whether or not you spearhead the “next” in the OSWD - OWD - OD series, it will happen in time, and when it does, I hope that there will be consistent, like-minded leaders in place.
I also believe that if the community were run in the true spirit of Open Source, it would take longer to build up, but it would also grow deeper roots and not be so prone to dissention.
I considered commenting about what should be done differently than the other Openxxx sites, but that would probably sound like bashing, which is not my intention at all.
Any idea when you’ll be getting a start on this, Ainslie?
May 30th, 2008 at 8:23 pm
I think there is always going to be room for another Open Source web design website. Especially a good one. I added the link there to see what reaction it would get. maybe the idea already has an life of its own.
I can’t help thinking that even though it may seem easier to make the old one work a new one would stand a better chance of working as it seems that there is little interest in listening to other peoples opinion on OD right now.
Hey Trin if you want to comment on how you think it should be done speak up. Email me from my contact page if you would rather not “bitch” in public. You never know this thing might happen, and I’d be interested in hearing your ideas.
June 1st, 2008 at 1:12 am
Personally, I would love to see a site where the spirit of Open Source is the cornerstone of the community. That would include designers of all talent levels, helping and contributing as they can, whether it be submitting designs, writing tutorials, helping on a forum, or donating some time to help moderate.
If you can find a core group of dedicated and like-minded people to start things out, the rest should flow from there.
The rules of the road should be decided on in advance, and be in keeping with the spirit Open Source. I believe that submitted designs should only link back to the designer’s site and to whatever non-commercial sites are appropriate. (i.e. other community members, Stock.XCHNG, etc.)
These details can surely be worked out by those who are up to the challenge of taking on this project.
Anyway, that’s my two cents. Good luck to you if you should proceed.
June 10th, 2008 at 9:14 pm
New community or not, people will always look for something to fight over and complain.
Although over time and communities it should narrow down to a near perfect community. So… OSWD, OWD, OD, maybe it’s time for the perfect one?
Just make sure you make it clear with the rules. No sponsorship.. no this, no that.
Whatever you choose, you have my support. (and I’m probably not the only one).
Good luck and cheers
June 18th, 2008 at 10:24 am
Do whatever you want, but don’t bring Wordpress along. Wordpress is a blog engine, not a portal, and it is obvious that a site like OSWD, OWD, OD is a portal, not a blog.
Using Wordpress is starting the wrong way in the first place…
June 18th, 2008 at 11:10 am
WordPress is great for blogs or even small non-blog websites but, as you say, not right for the likes of a site like OSWD, OWD or OD.
Actually I won’t be starting another template site. I don’t own the open Design Community domain name. It belongs to another member of the community, so they might but I don’t know for sure. From what I have seen and the people I have spoken to, it’s more hassle than it is worth.
June 19th, 2008 at 7:12 am
I don’t blame you for not subjecting yourself to such potential abuse, but hopefully someone will eventually step up to the plate and get it done.
I fear for OD when Sean leaves.
June 19th, 2008 at 12:05 pm
I was seriously thinking about it but the person I was discussing it with seems to want to divert my attention away from OD and have control over the new site. Something just doesn’t seem right, somewhere!
If I’m going to do it it must be for the good of the community and not one individual with selfish motives.
I can’t help thinking that some people lurk around not really contributing but just using other people… I’m not sure but something ain’t right. You know there are loads of people that are at OD for the designs yet never contribute a single design themselves.
June 19th, 2008 at 4:21 pm
I would bet a week’s wages that I know which OD member you are referring to and I agree that he comes across as parasitic.
However, there are also those of us who enjoy the templates and the community over there and who are not designers. Does that make us parasitic too? If so, then any community with that attitude, should restrict memberships and have a wonderful elitist, back-patting time together.
June 19th, 2008 at 6:43 pm
No I’m sorry, I don’t really mean that. The site and designs are there for everyone to enjoy, contributer or not. That’s the way it works.
I have just been really suprized by one person in particular that has questioned my faith in people.
June 19th, 2008 at 9:12 pm
No worries…. I know you are not like that.
Hopefully you won’t let this person keep you from going ahead with a new Open Source design site. I believe that there are enough talented and right-spirited designers around to make it a success.
I apologise if I came across as accusing you of having an elitist attitude, it was intended more for a few select others who help to shape the community over there.
July 30th, 2008 at 2:23 am
There is always a need for a new site, the more the merrier.