What it is: 2006 is over. I’m not sure I’m happy about this. 2006 proved to be the single best year of my life (possibly excepting 1995, when my daughter was born), and I’m a little hesitant to move on.
But move on, I shall. But not before I look back on some of the moments that made 2006 so great for me personally.
What it was
2006 started with a mostly-annual snowboarding trip in Breckenridge with Michelle, her sisters, and the rest of the crew. As always, we had a blast. But the trip wasn’t quite as relaxing as usual, because I was stressing over the fact that I’d just accepted a new job at World Online. I was working for Kansas State University in Manhattan, KS at the time, and was finishing up a website redesign project there. I had a ton of work to get done for them before I could — at least with a clear conscious — move to Lawrence to work at the home of Django.
But I did move in late January and got started right away working on a site for KTKA, Topeka’s ABC affiliate. I got back together with Michelle, who already lived in Lawrence (we’d dated for four years, but split up while I was in Manhattan). By mid-February, I was playing around with Django, the Python-based web application framework that was originally built at World Online and then open-sourced. My job entails mostly working with its template language, and I’d become enamored with it and wanted to move jeffcroft.com to a Django-powered system.
On March 7th, I got an e-mail from Chris Mills:
I read some of your articles, and was pretty impressed, so I was wondering if you’d like to write a chapter or two in either a full color coffee table/inspirational book of web standards techniques, or a pro level CSS tutorial guide?
I was ecstatic. It’s been a goal of mine to write a book for most of my adult life, and it seemed my opportunity had arrived. Obviously, I agreed immediately to work on both books.
A week later, I went, for my first time, to South by Southwest Interactive. Absolutely one of the most invigorating experiences of my life, I got to meet a ton of great people whom I’d only known through blogging, IM, and fantasy football — and also got to attend a bunch of great sessions on all sorts of topics relevant to our profession. But what I really took away form SXSW, more than anything else, was inspiration. I met and heard from so many people who were just doing amazing things online. I was floored by the number of brilliant people in one convention center.
After SXSW, I spent a lot of time working on that Django-powered version of jeffcroft.com, which I eventually released for the May 1st Reboot. It was well-received, and jeffcroft.com gained a lot of traffic during this time.
Besides the TV news site that was my first project at World Online, I’ve lead the design for several new or reworked sites, including Explore Steamboat, The Steamboat Pilot and Today, The Drive, and BoomerGirl — which actually launches today.
World Online has grown by leaps and bounds since I started with the company a year ago. We’ve doubled the size of our team and we still have five or six positions open! It’s been a fun ride. My co-workers are all incredibly smart and fun to work with — it’s a really nice change for me to be challenged every day when I come to work. I love this job. In fact, I love it so much that in 2006 I declined to explore possible job opportunities with the likes of Apple, Google, the NFL, and more. Crazy.
On the personal front, I also launched LOST-theories.com, which has been more popular than I imagined it would be, and have just recently finished up a little contract project for a small company whose name begins with “Y” and ends with exclamation point. That should see the light of day soon.
In late October, Dan Rubin, Ian Lloyd, and myself finished up Pro CSS Techniques. It was released on November 27th. I definitely consider it to be one of my proudest moments, if only for the incredible amount of time we all put into it.
Over Thanksgiving, I went to Las Vegas for a vacation with my family, which turned out to be not only enjoyable, but profitable! The year closed out as it always done, with the holiday season. I seem to grow a little bit fonder of the holidays each year.
On the last day of the year, my Chiefs snuck into the playoffs. Seemed like an appropriate finish for a year filled with luck.
What it shall be
So while 2006 was amazing, I have no doubt 2007 is going to be pretty damn awesome, as well. It’s hard to predict what I’ll do personally, but I don’t mind throwing down a few predictions for the industry. In no particular order:
- OpenID blows up It’s been high time for something like this for years, and it looks like the technology is finally in place to make it happen. Every web programming geek I know is excited about OpenID — and that’s often enough to blow the lid off a great idea.
- Framework Explosion If you thought 2006 was the year of the framework, wait until you see 2007. Web app frameworks will grow up, with Django going 1.0 and RoR pushing towards 2.0. PHP frameworks will continue to proliferate, even as PHP developers defect in droves to more agile dynamic languages like Python and Ruby. But frameworks won’t stop there — YUI will continue to exert its dominance in the Javascript category and we’ll start to see frameworks for all sorts of other environments, including CSS, Flash, and more. This is a good thing. The people who are still scared of frameworks largely don’t understand them.
- The year of the all-in-one pocket device Finally? I think so. Devices like the Nokia N95 and are proving that it really is possible to have a cell phone/MP3 player/GPS/mini-computer/camera and more in a pocket-sized devices without compromising on features or quality. Apple finding its way into this race — if it decides to do so — can only help.
- Video, video, video Video on the web is here to stay. We’ll see more and more of it, created by everyone from your Aunt Barbie to your local newspaper to the major media conglomerates.
- Flash blows up As a side-effect of the video explosion, Flash will see a big push. Web standards advocates won’t be able to argue with this, because there is no web standard for video. As sites add a Flash requirement for video viewing, it loically follows that they begin to use Flash for other things, as well (i.e. “Well, we’re already requiring them to have Flash for our videos — we may as well do those infographics in Flash, as well”).
- Video games for the rest of us The Nintendo Wii is making gamers out of moms, dads, grandmas and grandpas. The gaming industry finally figures out how to appeal to those of us who aren’t hardcore gamers — by focusing on gameplay that is fun, easy to get the hang of, and social in nature.
- Apple continues to rise While I’m definitely not convinced Apple can maintin the kind of meteoric success it’s had for the very long term, I think it will do so through 2007. I suspect the iTV will be a huge hit, and I have a feeling Leopard will shake out with an entirely new UI that will make us all drool. And, if there is such thing as an iPhone, it’s sure to be a huge success, even though I probably won’t want one, myself.
- Newsvine approached by Big Media for a buyout Newsvine was recently named to Time’s top websites of the year, and it definitely has some larger news organizations shaking in their boots a bit. I have no idea whether Mike and company are interested in selling, but I think they’ll get their chance this year to sell to some of the biggest news companies in the world.
- Social networking starts to lose stream Let’s face it: social networking for the sake of social networking is a novelty — and most of us are over it. Interactive social components *around another core function, such as on Flickr and Newsvine will be successful. Site in which social networking is the core function will start to fade away. The rise of OpenID — and hopefully a universal friend list as well — will be a factor in this.
- SVG and vector on the web Designers, brush up your Illustrator skills. Resolution independence, which is almost certainly coming in Leopard and won’t be far behind in other OSes and browsers, is going to make vector art an essential part of web design.
- The year of the mobile web If we just keep saying it, maybe it will really happen one of these years.
A couple of site updates
Unrelatedly, I added a couple of features to jeffcroft.com tonight. First, I’ve totally ripped off Jonathan Snook’s idea for a “view all comments by this person” page. Click “View All” next to any comment to see it in action. Second, I tried my hand at create a FLickr-style “interestingness” algorithm for the discussions here at jeffcroft.com The most interesting threads page shows you what’s active, based on several criteria. Let me know what you think!
In closing
Thank you all for reading. It’s been an amazing 2006, and I can only hope 2007 is as good, both personally and professionally.
Comments
There are currently 25 comments on this entry. If you have something to say, please consider adding your own.
You can also subscribe to an RSS feed of this entry’s comments.
Links in this entry
- But I did move
- released for the May 1st Reboot
- Explore Steamboat
- The Steamboat Pilot and Today
- The Drive
- BoomerGirl
- LOST-theories.com
- OpenID
- Django
- RoR
- YUI
- Nokia N95
- Newsvine
- Jonathan Snook's idea
- most interesting threads
This entry’s tags
AuthenticJobs.com
- Internet Software Engineer
- Intuitive Web Solutions, LLC
- Springfield, MO, US
- JavaScript Developer
- Intuitive Web Solutions, LLC
- Springfield, MO, US
- In-House Web / Graphic / Interface Designer
- Island Technologies
- Granada Hills, CA, US
- Front-end Developer
- WebLinc
- Philadelphia, PA
- Web Designer
- TYR Sport, Inc.
- Huntington Beach, CA
001 // Jonathan Snook // 01.02.2007 // 3:50 AM
You thieving bastard! Stealing all my good ideas!
It’s been a fun year, and I look forward to hooking up at SXSW again this year. 2007 should be a blast!
002 // Oliver Beattie // 01.02.2007 // 4:31 AM
Love the new features, Jeff - certainly adds something more to the site - the view all comments by user especially!
Anyway, have a great 2007 - hope it’s as good if not better than your 2006!
003 // Oliver Beattie // 01.02.2007 // 4:48 AM
By the way Jeff, just as a sidenote - looks like some of the comments by user pages could use some pagination!
004 // Henrik Lied // 01.02.2007 // 8:31 AM
Looking good, Mister!
A small note on the whole interestingness-concept: Wouldn’t it be a good idea to allow users to see what entries has the most comments, most pageviews and other metadata?
It seems as you’ve had an interesting year. No doubt about that. And I think for most of us, the next year will be promising too, both regarding work, play and new products.
To the new year, have a great one! :-)
005 // Keith // 01.02.2007 // 8:37 AM
Happy New Year Jeff. Here’s to a great 2007.
006 // Jonathan E // 01.02.2007 // 9:12 AM
Happy New Year Jeff! You’re right, the Chiefs did sneak into the playoffs AND got a favorable match up to boot! Larry Johnson may have a field day against that Colts run D.
I also think some of your predictions for ‘07 are pretty interesting. Newsvine (by all accounts) has been a huge success and it’s been really cool to watch it grow. Mike and the Newsvine team will probably start seeing some offers real soon (if they haven’t already).
007 // Nate K // 01.02.2007 // 9:30 AM
Happy new year and congrats on a great past year! On chapter 5 of your book as we speak, and it is a very valuable read.
I think you have some great predictions for the coming year as well, it will be exciting to see how things pan out. You make a very interesting point in regards to flash and video. I still have my doubts about it ‘taking over’ TV (just a few qualms). However, I think you are right that there will be people who will begin to focus on flash in conjunction with video. Part of me wonders if it will be like the Javascript surge over the past year (AJAX, DHTML, etc) - what was once considered evil has now found (in many cases) a great use.
008 // Jeff Croft // 01.02.2007 // 10:04 AM
Definitely!
Yeah, I realized that last night myself, but it was 3am and I didn’t want to deal with it. I’ll get to it. :)
Maybe. I don’t know if it’s necessary, but it probably wouldn’t hurt. I’m still tweaking that algorithm a bit — maybe once I get it all ironed out. :)
Yeah, I think Indy is probably the team I’d want to play the most if I were the Chiefs. That having been said, Indy’s kind of my second-favorite team, so I’m not going to be happy seeing either one of them lose.
009 // Jonathan E // 01.02.2007 // 11 AM
Green Bay’s my favourite team, with Indy (like you) being my second favourite. I can’t really say I’m a Chiefs fan though, so it makes me nervous to see the Colts matching up against them this Saturday. The window of opportunity for Manning and the Colts is slowly closing, and I think that it’s almost “now or never” time for the Colts if they want to get to the Super Bowl.
Jeff, I know you’re a big football fan (and sports fan in general), so you might be interested in the weekly NFL picks on my site. This week’s wild card picks were posted this morning.
010 // .sara // 01.02.2007 // 12:50 PM
Congrats on your boys making it into the playoffs. (:
Happy New Year!
011 // Brian Ford // 01.02.2007 // 12:52 PM
“Let’s face it: social networking for the sake of social networking is a novelty — and most of us are over it. Interactive social components *around another core function, such as on Flickr and Newsvine will be successful. Site in which social networking is the core function will start to fade away. The rise of OpenID — and hopefully a universal friend list as well — will be a factor in this.”
I’m curious — can you give me an example of social networking that isn’t wrapped around some other idea? (I guess you must be referring to myspace and its ilk?) I’m not sure I agree that (if that -was- your thought) it’s going to go away. I think something will begin to replace myspace, though.
012 // Jeff Croft // 01.02.2007 // 12:53 PM
That’s sweet! Well-done!
013 // Jeff Croft // 01.02.2007 // 12:58 PM
Yep, Myspace is the obvious example. Basically, I mean sites in which the core function of the site is adding people as friends. Seems to me the only people that will get off on that for any extended duration are people who use their number of friends as a means to self esteem.
014 // Jeff Croft // 01.02.2007 // 1:10 PM
One more quick update on the site. I added the ability for me to flag a comment as “trollish.” This is in response to the comments being left in the Flash thread by Onideus Mad Hatter, a semi-famous troll.
Check out what a trollish comment looks like.
015 // Brian Ford // 01.02.2007 // 1:15 PM
Well, you -could- argue that myspace functions as a networking site.
(I think the effectiveness of this is -way- overblown. I suspect most people hate getting a “bulletin” from a local band — I tend to ignore them.)
I guess -I- would argue that it’s a marketing site for major label bands and movie studios. (My favorite part is when the bands pretend they’re actually writing the content when it’s probably a minimum wage studio hack.)
Still, there are always going to be college and high-school aged kids that will look for something to facilitate the need you suggest in your last sentence.
FYI — on my “view all” page — the text gets all gigantic and orange about 3/4 of the way down the list. I also got some error message when I posted my last comment — but then (obviously) it posted.
016 // Jeff Croft // 01.02.2007 // 1:20 PM
MySpace was conceived as music site. It was originally social networking around music, but it has devolved quite a lot from that original vision (and the major labels and bands getting involved hasn’t helped).
Sadly, you might be right.
Looks like, at some point, you put a header tag (h1, h2, etc.) in one of your comments. This is why HTML is frowned upon. :) I’ll fix it.
You probably hit it while I was updating with the new troll feature. :)
017 // Jeff Croft // 01.02.2007 // 1:38 PM
Pagination added. :)
018 // Oliver Beattie // 01.02.2007 // 2:20 PM
Nicely done, Jeff - Much tidier now!
I know you probably aren’t looking for even more feature suggestions now, but feeds on comments by user would probably be useful too! Just a thought.
019 // Paul Mayne // 01.02.2007 // 4:44 PM
If I had a year that great, I guess it wouldn’t matter that my fantasy football team could only pull off one win all season.
020 // Jeff Croft // 01.02.2007 // 4:59 PM
Don’t think I won’t hit you with the troll flag, Paul.
:)
021 // Michelle // 01.02.2007 // 9:12 PM
2006 was indeed a great year. :) Congratulations on all you’ve done. Here’s to an even better 2007!
022 // Sam // 01.03.2007 // 1:11 AM
Speaking of flash, I personally think flex is going to be a big part of the next year especially being moved forward by more browsers having the plug-in because of videos.
Do you see much of a future in Adobe Flex?
023 // Jeff Croft // 01.03.2007 // 2:51 AM
Sam, I would definitely say that Flex should see a major increase in 2007. I’m not a Flash guru by any means, and I’ve not worked with Flex at all, but it does seem like a useful tool for quickly creating the kinds of tools that Flash is so perfect for.
024 // Kilian Valkhof // 01.03.2007 // 3:03 PM
Oh, what I wouldn’t give to be able to use SVG on my websites. That, and OpenID. 2007 might shape up to be an awesome year for webdesign :)
025 // Wilson Miner // 01.03.2007 // 4:55 PM
Wholeheartedly agree. 2006 was a record-book year for me, too but 2007 looks like it’s going to be a lot of fun too.