Month: October 2005

Three Websites, Three Web Tools

Finally finished the revamp of three web sites and I used three different web tools to do the job. One is a Blog tool, one is a CMS and one is a Wiki tool. So first question, why three different tools ?

It was a very good lesson to me, because I learnt that all these tools are targeting different requirements.

If your web site content is like a diary, a record of something and you don’t mind to present your content in a chronological order – then you should use a Blog tool. If your site is a news oriented site and you need to present your content by sections or categories, then you should use a CMS.

Lastly, if your site is like a knowledge base, you need to update the same piece of content again and again, and you want to present your content like a mind map – Wiki tool is the way to go.

Lesson Learnt: Different tasks require different tools.

Web 2.0 ?

All a sudden there is a lot of talks about the Web 2.0 – i.e. Gmail, Google Map, Flickr, Del.icio.us, Technorati, Wikipedia etc. etc. They all use commonplace technologies such as AJAX, RIA, Wiki, Blog, tagging etc. etc.

But what exactly we are heading to ?

I recently revamped one website (80days.com) from PostNuke to Dokuwiki. And apart from some minor hiccups, the installation / configuration was smooth and Wiki is really a lot easier than CMS (if your document requires changes after changes like 80days.com).

And I am sure, there are better tools out there to make the web to be our web / application platform. Don’t wait, try it out.

Lesson Learnt: Time to evolve to next generation of the web.

#52

Couple of years ago, in the first MBA class I ever attended. The first complete sentence from the cool-looking professor was “Create Value !!”. It puzzled everybody in the class but then he raised a question …. Let’s say If every month we have HK$ 3000 spare, will we:

  • buy something we like ?
  • save it in the bank to earn 2% interest a year (no risk) ?
  • buy some stocks to earn ? % of interest (at a risk, but high risk high return) ?
  • loan it to a friend to earn ? % of interest (at a risk, you know, it depends on your definition of “friend”) ?
  • hire someone (say a student) to make money for us, with an aim to have more than 2% of profit (at a risk, and how we can make money for sure ?) ?

I think most of us will pick the first three methods. However, our shareholders picked the last method. Reason ? Because they believed we can create value a lot more than saving the money in the bank or even loan it to other organizations …

So … are we creating value for ourselves, our customers and our shareholders ? Think thru it … if your answer is YES, good and keep up the good works – and create more value. If your answer is NO or “I’m not sure”, then we have to discuss …

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Recently there is a lot of news about the so-called Web 2.0 – i.e. the Gmail, Google map, Flickr, Del.icio.us, Technorati, Wikipedia etc. etc.. They all use technology like wiki, blog, tagging, AJAX, RIA, SOA etc. etc. and I’ve introduced them to you all for months. Anyhow …

Did you come across any cool sites / internet-services that you think that will change the world (at least your own) ? If yes, let us know … we welcome any new ideas (whether they can be implemented or not).

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Liverpool is our boss’ favorite soccer team and it did many many wonders in the past. One thing that you may or may not know is the “Liverpool Club Song” was written 60 years ago and sung by many many singers and classes (it is the standard song for graduation classes in USA). The name is “You’ll never walk alone” and here is the lyric …

http://family.maltanet.net/hawk/html/Songs

Walk on, walk on, with hope in your heart, and you’ll never walk alone…