‘Tis the season for New Year’s resolutions. I’ve put off the introspective musings which are all too common with bloggers; I want my blog to be about more than just me. However, with the hope that public goals are more likely to be accomplished than private ones, I’ve listed some of my goals, in no particular order.

Better Blogging

It hasn’t been a priority, but I’m guilty of violating several of Jakob Nielsen’s Top Ten Design Mistakes of Web Logs. Not a good state for a web developer who professes to know a thing or two about Internet usability. I rationalize that since I’m aware of the mistakes, it somehow makes it less egregious.

• Expect to see better author profile, complete with a picture.
• I will post weekly. I was doing well enough until the holiday season started, and I have several excuses as to why this is so. I will do better.
• I will use more pictures in posts. This will be difficult, as I don’t have a good graphics package on my primary computer (a 12″ PowerBook), but it’s something to work toward.
• This site will include a reading list. This is partly to play with Amazon’s web services, partly to add a little more personality to what I feel is an otherwise plain page from a visual design perspective.

Better Writing

My wife keeps asking why I blog. One of several reasons is to become a better writer. Since I’ve started taking the time each week (okay, some weeks) to write something I hope is useful, I’ve seen improvement in my writing. I will continue writing, and I will read books and blogs with the intent of improving my writing.

As I was searching for full-time employment last fall, another long-term writing goal clarified itself: I intend to write at least two books in my lifetime, one fiction, one non-fiction. (Having them published would be a nice plus.) A more short-term step is to be published in a magazine (and be paid for it). I’m not expecting to be published this year; I have no set goal when I want it to happen, but I hope to be a couple of baby-steps closer by this time next year.

Better Programming

I agree with other who suggest many computer science graduates are ill-prepared to design software. As I’ve mentioned before, I enjoyed reading Head First Design Patterns, and am looking forward to The Best Software Writing I, collected by Joel Spolsky from joelonsoftware.com, and a handful of other books on the subject.

I keep toying with the idea of contributing to an open source project. A grandiose vision would be to participate in a large application, like Firefox, but the learning curve to entry is intimidating, and honestly, I’m not sure I can spare the time I would want to devote to a project of that magnitude.

Resolution

Pardon the pun, but I had to give my closing section some sort of title. I’m not really a fan of New Year’s resolutions. When resolutions are made because everyone is doing it, there is little hope for success. The goals listed here are ones I’ve been working toward for a few months now. (As I said, I’m simply hoping to give them additional impetus by posting them publicly.) If I’m not living up to these goals, call me on it.

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