Twenty years of web development. Before that, I experimented in digital publishing. And before that: game design. Go back further and you get to the era when I used my computer solely for writing. That’s a lot of years in front of a computer. In the early days, I did my own thing. My friends and I worked on a game project and did some writing for magazine. I moved into programming and experimented with how to make a 2D scroller (X and Y dimensions. Think Mario Bros.– we were messing with that ca. 1983). I tinkered with using C++ to do game design about a decade later. During my era of web design, I shifted from entrepreneurial ideas to being a hired gun. People roll up with a project and I deliver. I have had all sorts of projects. There are several types of projects, I would like to take on. Sure: I can do anything, but here are five types of work I can do that I’d like to take on that I would find intriguing, interesting– maybe even fun.
What I am proposing are expeditions into application development. This isn’t the first time I have I had have a cool idea and wanted to run with it. This certainly isn’t the first time people have come to me with an entrepreneurial notion. People will come to me with a “If you build it, we can split the profit 50-50.” That’s not what I’m looking for with these ideas. What I looking for: working on a project that comes with a budget that reflects the risk and reward possible. Columbus wasn’t expected to set sail without a boat, without men and without provisions. I am proposing that I would be on-board with the following types of projects if someone is game.
So here are the five projects I would like to take on:
A Drupal Project Tied Into A Data Source Via An API
Drupal is really good. It can be used to control user roles, theming, the optional display of content. It can do so much. What if all you want is a site with pretty face? I do lots of stuff with APIs. I have tied into APIs. I have created API endpoints. I have done mashups with the combination of two juxtaposed API data sources.
What I want to do: I want to create a Drupal site as a front end. That Drupal site would tunnel into a data source, pull the page contents from that API source and produce it as output. I could build this as a wholly server side application, or a combination of server side and client side. Does your organization have some nicely tucked away data that needs a cool front end? A .Net application? A ColdFusion app? I want to connect your data to the world.
An Ad Network Project
Google AdSense is the big network. Behind them, there are dozens of smaller fish. Behind them, there are thousands of other small ad networks out there. There are so many outfits trying to make money with online advertising. The secret: most of them make money. If a new players get into the market, they could make money too. It’s a cool idea that has some potential. Cool ideas are easy to come-by. What’s difficult? Building an application. Marketing an application. If someone wants to take a run at building an advertising system and they want me on board to build the application– to give technical legs to the overall enterprise– then let’s talk.
The Shopify Marketplace
Shopify is a powerful application. Merchants selling their wares find its very easy to leverage Shopify for their purposes. What Shopify doesn’t have: it doesn’t have a way to network Shopify merchants. What if there was a way for one Shopify merchant working in a niche to feature products from another merchant who offered complimentary products? I think it would be cool to build something like this to let merchant find partners and feature their items to give customers an end-to-end product suite to choose from.
A System To Build And Share Procedures
Systems and procedures are the key to growing your business. When you take what you know and record it for others in your organize to use and re-use you can tap into the process that makes businesses into worldwide leaders. For a product to scale its success, it needs a system to diminish the amount of decision making that goes into results. A system will account for the variables and squeeze them into a manageable element of a process. The result is a recurring output that is predictable, scalable and something that can be tasked off to anyone who is adequately trained in the system.
What if there was a website to store, find and share procedures? I have an idea for how to pull this off. Do you have an interest in seeing something like this become a reality?
A Game
I would like to get back into game design to produce a game for the web. Maybe it’s been a 25 year pause of game design, but I am still interested in prospect. What about the specifics? Would it be standalone. Or, playable via Facebook. Who knows? I know how to develop apps for for Facebook. I know how to hold variable. All of the previous projects in this list aren’t much fun. Designing a game wouldn’t be any easier, but it could be fun. Who’s got a good idea for a game?
