Ode to Open Source

I had the itch for a better website. With a big speaking event coming up, a newsletter to launch and downloads to offer, I knew there was a better way. Heck, I worked for a dot-com eight years ago, shouldn’t I know how to proceed?

Well, I knew how to begin. Craig’s List, of course. Placed an ad on Craig’s List and elance.com for “HTML & Google Analytics Expert” because I thought that’s what I needed. Whoa, out of the woodwork crawled DotNetNuke, Drupal, Adobe Contribute and base code (ASP) options.    My head swam and bank balance belched.

What’s a Web 2.0 gal to do? I went to LinkedIn and perused the Q&A.  Found an interesting discussion on WordPress as a content management system.  That’s funny, I thought of it as a blog platform.  Dug a bit deeper. Asked a LinkedIn question  whether WordPress was possible or advisable for my specific goals.  Answer, YES.  I admit to being a sucker for most things open source.  I browse with Firefox, get my mail with Thunderbird and now run my site on WordPress.  All part of the wisdom of crowds.

I’m now part of a worldwide community of WordPressers — no Dow Jones Big Brother watching my every move, just lots of friendly worldwide cousins who let me borrow a monkey wrench and tell me how to best use it.

In addition to web searches I dug into my Rolodex (is that a term people still use?) and was referred to Andy at Nuance Labs .  A mutual friend worked with him on his own site and on some nonprofit sites including the Charlotte, NC chapter of Slow Foods.   Anyone into the slow foods movement is likely to be my kind of co-worker.

Of course we met in a coffee shop.  Of course he sports a ponytail and wields a Mac.   Of course he manages me very well — tells me he needs to stay on task and produce the deliverables I prioritized before following me down several rabbit holes of other interesting options.  I assure him I’ll be a “good client,” and let him grind it out.

Then, ON TIME and ON BUDGET he sends me the first peak at my new site.  I almost cry when I see the functionality, the design elegance, and his judicious selection of passages selected from my old site, my LinkedIn profile and other things I’ve written.  “Yes,” I think, “we can be very good coworkers.”

I say to him “Use your Millenial/GenX sensibilities to spice it up” and that’s enough prodding.  He gets it and I get what I’ve asked for.

Bottom line:  LinkedIn’s a gem mine of information. Consider WordPress for your next site.  Nuance Labs is a great web partner.