About
There are many web sites dedicated to good design. The Soul of the Web was created to showcase personal sites with great content. Below is how the project started and the original people involved.
The original creators of the Soul of the Web:
Why Did They Create Soul of the Web?
During discussions with Jeffrey Zeldman, which prompted Jim to create JimFormation, an idea was born.
Both men lamented the difficulty in not only finding quality personal sites, but introducing them to those who would normally not visit them.
Jim thought about a project that would celebrate and promote such sites. It would take us to places we might otherwise have missed. And meet people we might never have met.
This project would not be just another link exchange or portal, webring or cliquey “insider-only” network. It would be something that would aspire to greater heights.
What Happened:
Jim and Randall earnestly began discussing the concept. While brainstorming, a name was coined: Soul of the Web.
We had a good plan. Jim did the initial work on graphics, concept and design. Randall handled administration and eventually redesigned the site for web standards, using CSS and XHTML. Jim’s brother-in-law, Ronnie, initiated the backend database and scripting work.
Recently, we added Mark to our team as our technical expert. He is rebuilding our entire database and adding much-desired site functionality.
As the founders, we agreed to discuss everything in order to maintain the integrity of our vision. We felt our combined skills and ideas would produce a truly high-quality enterprise, one that would promote personal sites by people who clearly had something worthwhile to say.
Substance.
Soul.
It’s More Than Us
Beyond just us, we’ve invited others into the fold. People with unique vision and outstanding talent.
This initial committee assesses, nominates and eventually votes upon sites for their possible inclusion into the Soul of the Web database.
Eventually this committee will grow. And we will be asking you to nominate sites for us.
What Do We Hope to Achieve?
Ultimately we want to build a database of excellent sites. And an easy, unique way to promote these sites.
Substance over style.
Content over design.
People over faceless web entities.
We have a lot more work to do. But we’re excited about it. And we think it’s going to be something great.
We hope you do too.