Web Evolving Content

This is part of PatternLanguageForTheWeb.

http://www.anamorph.com/docs/patterns/evdocs.html ( BrokenLink )

It is inspired by RobertOrenstein and by the concern of DaveHarris about WebUniqueContent. -- RonaldHayden

Ideas, communication style, and relevancy being constantly changing factors, it is unwise to ever consider content to be "finished". It could be argued that the "finishing" of content has caused many problems in the history of ideas.

The real-time nature of the Web frees us from the bonds of our ideas, because we are always able to go back and correct, modify, or delete those ideas. Thus we are also more free than ever to launch into unknown territories and take risks, always comforted by the knowledge that "I can fix it later."

Therefore: Always consider all parts of your Web site to be "in progress", and seek to regularly update and change the content, thereby keeping your Web site alive. If you are unsure about something or feel it is risky, put it out there and see what happens. Just keep in mind WebUniqueContent.

Corollary: The statement "This page is under construction" is meaningless and almost always useless, since all things on the Web are constantly under construction.

Possible implications I'm unsure about:

WebEvolvingContent may require that your Web site be kept to a size small enough such that those who work on the site are aware of all content and regularly make adjustments to the content to keep it alive.
Formal archives of your content may be detrimental to your Web site, as they encourage calcified content, which becomes dead limbs hanging off your site; if you keep growing your archive, the dead part of your site will overwhelm the living part. (There are, of course, reasons for archives, so I'm not sure this is universal...)