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Gandalfe requested that I provide a list of my favorite blogs for the new year. The new year is almost two weeks old, so I'm a bit late providing this list. Before I continue, I have to admit something: most traditional blogs do not appeal to me. Why? I suppose for the same reason that autobiographies and reality shows don't appeal to me. Many blogs are nothing more than online diaries, which is about as exciting as watching water freeze (although the number is diminishing as more businesses move to blogging as a format for keeping in touch with customers), but I have found some very interesting.

About a year ago I read one that chronicled a guy building a patio/deck; it detailed everything from buying the permits to excavation and laying the footings to the patio party when he was finished. Cool. It was a bit prehistoric in that it didn't allow comments, but I thought it was a great learning tool if you wanted to build a deck/patio and wanted to know what problems to anticipate along the way.

Here's a list of work-related blogs for which I get RSS feeds:

  • Peter Torr -- Mostly, I like Peter's writing style. If you're interested in the browser wars, you'll probably enjoy his post on FireFox.
  • Joel on Software -- Joel writes mostly about general software development, and most of his posts are on topic, but even those that aren't are interesting. Joel always has something to say, and he says it very creatively. (As a writer, I have to admit that I'm just a bit jealous.)
  • FrontPoint -- FrontPoint is a play on words: a combination of FrontPage and SharePoint. The FrontPoint blog is moderated by three FrontPage team members and specifically discusses information related to the integration of FrontPage with SharePoint technologies (usually Windows SharePoint Services).
  • Kathleen Anderson -- Kathleen is a FrontPage MVP and a Web accessibility guru. She has categories setup, so you can filter FrontPage posts from other posts. According to one of Kathleen's recent posts, another FrontPage MVP, Dave Berry, has also setup a blog for FrontPage tips. I've only scanned Dave's blog, but it looks like he's providing some great information for FrontPage developers. I'll certainly keep my eye on this one.

That's about it for blogs, but there are several other places that I get ezines and RSS feeds that provide information, tips, etc. for Web developers.

  • SitePoint -- SitePoint has several ezines, some of which are useful and some of which aren't. They also have some blogs. I've read the blogs, but none of them are particularly interesting to me so they're not in my favorites list, but you might find them interesting. From what I can tell, most of these are technology focused, which means (to me, at least) that there is less wading through flotsam to find useful information.
  • JavaScript.com -- Generally I'm not too fond of Web sites that have a lot of advertisement (like About.com that is 70% annoying ads and 30% useful information), but JavaScript.com, an Internet.com site, has some great JavaScript code snippets.

There are several other ezines that I receive, all with varying levels of usefulness. You probably have your own list. What are your favorite blogs and/or ezines?