Doesn't mean you should.

I get the privilege of leading worship my church every other weekend. I've developed a bit of a pet-peeve after leading worship bands over the last bunch of years. I hate, hate, hate it when musicians are decent at one instrument that they play regularly (let's say an electric bass), then get some guts and play another form of the instrument (upright acoustic bass with a bow) on stage during a worship service. Normally what happens is a bit of a train wreck on stage... But hey, at least they look cool.

Unfortunately, I think this saying is beginning to apply more and more in the web world. It seems that with new capabilities and fads being created daily, there has become a rush and expectancy for websites to adapt to each new creation.

Here's the thing- I'm all for new ideas and tools. It's what keeps the web world innovative and constantly creating. But with these new tools being created daily, there is a growing responsibility of the website owner to determine what it is that their website is created for, and simply do that thing well.

I know that sounds like a simple concept, but you'd be amazed what's out there. When Ben and I were doing custom stuff through The Regime, a big part of our process with the client was to determine exactly what the burden of the website was, and do that thing the best we could. A lot of times, if we were to leave the clients to their own devices, their websites would be a marketing piece, a blog, forum, "new version of Facebook", and make breakfast for them in the morning.

I simply write this to encourage the website creators out there to ask the question, "What is the one major thing I want my website to accomplish?", and do that thing extremely well. It will not only make your visitors extremely happy, but it will also give you the peace of mind that you are accomplishing your website goals and don't have to chase every fad that pops up on the internet. Like I said... Just because you can, doesn't mean you should.

Oh yeah- one more thing while I'm on the subject. If you are a worship leader out there who leads worship with the guitar, just because you've learned 4 chords on the piano doesn't mean you should lead worship from it. I'm just saying...