cgm225 Posted September 1, 2008 Share Posted September 1, 2008 I am a newly graduated doctor in the field of dermatology. However, in addition to skin, PHP/MySQL/web programming are big interests of mine. Therefore, I have been looking to get involved in some type of online dermatology project, and contacted the three major skin atlas sites, but never heard back (DermIS, DermAtlas, DermNet). I think all of them could use some serious work (just look at them and their HTML source code... I am sure the actual ASP, coldfusion, or PHP code is just as bad). First questions, what do you think of these sites? What are they lacking? Strengths and weaknesses? I ask because before I go and start another online atlas myself, I want to know if you think that type of project would be worth my effort? In my opinion, as time goes on, projects like wikipedia are going to overtake these other sites (at least in content, maybe not in actual images), so is it really worth it to create another one? I guess, this is my big question... I want to do some online project relating to dermatology... I want to do it well, and to be useful to others... but I am not sure what exactly to do... Any ideas? Thanks again... the phpfreaks community rocks! bt Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daniel0 Posted September 1, 2008 Share Posted September 1, 2008 First of all, congrats on your graduation Regarding those websites, I think their layouts are horrible. The last one, DermNet, doesn't look so bad, but just pretty plain (the web developer on that site must've had one of them "actinic keratosis horns" inside his brain when he wrote the HTML markup though). If you're good at designing then that's something you could take a look at. Nevertheless, I don't know anything about dermatology, but a directory over the various deceases you can have sounds like a good idea. Of course, it has been done so you need to make sure that yours is better and it has at least as much information as the other ones do. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cgm225 Posted September 1, 2008 Author Share Posted September 1, 2008 @Daniel0 - Thank you for the kind words, and all the work you do on this site! In response to the following... Of course, it has been done so you need to make sure that yours is better and it has at least as much information as the other ones do. ...this is where part of my reluctance to start a new site comes from. While those other sites are so not user-friendly, they have a large volume of images that I don't have, which keeps people using them, even though their design is terrible. Then there's wikipedia with more information than I have, so there's no point in making an informational site. So unless I discover some de novo dermatology project idea that is really different from what's out there, I don't think it's worth my time to pursue what's already been done, even if they are designed badly. I really want to do something... but I am having a hard time coming up with an idea. Often times I see some new coder on these forums post a thread about the new social networking site they are making, and I often think what is the point when there are so many great ones out there already? They are reinventing the wheel and nobody is going to use what they have created (if they don't give up first), unless there is truly something new and dynamic they are providing (which is often not the case). I don't want to be in that situation. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daniel0 Posted September 1, 2008 Share Posted September 1, 2008 You could make a community of dermatologists where you can discuss various deceases, new techniques/treatments, etc. Kind of like PHP Freaks, only about dermatology instead of PHP. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
.josh Posted September 2, 2008 Share Posted September 2, 2008 DermFreaks.com ftw? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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