Archive for January 13, 2003

Tue, 14 Jan 2003 04:23:58 GMT

A reader points out that it is pretty easy to get content out of data using the backup facilities that exist within the configuration (both XML and HTML). I guess I shouldn't be so hard on Radio/Dave because the reader is right - it is easy to get data out of Radio. My problem is that there's nothing that will seem to take the data. The reader also points out that I can always just cut-over and leave the archives in static HTML. This has always been my last case option - I really want to keep the content in the content management system.

As a sidenote, I never realized how testy I got when I've got a splitting headache. Little things like this shouldn't put me into rant mode. Something for next years resolution list I suppose.

Now lets figure out how Elliot can manage the entirety of his content inline and I can write off all of that last post.

(And lest you think that I'm just picking on Dave because I'm in the process of abandoning his software, I'm starting to piece together a whiney list of MT's deficiencies as well...static HTML? Feh.)

Tue, 14 Jan 2003 01:35:16 GMT

John doesn't obviously have a clue how difficult it is to get *my data* out of Radio and into Movable Type. I don't want to rain on your parade Dave - you seem to be a decent guy and you've obviously earned the accolade, but I have a really serious problem with how closed Radio seems to be turning out to be. Of course, this could just turn out to be another wonderful example of a situation where a dumb user didn't read the well-written instructions. I'm not so sure myself.

And while we're dwelling on the subject of complexity, why is it that the blogmakers only make it easy to manage the substance of the blog and not the form? Elliot is trying to get a blog up and running and he very succintly illustrated to me why blogs are falling short of their promise - he can't easily add links to his templates. If he wants to make this happen, he has to edit HTML or figure out how to get his templates into an HTML editor without wrecking the content tags. This is too complex for users.

Jon, by way of Doc, notes that "The two-way Web is being printed on HTML pages, distributed over the RSS network, and woven together with links. " but that he has concerns "...that we'll get hung up once again on applications and protocols, and miss the big picture. Ultimately, it's not about RSS any more than it was about NNTP." He goes on to say that  "It's about the evolution of our species toward shared consciousness. When I started tinkering with the then-new Radio UserLand 8, about a year ago, I got fired up again with the vision that had inspired my book. I saw, in the emerging blogosphere, a next opportunity to reach critical mass -- by which I mean a world in which transparency and information-sharing are the rule rather than the exception."

Jon is a little bit more exuberant concerning where this is going than I am. A world in which transparency and information-sharing are the rule rather than the exception requires a world that is willing to be transparent and emphasises the importance of sharing information. This isn't the blogosphere. Don't get me wrong, the blogkeepers want to share and the blogmakers talk a good game, but the reality of the situation is much different. This isn't the blogosphere until I can migrate from Radio to Movable Type and Elliot can easily add links to his templates without either of us pulling out our hair (or each others for that matter....)

I'm not sure if this is a rant fulfilled or notes for a longer story. I'll see how cynical I'm feeling in the morning.