I’ve rarely, well never really, promoted a blog, but I think Ian Bicking’s blog really is a must read for every python web developer. I wish reading my blog was never a waste of time.

I first heard of structured blogging a few days ago and at first I thought it was an excellent idea. I mean which geek wouldn’t like its promise?

However, the more I think about it, the more skeptical I am. I’m not the first and other people said it better than I could. Shelley Powers questions the need for such a thing since modern publishing tools should provide more sensible, tailor-made solution. I may be down on WordPress, but this is something it gets right today. Paul Kedrosky sees user laziness as a problem, which might limit SB to enterprise as pointed out by Frank Gilbane.

I basically agree with all of them. First I don’t like the current implementation with embedded x-subnode format. I’m trying to move stuff like CSS and Javascript out of the document and it seems odd that I would now litter the same document with different kind of inline data. Contained blocks are a different representation of content and not a script, so it smells of tag abuse as well.

I like microformats, but that’s because I find it clever how you can use names to add meaning and structure to what you already have. It can be a cheap way to add value to existing data. In my opinion they are most suitable for pages that need multiple formats to describe contained data and each of them represents a fairly small chunk of the whole page.

Then there’s a question how you can get this data. I think there are 4 ways you get data from users:

1. it’s fun for them to do so
2. benefits to them by far outweigh the pain of providing the data
3. by accident
4. it’s forced upon them

It certainly isn’t fun. It’s difficult enough for me to select categories in which to put a certain post. Often they don’t fit in just one, so which interface would I have to use then?

And why? There are no immediate benefits or at least not any obvious ones. That strikes option number two.

By accident simply means what we already have. Google seems to be good at getting information out of unstructured data, but it’s certainly not what SB was supposed to be. Strike number three.

So what we are left with is environment with little choice, more often referred to as a job. It certainly not a novel idea, although it probably hasn’t been applied to blogs yet. I’m not all that convinced it will be, but I’m willing to be surprised.

Conclusion? No, thanks (for now).

A while ago I wrote a post berating WordPress UI that got more attention than I wanted. I still stand behind my words, but I’d rather be known for something else.

Hearing that new WordPress is around the corner, I was eager to write something more positive. Thanks to Shelley , I got a chance to test new WordPress (WP from now on) and see for myself improvements they made.

First the good news. WP provides a new WYSIWYG editor ( tinyMCE ) that certainly makes editing easier. It does just what you’d expect it to. I also like improved post preview, which uses iframe to show post in real environment, using theme of the blog. This has been something that really bothered me in current version, since it makes post preview barely usable. Previews are also available for themes, so you can see what blog should look like before you apply the theme.

WP has been “ajaxified??? and mostly for the better. For example you can add a new category while editing post. UI has been somewhat simplified by arranging it in boxes that can be closed or opened according to user’s need. User can also reorder them and since WP remembers their position and state, it’s a fairly effective way to customize UI to personal needs. Nice. I wish reordering was extended to other lists (e.g. links), but for all I know, this might be fixed by the time of 2.0 release.

However, my old complaints are still valid. While posts can be edited by other people of appropriate level, this hasn’t been extended to pages. Not a week passes by in which I wouldn’t bump against this limitation. Theme editor still gives you the same stupid choice between security and usefulness. User interface is more flexible, but still largely the same and often overloaded. There’s only so much that can be achieved by hiding stuff in boxes.

Nevertheless, WP 2.0 is a big step forward. Even bigger under the hood according to what I hear, but since I can’t be made to care about PHP, it’s not all that relevant to me. I certainly don’t think it sucks anymore, but I still think it has a far way to go before it will truly be a friendly tool for everyone.