Less Of A Blog

Welcome!

So I’ve finally got this new website up and running (in theory). In a week or so, I’ll put the redirects in place so old jadetower.org links will find their way here. If you notice any broken links, please leave a comment or send an email.

This new site is using PyBlosxom and is hosted at TextDrive. Over the next month or so, all the sites I maintain will be moved to TextDrive. William and I also have some new plans for JadeTower, which is why we’re moving content off of that domain and to this one.

Overall the move to pyblosxom wasn’t too painful. I was able to easily modify the MT conversion script to include comments and create URLs that can be easily mapped from the old domain. Originally I was looking at Hobix, a Ruby weblog framework from the mind of Why The Lucky Stiff, but it’s still very rough around the edges. I also tried out Text Pattern which is really impressive but missing one important feature—easy export of data.

In the end, I wanted something simpler. I wanted something that would allow me to author entries in my favorite text editor and would store them in an open format. No database and as little code running the site as possible. Which is kinda funny when you think about it because a lot of people wouldn’t consider that simpler. Many would find editing flat files in a text editor and then uploading them to a server via subversion complex and barbaric, not simple and advanced.

“Simple” all depends on the audience. For example, to a chef, the simplest solution, the most basic, might be one involving lots of raw, fresh ingredients. Nothing between the cook and an excellent meal. However, to a college student, the simplest solution is something processed, packaged, and microwavable. The chef scenario requires only basic components in their most natural form. The student scenario requires factories and microwaves. Complexity and simplicity exist in both, but reside in different locations.

The same is true of software. To me, a developer, a text editor, subversion, and a simple CGI script is software bliss. It’s about as basic and un-complicated as it gets. However this same solution would not be acceptable for many other computer users, even relatively sophisticated ones. I believe this is an important factor to consider when developing less software. Less for whom? Less for the developers or less for the users?