|
The Futer of Free OPML Blog Hosting? 
I wonder how much longer this experimental site will remain in operation? Does anyone know, or does it depend on the community that is currently being built? I guess if I get too comfortable and it goes away I still have my data, and will then have the motivation to find a hosting site or to figure out how to statically render my site locally and then upload it somewhere else.
Outliner as Blog 
The more I think about it the better I like the idea. I started an OPML blog, felt the freedom of it, and then went back to Radio only to feel stiffled again. Outlines provide an excelent medium for thinking; no wonder Dave's been building them his entire professional life.
I think an outline will work better for me as a blogging medium too. I like to write in them, and I've seen good mechanisms for managing categories with them as well. Tim Bray's category listing is one example.
Since I now plan to move off of my Radio site in a year or so, I need to figure out the future of my blogging. I can extend Dave's OPML Editor to meet my static rendering needs or I can extend something like JOE to become my blogging editor of choice. Choices...
Outliner as Microcontent Manager 
Outliners are interesting for more reasons than just blogging. Their structure is highly conducive to microcontent management. For example, I've been playing around with a recipe format for a while now. I recongize that there are two formats that I can use: the US format or the French format. The US format lays out a description, a list of ingredients, and finally describes the directions. The French format is more of a running dialog.
The US format could be described as so:
The French format would look more like a blog post, with ingredients mixed in as they are needed.
The two are quite different, but both are more accessable to different types of readers. I started out loving the US standard, becuase it was what I knew. I enjoy the French version now because I like the story quality that it lends itself to, and the stories I often find listed in this format.
|