Sunday, June 11, 2006

Using: OPML Editor version 0.69

Running: Scampo, my Gateway 831GM with Microsoft Windows XP SP2 Media Center Edition 2005, under a limited user account

ActiveWords is a perfect utility to use with the OPML Editor.

Unfortunately, there is some sort of conflict. Apparently the OPML Editor obtains keyboard input in a way that conflicts with ActiveWords.

Fpr example, in the first paragraph of this post I typed "opev" (for OPML Editor version) and pressed the space bar twice. Instead of seeing the automatic text insertion that you now see there, a cascade of windows opened up. They were

(I'm experimenting with HTML markup. I don't know if this is will appear correctly or whether the markup itself will appear on the blog. I will find out now.)

2006-06-11; 10:11:16 PM by orcmid

system (with menus | virginSuitesMenu highlighted)
system.temp with windowTypes highlighted)
system.temp.windowTypes with windows highlighted
system.temp.windowTypes.windows with 0000001 selected
system.temp.windowTypes.windows.0000001 with window selected

Practicing with Text and Structure Modes

Using: OPML Editor version 0.69

Running: Scampo, my Gateway 831GM with Microsoft Windows XP SP2 Media Center Edition 2005, under a limited user account

This line was entered using text mode. It is not a blinking caret on Windows, but a blinking vertical bar (insertion point before the next character) in the usual way.

I don't see any difference when attempting to go to structured mode.

The Numeric Pad Enter Key makes no difference. Selecting Num Lock has no effect on the behavior either.

F2 has the interesting feature of inverting the whole text. It appears to be a select. If I type after clicking F2, what I type ends up replacing the selection and I'm typing in text mode.

2006-06-11; 9:51:23 PM by orcmid

Welcoming Myself

I want an OPML editor. I want one so I can

Understand what all of the excitement is about

Experiment with all of the acceptable forms and transformations of OPML in practice

Comprehend the OPML specifications using the available OPML tools such as the validator and the OPML editor that I am creating this with

Use OPML as a simple example of a special-purpose XML document:

The XML technology around OPML 1.0 and 2.0

DTDs and Schemas

Examples of namespace usage (OPML 2.0)

Processing of OPML in various ways

Standard interpretations and applications of OPML elements

Other elements incorporated into OPML

OPML elements used in non-OPML documents

The relationship between OPML and RSS technologies

etc.

Apply OPML for "outlining" work of my own (as I'm doing this very moment).

I very much want to work offline, and I was startled to see that a blog was actually being created for me. Since it is at opml.org, I think it is appropriate that I use it for the specific purpose of experimenting with OPML (and related RSS) concepts.

I am not sure I will use other networked connections of the OPML Editor.

I have allowed the Windows XP Firewall to block the listening that the OPML Editor apparently will do by default.

I have my own RSS feed setup using NewsGator Outlook. I will look at NewsRiver, but it is not a priority for me.

Replacing Blogger as an intermediary for my blog, already hosted on orcmid.com, would be interesting to me, and once I can figure out how to accept and synchronize comments between my web and a local image (sort of like what this page is part of), I would be very interested in doing my blogging differently.

I am mostly interested in local creation and maintenance of OPML with possible addition of it to my web site and to my blog RSS feeds. I like the idea that I could post OPML documents where they could be subscribed to, something I just saw today.

So that's enough context-setting for now. I need to get to work on some other projects. I bet I can use the OPML editor to help me with some of that.

I will also be going through all of the exercises and examples. First, I need to find out more about how to make local OPML documents in places that are not automatically uploaded to this blog.

Holy Smokes

Ohmigosh, I have an OPML-produced blog at http://blogs.opml.org/orcmid/ and it arose from my registration of the beta release of Dave Winer's OPML Editor 0.69. The initial message ("It worked!" below) was saved as 11.opml on my local machine in the OPML directory (at "OPML\Guest Databases\www\blog\2006\11.opml"), and it was uploaded at some propitious moment. This is not exactly what I want, but at the same time this is an useful cool tool and I can see why Dave is so satisfied with it.

At first I was puzzled why it is "11.opml" but looking at where it is stored makes that clear (hint: today is Sunday, June 11, 2006 where I am).

OK, I think I am getting the hang of the OPML Editor. If I click Enter, I get a new line at the same level.

So I started this new entry by using the New Entry button followed by my title ("Holy Smokes"). Then I clicked enter and ended up with a blank slot at the same level. But I used the Outliner | Move Right (Ctrl+D) and the new blank slot indented one level right. Now all of these "paragraphs" are at the same level. Each paragraph on the blog page is the text from a single OPML entry.

I find it mildly weird that the text of an entry is entirely within an attribute, but that's OPML. Now that I see how it works in action and how it makes blog pages, I am less gruntled about that than I was just reading the specification.

Very well, it is time to end this new entry and see what it looks like.

It worked!

Congratulations, the OPML Editor is installed and working on your computer. You're now ready to be part of a new online community that's creating organized knowledge on the World Wide Web.

This window contains a single weblog post, whose title is "It worked!" You can add text to this post, or edit it, or save it, which in effect, publishes the post. You might want to delete the post after a little bit of experimentation.

There's documentation linked into the Help menu. You'll find there are several mailing lists with friendly people who are ready to help you learn more about the OPML Editor and the community. Please introduce yourself when you're ready.

And welcome to OPML!

Last modified: Monday, June 12, 2006 at 1:21 AM.

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