Posts in category "blogging"

The forthcoming release of WordPress 2.5 was one reason I was hesitant to move to Habari.

However, having seen a demo of the revised dashboard in WordPress 2.5, all I can say is I am glad I made the move and didn't wait.

While I am merely an end user (not a UI designer), Michael Heilemann articulates many of my views on the deficiencies and usability of the Wordpress dashboard in this detailed analysis.

Michael also dissects the design of the WordPress 'Write Page' screen. The 'Write Page' is probably the most important one for the blog author as that's where he spends most of his time. I agree with Michael - the page is cluttered with unnecessary distractions

Compare the WordPress page with the 'blank canvas' presented by the article editor in Habari.

Those who forget the past are condemned to relive it.

The migration of this blog from WordPress to Habari is mostly complete.

I had a few unexpected problems with a significant number of comments and a handful of posts that contained mismatched HTML tags and didn't display the corresponding page at all. So I had to painstakingly review every single post with comments and correct the HTML by hand.

Inevitably, I forgot the lesson of my previous migration and didn't give any regular readers advance warning of the impending chaos or any notice of the change in RSS feeds. That's not because I don't care, but rather that I treat this blog as a chance to experiment with the technology.

Worse, I didn't sever the link to Feedburner during the housekeeping so peppered existing readers with duplicate, outdated articles.

So, whether you are a (non-Feedburner) subscriber who is wondering why I have suddenly stopped blogging or an existing reader wondering I am peppering your RSS feed with antiquated articles from yesteryear, I apologise.

If I was embarking on the migration again, I would probably spend a little more time checking the migrated content prior to triumphantly making the switch. However, when you have more then 750 posts and 1100 comments, that's easier said than done.

A useful tip to speed up the import process is to purge all comment spam in WordPress prior to the import. Similarly, disabling the Habari Pingback plugin also speeds up the import considerably.

Habari does not automatically ping Google of new content but Feedburner has equivalent functionality.

Apart from fixing up a few posts containing locally hosted images, the tedious administration tasks should now be complete so I can start to enjoy the various features of Habari.

One example is the media silo with Flickr integration. On WordPress, I often struggled with the seemingly simple task of inserting a photo into a blog post. Initially, I thought I was just stupid but now I know why - the interface was broken.

Owen Winkler created a screencast demonstrating the features of the Habari media silo with easy management of locally stored images as well as seamless integration into media services (Flickr, Viddler).

I simply couldnt resist the temptation any longer so this blog is now running on Habari because:

• The Habari Administration screens look like they have been designed rather than evolved.
• The WordPress import utility works brilliantly.
• Michael C. Harris created a TinyMCE plugin for Habari - literally minutes after my initial enquiry.
• Most of the required functionality (Google Analytics, Feedburner, Akismet, Sitemap) is available as plugins for Habari.
• Michael Harris also helped me configure rewrite rules so my existing WordPress permalink structure is retained.
• A gentleman called Harry from London developed this attractive Habari theme.

Adding support for OpenID to Wordpress using this plugin is quick and straightforward.

Similarly, the latest version of Drupal includes a core module providing full support for OpenID integration.

So, if you have an OpenID, you can now use it to comment on this blog.

• Joomla! 1.5 has been released and installed over here.
• Drupal 6 hasnt been released but that didn't stop me upgrading this blog to 6 RC2.
• I never thought I would say this but I think I am starting to get Twitter. Blame Tim Hall.
• FTP - Siebel had an FTP site for exchanging files with customers. Oracle has an FTP site for exchanging files with customers. Unsurprisingly, Oracle are standardising on the latter. I simply can't believe how much time I have wasted spent helping intelligent people crossing this chasm.
• The Europa Hotel in Belfast was the 'most bombed hotel in Europe.'

Siebel customers (and employees alike) all over the world are busy enjoying Metalink3 which has recently replaced SupportWeb.

Everyone (well me, mainly) is taking great delight in taunting Oracle DBA types with incredulous cries of 'Sorry - did you say you're still on legacy Metalink2 ?'

A number of readers, impressed with this bleeding edge technology and dying for more, have emailed me asking why this humble Siebel blog hasn't yet been updated to Drupal 6.0 RC2.

Consequently, I downloaded the distribution for Drupal 6 Release Candidate #2 and, unusually for me, I even took the time to read 'UPGRADE.txt'. I followed the instructions therein and took the site offline so any visitors receive a configurable, professional looking message: 'This site is being upgraded to bleeding edge CMS technology. Please spread the news and don't forget to taunt any Oracle DBA's.'

After that completely unnecessary configuration change (I have no visitors), I was then unable to login to initiate the upgrade. Sigh. Thankfully, I discovered this article from another early adopter which enabled me to regain control of my original site.

I attempted the upgrade from Drupal 5.3 which failed to modify the database schema and produced a worrying number of SQL errors.

Not to be defeated, I read this helpful article which implied the Drupal 5.x system should be running the latest stable release (5.6) which seemed eminently sensible advice.

I quickly upgraded from Drupal 5.3 to 5.6. Only I couldn't because my site was now inaccessible after the partial, incomplete upgrade so I had to hold my breath while I restored from yesterday's MySQL database backup which worked perfectly.

Then I upgraded Drupal from 5.3 to 5.6, having naively convinced myself this would fix the problem, and duly repeated the upgrade process to 6.0 RC2 which promptly failed with the same dire, database related, results.

Still, this is a beta release after all and sure enough (as always), some other poor soul has already been there and done that.

No fix yet. Roll on RC3.

It is just over six months since I first placed banner ads on this blog and, much to my surprise, the accumulated income has just reached $100 (which triggers the first payment from Google).

As the introduction of AdSense was purely an exercise to learn how the system works and experiment with different placements and formats, I have decided to donate all proceeds to a worthy charity.

Answered by our roving reporter, Kenneth.

Posts by month. Draw your own conclusions.

• Upgraded to WordPress 2.3.2
• Plaintxt theme upgraded to v4.0. The main change is tag support which I don't currently use.
• Reinstated the 'Related Posts' plugin because I couldn't understand why people looking for information on Virgin Media/V+ don't scan other relevant posts. Already seeing a benefit.
• Added useful plugin to support embedded YouTube videos to liven up my monochrome posts.

Occasionally, people take the time to comment on this blog which is always welcome.

However, the vast majority of comments however are not so thinly veiled advertisements by spammers. Unfortunately, due to recent problems with Spam Karma, I have had to revert to Akismet to block this torrent of pharmaceutical, financial, pornographic and vacuum cleaner spam.

This means I have a few more comments held in moderation for judgement. The family convene every night with a cup of Horlicks to sit in judgement on the assorted comments. Norma kindly takes the minutes and Norman Junior twitters the whole event (live).

The 'Comment Approval Board' recently approved a comment from a heavy metal fan. We took care to follow Akismet's advice and checked the link which purported that 'Heavy Metal is our life'.

Approving this was not an easy choice but hey, this is a broad church and everyone is welcome.

When I subsequently happened to scan the SezWho profile of the author (a man with the unusual name of 'HeavyGod'), I found to my horror, that he (or a program) had left the identical comment on multiple blogs.

'Really good and really interesting post. I expect (and other readers maybe :)) new useful posts from you! Good luck and successes in blogging!'

The clues were all there. Commenting on a recent post sandwiched between other valid comments, a gmail address, the double use of 'really', the smiley, the compliment that I naively fell for. Hook, line and sinker.

I had been tricked. By a heavy metal fan. Oh the eternal shame.