May 12, 2003
Last Blogging Tools Entry
For now anyway.
MPT graciously responded to my last post in the comments and makes a valid point. It would be nice to have a standard way of categorising your posts.
I guess I just have a slightly different usage model and find that I don't rely on directories nearly as much as I do the ability to search. Having a user defined classification scheme is a bit of a mixed bag for me as I find it easier to remember what I have posted rather than which category I've placed it in. I've observed that some people have more of an associative memory rather than accessing things through indexes.
Perhaps an example will make my point more clearly. Since I've been surfing the web (only about five years, what a lightweight) I've been collecting bookmarks. Every time I get a new machine (or a new browser) I find myself setting up a slightly different hierarchy of folders, usually with duplicates or at least some areas of overflow. This is a reflection of my changing perceptions rather than anything else. But it does confuse me.
For instance, where did I put that link to Andrew Wiseman's Television Room? Was it under 'Fun', 'Leisure' or 'Information'. Each of those has a 'TV' subfolder on my different machines and it could be in any. Actually, it wasn't stored on my current working machine as I haven't looked at that particular site for a while. So I did what any surfer would do, I went to google and entered '625' into the box. Bingo, 1st entry.
Which is a fair approximation of what happened when I experimented with categories on my blog. I ended up with one for technology, one for python and one for databases. Then I wrote an entry on MySQLdb. Which really could live in any or all of these. So I threw my hands up and don't have any categories. Which is why I suggested a search engine may be more useful to me.
My point, I guess is that the ultimate weblogging system should support both umpteen levels of classification and a search facility.
Still, the continuing discussion is fascinating and shows that Matthew has touched a nerve. I like his shopping list and only have one more thing to add. This probably is too detailed to really make the function outline, but I don't want to have to type and edit my posts in a web browser. Its a lousy writing environment and I'd much rather use other tools and produce a file for each entry which I could then upload to create a post.
Bring me an attach button or bring me death. Well, at least in the current interface anyway.
Posted by Andy Todd at May 12, 2003 07:02 PM