Re-opening a written post using WordPress’ built-in visual editor will remove most of the styles I was using in this post. Especially paragraphs and linebreaks. On load I briefly see the underlying code having paragraphs but once the “visualness” kicks in all those styles are gone. Grrr.

I was under the impression, that Safari 3 is now a first class citizen regarding JavaScript-powered web pages. But maybe the visual editor wasn’t tested thoroughly for Safari 3. What a pity.

While listening to some session at the WordCamp 08 in Hamburg, I was thinking why most of the people are using WordPress.

First a small history lesson about blogging software I was considering using for my blog.

Ages ago, when Textpattern was in it’s infancies, I was shure I would use either Wordpress or Textpattern after trying to install both of them together with Movable Type. Movable Type was the then blogging software of choice.

I was a newbie regarding blogging software and server configuration at this time. Installation took me for

• WordPress: about 5—10 minutes. Quite easy, no hassels.
• Textpattern: about the same for WordPress
• Movable Type: about 45 minutes while dying in pain

So, no Movable Type for me.

Movable Type probably has changed since then, but they still rely on their foundation they then built. Getting lots of venture capital doesn’t help to make this software more usable. At least they gave non-technical people a way to get into blogging without having to get a hoster and set up their blog by themselves.

Coming back to WordPress. Because Movable Type was out and I wasn’t willing to pay for a blogging software — there are some nice commercial ones — I opted for WordPress because of the wealth of themes and plugins. I would probably have chosen Textpattern over WordPress because I really like the beauty of reduced design and typography which was the main feature of Textpattern. Also Textpattern used Textile, a built-in web text generator which lets you style your text in less arkward ways then html.

On WordPress I use Markdown, which is a similar generator and available as a WordPress plug-in.

But there’s one thing which would let me drop WordPress: PHP.

WordPress is built with PHP. PHP applications tend to be more of a security issue for internet servers than other comparable solutions. Therefore I really would like to shut down PHP on my server to avoid security holes. Okay, some people will hate me for writing this.

If I’ll get my stuff together I may change to an all Ruby version running Ruby on Rails for a coming web application of mine. The blog will also be built on Ruby / RoR.

We’ll see.

Technorati Tags: wordcamp, wordpress, textpattern, movabletype, rubyonrails, ruby

This weekend is the WordCamp 08 in Hamburg, Germany. A gathering of Germany’s bloggers having a focus on Wordpress, the ubiquitous blogging software.

There are session about blogging and politics, blogging and law, developing secure WordPress plugins for example. Even a local politician, Michael Neumann, in his mid-thirties is talking about his experiences about officially blogging as a politician and the feedback he is getting from mainstream media and lobbyists.

About 160 people have registered for WordCamp 08.

I’m eagerly awaiting the keynote on tuesday. I tend to skip most of the rumors nowadays, because I do not gain anything from them anymore.

Either the rumors are vage and incomplete and therefore just useless, or the rumors are valid and cover all the details, which seriously spoil the fun watching the keynote. I never forgive me for having a peak at the Canadian Time cover the day before the keynote in (wait a sec, hmm…) 2002 to get a first glimpse at the new iMac (flat panel, luxo).

Even if you are not an Apple fan or don’t plan on buying new stuff, a Steve Jobs keynote is always fun and enlighting. If you have ever been bored to death by some cheesy power point slide show displayed behind an even more boring presenter, please, do yourself a favor and watch Steve Jobs giving a keynote.

OK, so what would I like to have on tuesday evening?
Of course a new notebook.

Which kind of notebook?
Hm, still can’t make up my mind. Either a fancy new MacBook Pro or an ultra-light MacBook with 3G mobile wireless built in.

An ultra-light would be cool but I think I will miss my internal optical drive. And for proper work I need more pixel on screen than an ultra-light can provide.

Unfortunately I’m likely tending to be always on (-line). An iPhone is cool, but still somewhat limited. Have to decide until after the keynote. First come, first serve. Grr.

Well, kind of, but more promising. I cannot tell you all the details about it right now, but in a few days Oliver will tell you all about “Project MM”. In my opinion it’s a coming StartUp with a lot of potential, because I’m eager to use it by myself, which is always a good sign.

I have been to the pl0gbar in Hamburg yesterday to enjoy a little bit of Texas Hold’em Poker. pl0gbar is a gathering of Web 2.0 developers, users, and entrepreneurs meeting every other week in coupe of major German cities. Prior to meeting the other guys over there we met at the Hatari around the corner to discuss Oliver’s idea. While having a great burger Oliver was explaing his new project in detail to zeniscalm, Florian and me.

To sum it up in a short sentence: If you ever felt limited by your favorite established social networks, you won’t be with “Project MM”.Apart from being more social and friendlier you will be in charge of the whole show.

We discussed different scenarios and applications which look very promising. A detailed plan has already been forged. We continued the discussion and had a little brainstorming at the pl0gbar with Bastian, who instantly committed himself to the project. Quite a lot of people like to be involved in the project, so I think it will build momentum in a very short timespan. I cannot wait to get my hands on the prototype…

BTW, pl0gbar is always fun – you might have seen it on Mogulus – and very much recommended to attend.

Toying around with this blog is fun. At least sometimes. I mean – err – at the beginning.

Some people did some great stuff for WordPress which I appreciate very much. But after trying out some new themes and plugins, I need more plugins for the new themes and new themes which support those shiny new plugins.

After switching themes, which support different plugins (like Hemmingway and K2), some stuff will break. Like archives in Hemminway. Or so it seems.

Getting all up and running felt like a trial and error server configuration. I stumble around, fiddle with some settings, get annoyed by Unix permissions, and forget all about time. At least skins are working fine.

So many hours passed and I’m really worn out.

Time to sleep – what’s left until morning.

A friend of mine is having trouble displaying websites correctly on his Nokia E61i mobile phone. It seems they secretly changed proxy settings to kill off CSS and display ads instead. Now his mobile flatrate doesn’t make any sense at all.

Seriously uncool Vodafone.

Link in German

Never thought I would get my blog up and running this decade.