No public review of the Blogging book today because an author turned in a rushed job late. Argh. So now I've got another late night fixing it, hoping to make a review tomorrow.
I'm playing with Radio Userland and having fun with the outliner. I'm slowly picking up what all the fuss was about. It's not that outlining is revolutionary or fun, it's just that sometimes it's easier to structure your thoughts with a little help from the editor.
Word does outlines, but it's like using a bulldozer to brush lint off your shirt. Emacs does outlines, but like everything else in emacs it requires fourteen hands and a fetish for the Ctrl key to use. I'd use vi, only I don't use vi because I was abused by a beep when I was a child and the trauma still haunts me.
OPML? Haven't played much with it. Heard that (much like Radio's HTML) it's a bit of a hit-and-miss thing in terms of standards compliance. I just like thinking in terms of nested lists. Don't hate me because I'm hierarchical.
--Nat
Re:Radio Blog
gnat on 2002-05-22T15:51:45
Radio is a Windows program that runs in the background, serving web pages from 127.0.0.1:5335. Those web pages are how you interact with it. It's nifty.Those 127.0.0.1 URLs are convenience URLs for people who are also running Radio. Click on the OPML Coffee Mug and it takes you to a "subscribe to this outline" page with the URL of my outline already filled in.
--Nat
Re:Radio Blog
Matts on 2002-05-22T16:48:56
So is the outline editor also a windows program, or is it a web frontend thing?Re:Radio Blog
gnat on 2002-05-22T19:43:50
The Radio application, which commonly runs in the background, can pop up windows. At this point it's a little like a cross between a software IDE and text editor. The only file editor it offers is the outline editor--code, docs, and web pages are all outlines to Radio. Everywhere you look there's a hierarchy:-) So to edit an outline you leave the web interface behind and use Radio's native GUI functionality directly.
--Nat
Re:Radio Blog
gnat on 2002-05-22T19:45:02
You can have a free 30 day trial. It's worth playing with. And in a few hours there'll be docs on getting started with it as Essential Blogging goes to wide-open public tech review:-). --Nat
Re:Radio Blog
Matts on 2002-05-22T21:09:07
Might do that. Then clone it into a WxPerl app;-)
If you're a PalmOS user, you might want to take a look at ShadowPlan. It gives you hierarchical lists which are about a zillion times more betterer than the standard PalmOS notes application. When you sync to your desktop, each of your lists is sync'd to an XML (OPML I believe) file. I use public transport and find a pocket sized outliner to be invaluable for jotting down random thoughts while commuting.
