Archive for the 'Blogging' Category

Pixelpost

Published
by
djaef
on July 7, 2008
in Blogging, Software Discussion and photography
. 5 Comments

My other blog, my photoblog, runs on Pixelpost v 1.7. I’ve been using Pixelpost for nearly two years now, but have only recently upgraded to the newest version. As far as photoblogging applications go, I think it’s the best one out there (certainly the best one I’ve found.) It’s free, there are a lot of templates to change the design, and there’s a great community of users.

But that’s not to say I don’t have issues with it. I do. I simply don’t understand why it has to be so difficult. The answer to that may simply be ‘because it’s free’, and if so, then fine. But maybe that’s not the entire answer…

I have been dabbling in web design for a few years now, and while I’m not a born coder (never will be) I can write html and have a decent understanding of css. I’ve even managed to design and make several really nice looking standards compliant web sites. But Pixelpost is not a simple website - it’s complex. It’s a mixture of html, css and php, running on a MySQL database. I imagine most people can get it up and running, and even change templates, but modifying it is not for non technically minded people.

And that’s where a few interesting questions pop up. Who is this application designed for? Photographers is the obvious assumption I make. And I don’t make a distinction between amatuer and professional, as a photographer is a photographer. But it would almost appear, looking at the application from a technical perspective, that it has been made for ‘code heads’ instead of photographers. Even my most generous interpretation is that it has been made on one level for photographers (the basic out of the box experience) and has a whole lot of extra functionality possible to those that can get really techy with code. And that’s why I think it’s frustrating.

I want a photoblog that doesn’t require I have a PHD in php, javascript and CSS, but I also want one that’s easily customisable. Maybe I just want too much. That’s the most likely truth. Especially as it’s free. But I wish that the code head developers would realise that most photographers are not necessarily good at coding, and that an application that was easier to customise would attarct a better level of photographer, and increase the market share. In my browsing, I have certainly found a large number of fabulous looking sites with pretty ordinary photos, and also a whole lot of sites that needed some design and attention, but that had great photos. It’s not until you put both together, like J.R Photoblog that you really get a fabulous product.

I know that I’m mostly jealous. It blows me away what some people can manage to master. That’s why I want Pixelpost to make it easier for us lesser talented mortals to compete.

Wink

Published
by
djaef
on June 25, 2008
in Blogging and photography
. 0 Comments

Magnolia Road

Magnolia Road, by Tyler E Nixon, of Wink Photoblog.

I haven’t been keeping much of an eye on the photoblog world lately, as I’ve been focussed on other things, but I came across this site today, and I recognised it immediately. Ahh, I thought, I remember this site. Bookmark it this time, so it doesn’t get away! I spent some time looking through the archives and I have to say I’m so impressed by the work there.

Now I look at his about page, and it seems Tyler, the perons in question, is no stranger to acclaim. Take this for example: Awarded “Photoblog of the Year” at the 2007 Photoblog Awards. OK, how on earth have I neglected this site before now? As I said, I obviously haven’t been paying attention to the blogosphere lately.

In any case, if you are as wayward and unobservant as I have been lately, check out wink. Tyler, I take my hat off to you mate. Some of your stuff I would put into the category of ’sublime’. It’s my kind of work. It’s always good to find some inspiration, and I know wink will be a source of inspiration to me for some time.

A strange warning, Wordpress 2.5 and K2

Published
by
djaef
on April 7, 2008
in Blogging
. 0 Comments

Sometimes, things just look weird

Hmm. was it all a dream? No, my blog is looking weird, it’s not a dream. It all started with a very strange email I got the other day from someone going by the title Anonymous Security Specialist. There was no reply email path, and it looked like spam, but after reading it, it had me unsure. Normally I am very good with spam and that sort of thing, but I couldn’t see the payoff in this one. Basically it was an email warning me that my version of Wordpress (then 2.3) was vulnerable to some sort of SQL blind fishing attack and that he could tell my blog was already compromised, and was linking to some very dubious websites etc… I had a look and couldn’t see any sign of this but after a look on google and a rational think through, I decided to upgrade the blog anyway, since this was something I had been planning for a long while. So, upgrade to Wordpres 2.5. Don’t follow the short guide on the wordpress site. It sucks! Do your homework. This is a good place to start. Anyway, I backed up my database and did the upgrade, and of course there were problems. Something to do it seems with my choice of template. Which brings me to K2. I uninstalled it and the blog came good, but now I’m having trouble with reinstalling it. The header won’t load and there are lots of small issues. I’ll get there. But what is most strange to me is this. After my blog was upgraded, but BEFORE the front page would work, I got an email saying I’d had a comment at the blog. I quickly looked and posted at the end of a post called Upgrade or Die (which has to do with cameras, not blogs, but nonetheless) there was a short comment which simply said, “well done, dude.” Was this the mysterious security consultant again? Or was this instead a nasty hacker who tricked me into upgrading, and waited all the while to grab control and do something dastardly? As I know nothing about hacking, I’ll have to hope it was the ASS (almost a suitable acronym). At the end of the day I have upgraded my blog. I still need to fix it, but I suppose that forces me to learn a little more about bloody wordpress…. Oh, and if anyone knows of a better template that looks really cool and has similar functionality to K2, I’d love a tip.