On Sun, 25 Sep 2005 20:31:33 +0100, Chad Smith <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
(See the recent "*Beyond 2.0*" thread in discuss for some background on
this
comment.)
I blog. Well, I just started, but it is so cool. I mean, I'm a web
developer
for a job, so I am all giddy over seeing "my work" on the web. I even
have
my own website, so I'm not all excited about being able to say whatever I
want (instead of what my boss wants.) What I am stoked about is that I
can
put my content on the web for the world to see, without having to be my
own
webmaster! All the satisfaction of having my own global soapbox, without
any
of the coding hassles! It's *GREAT*! Now, that being said, it is somewhat
limiting, even though I can code the template if I wanted to, and it's
not
likely to get much (read - any) traffic, but it's still nice to have.
That all being said, Blogger (http://www.blogger.com/) - owned by Google,
and home to my personal blogs, (I've got two, but one was really just a
demo
of what a Blog is for my boss), has a tool. I do not know the source of
this
tool, but this tool is directly related to OpenOffice.org - and why I
share
my blogging experience with you all. The tool is called Blogger for Word.
And, as the cryptic name suggests if you look hard enough, it is a add-on
for Microsoft Word that allows you to edit and create your blog on
Blogger
directly without having to go online and log into
Blogger.com<http://Blogger.com>
.
You open up a normal Word document, start typing away, adding links,
formatting, pictures (actually, I haven't tried adding pictures, so that
might not work), whatever, then you simply press "Publish" on the Blogger
bar, and - whala! - you've blogged.
Now, there is a tiny amount of setup involved. You have to enter in your
login and password in a dialog box of the blogger bar so it knows where
to
put the post, and, of course, you have to be online to publish it, but
not
to create it or edit it.
The plugin works with multiple blogs under the same username, and, as
many
usernames as you want can login - one at a time. You can create new
posts,
or even edit old ones - all from Microsoft Word.
Here's more about it:
http://help.blogger.com/bin/answer.py?answer=1180
Here's where to get it:
http://buzz.blogger.com/bloggerforword.html
Now, in case you haven't figured it out, I'll tell you why I bring this
up
here.
OPENOFFICE.ORG <http://OPENOFFICE.ORG> NEEDS SOMETHING LIKE THIS!
Now, before you all get into the whole: OOo can already do this by
creating
an HTML file, and then using FTP to save it online, or by creating a
Writer
file, and then you copy and paste it into your online blog-editor, or
before
*anyone* mentions the letters XML - I want to say this. I'm talking about
something that works exactly the same way as Blogger for Word. You open a
new file, type away, press publish, and you're done. I'm also talking
about
something, therefore, that would be Blog-host specfic (I suggest starting
Blogger, since Google will soon rule the world), and would allow users to
save their username and passwords so they don't have to feel like they
are
logging in each time. This tool is for bloggers, not hackers or
programmers.
Bloggers (of which I am one) have problems running spellcheck, so telling
them to write a macro is like asking them to parse pi. It ain't gonna
happen.
Since Google is FLOSS-friendly, and has already allowed plugins to be
made
so their stuff can work with OOo, they would probably give equal time to
this proposed plugin. It would make OOo more popular (Bloggers love free
stuff - since Blogger itself is free, as is the Word plugin). And it
would
put OOo more in touch with Web 2.0.
And, once again to nip trite statements in the bud, I am not a
programmer. I
can't write this. If I could, I would. And, yes, I know this is all
volunteer. I'm not telling anyone what to do, or ordering that my
demands be
met. I'm just offering a suggestion that could help improve OOo, and
make it
more popular. Blogger is the biggest blog site on earth, owned by one of
the
most popular tech companies on earth. Linking up with them (but not being
tied to them - we can make similiar tools for other blogsites) would only
help OOo, and we could hype the heck out of this one. Tapping into the
Blogosphere can only mean good this for OpenOffice.org.
Let the unneeded unprovoked flaming of my ideas begin. I can't wait until
someone tells me how I "just don't understand" something. =-/
-Chad Smith
However which API to choose, you got blogger and MetaWeblog, but you also
have 100 other blog centers. Blogger is like the geocities, but also is
not alone, MovableTypes, LiveJournal, WordPress, PyBloxom, etc etc. I will
actually preffer seen one for WordPress since is commercial (like blogger)
but also is free software (you can download the app and install it in your
server). Making you blog on an API.
For example you can already use OOo with DokuWiki which is also is a
killer app for publishing. Read this
http://applications.linux.com/print.pl?sid=05/01/10/232235 might gives you
the tips to install it and configure it. It is already a plug-in to
publish your documents -- partially.
The only piece of the pie missing is an actual client that can connect to
the Web and syncronize publish it without end-user interaction. Even the
DokuWiki plug-in just put the data in your clipboard (not the web).
""Once DokuWiki is installed, it's time to configure OpenOffice.org
Writer. To be able to use Writer with DokuWiki, you need to download and
install the Iannz DokuWiki macro, which parses the currently opened Writer
document, converts it into the DokuWiki format (the original document
remains intact), and copies it into the Clipboard. All you have to do then
is paste the contents of the Clipboard into a new DokuWiki page.""
A good example of what you want is already founded in Gnome-blog and
probably some other applications allow you to do this publishing. The only
thing will be actually is use the open source method, download Gnome-blog
code read it and modify it. Fortunately you can bind openoffice.org with
external applications. DannyB from OOoForum explains methods to do this.
So in theory you can bind gnome-blog publishing engine to OOo and have
this accesability.
If you think this escape your capabilities you can contract a developer
and ask him to do that. I bet you can get some talented developers on a
Linux user group as well as some programming houses. Hopefully you can ask
them to release this under GPL.
--
Alexandro Colorado
CoLeader of OpenOffice.org ES
http://es.openoffice.org
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