drummerSupport Blogging in Drummer

If you have questions about Blogging in Drummer, this is a good place to ask.

Aug 12 '21 16:08 scripting

I am following the instructions and they are working easily. Results at http://oldschool.scripting.com/mistersugar/

I am trying the PagePark instruction now, thinking that the code needs spaces before/after the curly brackets. Will wait a few minutes to see if the new Drummer blog shows at http://test.stor.im. May have to update PagePark.

More testing and notes to come ...

Aug 12 '21 21:08 mistersugar

Thanks for checking this out! ;-)

Whitespace is not significant in JSON, as far as I know.

This is literally the text of the config.json for clueless.lucky.wtf.

{"s3ServeFromPath": "/oldschool.scripting.com/cluelessnewbie"}

Aug 12 '21 21:08 scripting

These are comments and questions from my first read-through of "Blogging in Drummer". Probably the major value of them is as unrefined first impressions.

Overall impression, the writing is fine but is implicitly making a lot of assumptions about what the reader knows/understands about Dave's blogging style and software stack. For a broader audience those assumptions won't apply and more explanation will be needed.

You introduce that "Old School is a blogging CMS" and explain how it fits together with Drummer and PagePark. The CMS most people are likely to be familiar with is Wordpress which is pretty heavy weight end-to-end solution: an Editor, a content storage "data base", a deployment engine (ie, site generator), dynamic page generation on the web server, etc. When used together with Drummer and PagePark, Old School seems like is just a piece of the overall CMS system you have built.

Am I correct in my impression that Old School is essentially a "static site generator"? If so, I think it would be clear if you had said "Old School is a static site generator for bloggers" and built upon that summary description. My conceptional model is:

Drummer CMS System:

Drummer: outline-based authoring editor and editorial content storage.
Old School: outline-driven static site generator
PagePark: (optional) web server for statically generated sites

The other preconception that readers are likely to have concerns "what is as blog"? We know what Dave means by "blog" but the hypothetical broader audience probably doesn't. They are probably thinking about magazine-style "blogs" with relatively long and infrequently added articles. You might want to clarify that. Also, is Drummer+Old School a good solution for article length posts? It seems to me that when you write those you usually publish them as a distinct page that you link to from your blog. Would you write the article in Drummer as a separate outline and then link to it from a post within blog.opml?

Is the name blog.opml special? If I have multiple blogs can I have multiple blog opml files in a single Drummer instance?

It appears to me that PagePark is completely optional—it's just a web server and I could deploy to any server I might be using. So, presumably what Old School actually emits is just a set of files arranged in a directory hierarchy and when using an alternative server I would need to provide my own deployment steps.

That's just my first round thoughts. Don't feel obliged to answer everything that has a "?" above. They aren't really questions but more a reflection of my process of digesting what you wrote.

Aug 12 '21 23:08 allenwb

I'm Old School myself, having started blogging under Dave's tutelage in 1999. I've also been using Dave's online outlining systems for the duration, which in my case goes back to MORE in the late '80s.

I am also adept at Wordpress, and operate five blogs that run on it. I also consider it a lousy blogging platform, because it favors highly composed essay-length posts. That's what I write on those blogs (and on Medium sometimes too), but I don't consider it blogging.

I do consider what Dave's does blogging. It's what I feel at home doing here. Dig: http://oldschool.scripting.com/dsearls/ .

I think blogging lost its way when Ev & Co. sold Blogger to Google, and when Movable Type closed their source code and Wordpress—an open source knock-off—took over. It also didn't help that Twitter and Facebook became easier places to blurt out text and publish pictures and get all social.

But that's just history. I want to share that much because I hope what Dave's doing here will appeal to old school bloggers who wandered off or whose voices got ignored or drowned out in the social media era. That's not a trivial cohort. I'd like to help bring them back, and to appeal to a new cohort as well.

Doc

On Aug 12, 2021, at 7:05 PM, Allen Wirfs-Brock @.***> wrote:

These are comments and questions from my first read-through of "Blogging in Drummer". Probably the major value of them is as unrefined first impressions.

Overall impression, the writing is fine but is implicitly making a lot of assumptions about what the reader knows/understands about Dave's blogging style and software stack. For a broader audience those assumptions won't apply and more explanation will be needed.

You introduce that "Old School is a blogging CMS" and explain how it fits together with Drummer and PagePark. The CMS most people are likely to be familiar with is Wordpress which is pretty heavy weight end-to-end solution: an Editor, a content storage "data base", a deployment engine (ie, site generator), dynamic page generation on the web server, etc. When used together with Drummer and PagePark, Old School seems like is just a piece of the overall CMS system you have built.

Am I correct in my impression that Old School is essentially a "static site generator"? If so, I think it would be clear if you had said "Old School is a static site generator for bloggers" and built upon that summary description. My conceptional model is:

Drummer CMS System:

Drummer: outline-based authoring editor and editorial content storage. Old School: outline-driven static site generator PagePark: (optional) web server for statically generated sites The other preconception that readers are likely to have concerns "what is as blog"? We know what Dave means by "blog" but the hypothetical broader audience probably doesn't. They are probably thinking about magazine-style "blogs" with relatively long and infrequently added articles. You might want to clarify that. Also, is Drummer+Old School a good solution for article length posts? It seems to me that when you write those you usually publish them as a distinct page that you link to from your blog. Would you write the article in Drummer as a separate outline and then link to it from a post within blog.opml?

Is the name blog.opml special? If I have multiple blogs can I have multiple blog opml files in a single Drummer instance?

It appears to me that PagePark is completely optional—it's just a web server and I could deploy to any server I might be using. So, presumably what Old School actually emits is just a set of files arranged in a directory hierarchy and when using an alternative server I would need to provide my own deployment steps.

That's just my first round thoughts. Don't feel obliged to answer everything that has a "?" above. They aren't really questions but more a reflection of my process of digesting what you wrote.

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Aug 12 '21 23:08 dsearls

I have a singular post that has attributes of created (with the date) and type (outline). It shows the page icon next to the node. I had used the + button to create this post.

I have another singular post that has only the attribute of created (with the date). It has the carat icon next to the node. I had hit return from that other singular post to get this node.

Both singular posts are displayed in the same way on the blog.

I understand that the advantage of using the + to create a new post is that it correctly creates the nodes for the month and the day. (I tried to create a post for July 20 but that didn't seem to work; I'll have to try this again and document my effort to correctly report here.) After that, is there any disadvantage to creating a new post by simply hitting return? That is, is there a reason or advantage for the attribute of outline for a singular post?

I've noticed this in LittleOutliner before but never documented my question. I should have. But Drummer gave me a new perspective. :)

Aug 13 '21 00:08 mistersugar

Dave, blogging with Drummer is a joy. Very smooth. I've selected "Build my blog" seemingly a thousand times as I've adjusted and corrected and tested. Is that a problem or is there a limit?

Also, I like that the build tool is the bottom of the Tools options, which made it easy for me to keep selecting it. But I accidentally selected 'Outline file hierarchy' once and didn't see that Drummer had inserted nodes into my blog outline. Easily corrected.

I did briefly find myself wishing Drummer had the formatting tools (link, bold, italics) that you built into 1999.

Aug 13 '21 02:08 mistersugar

Good morning! Nice to see the comments here...

First to @allenwb's questions/comments.

These docs were written for you and the others who are testing the product.
PagePark is indeed optional. I put that note in the docs because there was a user trying to make LO2 work the way Drummer can now work, and when he is part of the group he will need that info.
If you follow the instructions in the very first part of the doc, the Getting started section, you will have a completely hosted blog. No need to run any kind of server. The note about PagePark is just for customization, if you want to use your own domain name, instead of something like this.
Drummer + Old School is a fantastic way to write article-length blog posts. That's the difference between a singular post and a titled post, as described here.
The name blog.opml is special. In this setup you can only have one blog per account. It will be possible to set things up differently, with some programming, to have as many blogs as you want emanate from a single Drummer account. I can explain how at a later time, but it is doable. But, not in this setup.

To @dsearls...

Of course what I'm doing is blogging. I've never had to explain that.
I don't care about getting a huge number of people doing blogging with Drummer. I want it to be useful to the people who do use Drummer. I want the people who create outliners to plug into Old School the way Drummer does. I want the new outlining to be open, with "small parts loosely joined" as described by our mutual friend, another Dr Dave. ;-)

To @mistersugar...

You really do have to use the + icon to create stuff for your blog. Imagine if the + weren't there, what would the instructions look like and how error-prone they would be. You have to get things exactly right if you do it "by hand" which you can do, but why would you?
Old School is fairly tolerant of omissions, but not when it comes to dates in the calendar structure. This has a perhaps not-apparent advantage that you can put other stuff in your blog.opml outline, which may come in handy in the future. :smile:
There's no limit to the number of times you can build your blog. Party down Anton! Also I understand how cumbersome the Build my blog command can be. I wasn't going to put it in there at first, I was going to give you instructions for adding your own icon to the icon bar that would build the blog without bringing the blog to the front, and with no danger of hitting the wrong command. I will do that shortly and post a pointer here. That's how I build my blog, Scripting News.

BTW, in defense of @allenwb -- he's been an incredibly helpful member of this test group because he's one of the leading experts in the world on the JavaScript language. We're doing some daring things with the language in Drummer, and having him as an adviser and friend has made a huge difference. @dsearls is an expert in blogging and marketing, and other related stuff. I have a lot of experience writing docs, and I don't have any problems calling Old School a blogging CMS. I basically invented the idea of a blogging CMS, and blogs for that matter, so if anyone objects they can ~~kiss my ass~~ have a nice day. :boom:

Aug 13 '21 13:08 scripting

@mistersugar -- as promised, a recipe for adding an icon that builds your blog.

http://docserver.scripting.com/drummer/blogging.opml#1628861390000

Aug 13 '21 13:08 scripting

Let's look at some of the first attempts, and look for obvious problems, fixes that are needed.

http://oldschool.scripting.com/cluelessnewbie/
http://oldschool.scripting.com/KenSmith/
http://oldschool.scripting.com/mistersugar/
http://oldschool.scripting.com/dsearls/

Example of a titled post

http://oldschool.scripting.com/cluelessnewbie/2021/08/13/150253.html?title=aPostOnItsOwnPage

Aug 13 '21 14:08 scripting

Previous Scripting News header image, per @mistersugar request. You're free to use these header images in your blog.

Aug 13 '21 16:08 scripting

Confirming that the RSS feed works. I grabbed it from the bottom of the page and included it in the River of News I monitor at river.zuiker.com and my Drummer posts show up (albeit way down the river after some podcast feed I must also have added recently).

Aug 13 '21 18:08 mistersugar

I posted additional items today, including a titled post followed by a singular post. In the blog, there's not much of a divide between the two (other than the Twitter RT icon), which makes the singular post feel as if it is part of the titled post. I know that I can reorder the posts, but maybe I want the titled post to be higher. Should this be a style choice for a user to define, or should it be different by default?

Aug 13 '21 18:08 mistersugar

@mistersugar -- I might have some ideas how to do it, to make it so a titled post stands off from a singular post that comes after it. Maybe put a light box around the titled post? In the meantime, I recommend putting the singular posts first, followed by the titled post. I've been doing it that way forever. ;-)

Aug 13 '21 20:08 scripting

I just wrote a fun post.

http://scripting.com/2021/08/13/194244.html?title=wereCooked

Aug 13 '21 20:08 scripting

Dave, I have not been able to get the cloud-upload icon to show up in the iconbar.

I have attempted this in both Safari and Firefox, and have cleared the cache and reloaded and signed out of Twitter and back in. Still no icon in the iconbar. I even checked the console for errors but don't see anything related.

I suspect I have not entered the code correctly, so a screenshot of my Iconbar file here.

UPDATE: Talked to Dave, expanded the browser window to full extent of my laptop window, and there the icon was.

Aug 13 '21 20:08 mistersugar

got my Old School blog started, and linked to Ken Smith's blog - fun!

http://oldschool.scripting.com/AndySylvester99/

Aug 13 '21 22:08 andysylvester

Thank you for the urlHeaderImage options, Dave. I added that to the OPML headers, and also made a change to the description for my blog. No amount of building the blog or refreshing the page would show the changes, but once I added a new post and built the blog, the header image and description refreshed. Perhaps as expected, but documenting my usage anyway.

Aug 14 '21 00:08 mistersugar

I documented that behavior. It's in the blogging docs.

Aug 14 '21 01:08 scripting

About the question in the thread above of readers easily telling apart the titled posts and the untitled posts...one day in now, and I'm finding the different placement of the RT icon a very natural signal, and the concern has dropped away for me.

Aug 14 '21 15:08 akaKenSmith

urltweet

Smooth sailing again this morning with a few brief Drummer posts. The include-a-tweet function is a real pleasure. http://oldschool.scripting.com/KenSmith/2021/08/14.html#a120830

Aug 14 '21 18:08 akaKenSmith

I like the way you're using it.

http://oldschool.scripting.com/KenSmith/

I think we have to do a lot better with titled posts that come before singular posts.

Also, I see you're doing whole-headline links, I never do that, so I'm unaccustomed to how they are presented. Not sure I like it. (This is self-criticism btw.)

Aug 14 '21 18:08 scripting

@akaKenSmith Nice Drummer. I'm unclear how you get the URLs in smaller size to display at the end of a post. Is that a function of Twitter, formatting in Drummer, an attribute, or some other practice that I've missed in the docs?

Aug 15 '21 01:08 mistersugar

@mistersugar -- this is how @akaKenSmith did it...

Get the URL on the clipboard.
Click on the wedge next to the headline you want to link from. It's important to click on the wedge so you have the bar cursor, not the text cursor.
Click the link icon.
Paste the URL.
Click OK.
Build the blog.

Aug 15 '21 02:08 scripting

inlineImage

My first attempt at posting an inlineImage worked smoothly. I like the way the text displays with and under the image when the text has been posted in the same line of the outline as the inlineImage command. I'll try other arrangements too.

http://oldschool.scripting.com/KenSmith/2021/08/15.html

Aug 15 '21 12:08 akaKenSmith

I followed the instructions for creating and using a glossary but am not seeing the expected rendering in my blog.

My glossary.opml is public at http://drummer.scripting.com/mistersugar/glossary.opml

My blog.opml is at http://drummer.scripting.com/mistersugar/glossary.opml and shows the urlGlossary attribute in the headers.

My test post is at http://oldschool.scripting.com/mistersugar/2021/08/21.html#a185626 -- in Drummer I typed "ZChronicles" and expected to see Zuiker Chronicles in the rendered blog.

Please help me know if I've overlooked something or if this is a bug.

For the instructions, it might help to better explain the role of quotations in the glossary file, though the examples provided are easy to emulate (unless this is where I messed up).

Aug 21 '21 19:08 mistersugar

@mistersugar -- I don't see anything obviously wrong, i'll check it out.

re your suggestion for the docs, quotation marks aren't special. any characters that appear at the top level will be substituted if they appear. i use them in my own glossary, as you can see but you could just as easily use a $ in their place, or nothing at all.

Aug 21 '21 20:08 scripting

@mistersugar -- there was a bug, I fixed it, and was able to get my test blog to build using your glossary.

http://oldschool.scripting.com/cluelessnewbie/2021/08/21.html

Please try your experiment again, and let me know if it worked.

Aug 21 '21 21:08 scripting

Please try your experiment again, and let me know if it worked.

Confirmed: glossary is working as expected. Thanks for fixing.

Aug 22 '21 03:08 mistersugar

Trying out Drummer for the first time (v2.0.6, browser is the current Chrome) and trying to publish a first blog post as described in Blogging in Drummer - Getting Started. The "Build my blog" command doesn't work. In the console I get an error:

Access to XMLHttpRequest at 'http://drummercms.scripting.com/build?blog=ScottHansonDE' from origin 'http://drummer.scripting.com' has been blocked by CORS policy: No 'Access-Control-Allow-Origin' header is present on the requested resource.

Trying to call http://drummercms.scripting.com/build?blog=ScottHansonDE directly in a browser tab (or with curl in the terminal) returns socket hang up.

Am I missing something? 😃

Aug 22 '21 15:08 scotthansonde

Usually the CORS error means the software has crashed when trying to respond to the message.

Which is confirmed by the second thing you did.

I just built my blog here and didn't encounter any problems.

Then I looked at the log for drummercms.scripting.com -- and there is an error there, and I will now fix it. ;-)

Thanks for the report.

Aug 22 '21 16:08 scripting

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Blogging in Drummer

Example of a titled post

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