Rodent Regatta

There are things that can be done behind the scenes of weblogs and websites that make it possible to read the content of the site using a news aggregator, also known as a feed reader. This is called syndication of content.

Someone who visits a weblog or website that publishes a syndication feed in either of the two most popular formats – RSS or Atom – can subscribe to that feed and begin reading content without having to browse to each and every site of interest.

As is always the case with innovation VHS or Beta debates result. The current one is between RSS and Atom. The developer of the RSS format is holding out an olive branch today. Stay tuned as I browse my news aggregator for responses to his offer.

• * * UPDATE * * * Read the comments and you’ll see where this effort is headed.

I pre-ordered a book today from Amazon. The title is Web Standards Solutions: The Markup and Style Handbook. It’s by Dan Cederholm.

If you want to learn standards-based web design, this book (along with Jeffrey Zeldman’s) gets you started. Both belong in the toolkit we’ve been talking about here. Read SimpleBits regularly as well!

Good morning…

After reviewing the recommendations for editors, this morning’s reading turns up an interesting ”configuration” for Firefox. As I interpret what I’m reading, it seems she is adding ”extensions” to Firefox that turn it into a web designer’s friend. I use IE and sometimes look at sites using Opera. Thus far, I’ve found no compelling reasons to switch from IE, but a browser configured as described would be incredibly useful. Kadyellebee provides some great resources for understanding and using Movable Type. She’s probably identified the ideal browser environment for the work she does!

Then, there’s a great set of sites that help you understand how to alter your Movable Type templates using CSS to get the ”look” you want.

All of these things belong in any toolkit assembled for designing Movable Type weblogs.

I had no idea that others were asking questions about Movable Type 3.0 when I posted this. I’m not a regular visitor to the MT support forums. Richard Eriksson has linked to a discussion between some MT users and one of the executives of the company. It sounds as if one of the key questions must be, ”why wasn’t I included in the alpha testing?”

That’s not my question nor my wish. I’d simply like to have the brochure-ware that tells me what to expect in MT 3.0’s feature set.

One of my Movable Type 3.0 questions has to do with referral logs and site meters. Coincidentally, Elise Bauer, who writes Learning Movable Type, provides some resources for learning and using various site meters and referral logs.