Graffiti CMS is now an open source blog engine. This means that no longer will I make the most random hacks in Chalk to complete the most common of functions. I can extend the methods that are pushed to Chalk (Chalk being the markup language that Graffiti CMS uses on the front end when designing the layout) to allow for more robust visualizations. This also means that extensions to the code can be used to add in a myriad of new design and social features (this is the tits).
To take advantage of this new awesomeness I plan on some upgrades to the ole bloggy blog. Besides a new design (the one I have now had been made in 2008 and is far too busy) I plan on adding a slew of new social features that are purely for my amusement. I will publish here the changes that I will make and the development process that I go through, but really it will just be for me to keep an idea as to where I have been and maybe where I am going.
Quick side track: Everyone goes to Wordpress because it is easy. I have always been stubborn because I support the .NET movement and all the code that it entails. I guess I had never been an open source type of gent because the environments that I work in have always been strongly Microsoft based. But I dig the kool-aid so I will keep rocking out the Microsoft way.
So what will I be adding? Well, I will be adding a feature that will allow me to create short urls (think Bit.ly) based off the base address of this site (think ryankeeter.com/1h, etc). This doesn’t really add to anything more than my ability to store information on where I have been and what I have done on the internets. Another addition will be the ability to create a TwitterFeed like feature to bring in multiple feeds and combine them into one stream that I will push out unto twitter (and my blog) with the URL shortening take the form of the idea I proposed above.
Of course, completing any of this comes down to the fact that I need to take some time to actually code this stuff out. Currently I am driving upwards of 4 hours per day for my job (I love it, don’t get me wrong, but 4 hours, really?). Time is not on my side, but I will try to make it work.
Of course…I have startup ideas on the mind, and that usually always leads to me getting NOTHING done!
Hey, I should mock up the site in Expression Sketchflow (by the way with Windows Phone 7, Silverlight will become the de facto phone platform…you watch).