ode - a simple personal publishing platform for the web
Ode is simple! (Simple means that you know how it works.)
Hi.
This is the project website for Ode (pronounced oh-dee), a personal publishing engine for the web. Ode is unique in that it is designed to be simple – not necessarily easy.
Simple means understandable (at least it does here).
- Mon
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- 29
- Mar
- 2010
New to Ode? You may want walk through this short (29 slide) intro presentation.
The presentation includes just 29 slides and attempts to answer the first questions you might have about Ode (from the basics to design goals).
Note: The presentation is running through Ode by taking advantage of the S5 standard, which is based entirely on XHTML, CSS, Javascript. Not only is it a nice introduction to what Ode is all about, but it's also a good demonstration of just how flexible Ode's simple themes are. The entire presentation consists of a post and a theme (just like this one).
- Wed
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- 11
- Feb
- 2009
Do we need another publishing platform? You might guess that my answer to that question is, "Yes! At least I think we need this one."
Let's start by talking about what Ode isn't. It's not antoher WordPress. I think the people responsible for that platform are doing just about as good a job with it as is possible.
If you're looking for something with a relational database management system like MySQL at the backend and 4+ MB worth of PHP, Javascript and CSS then you really should check out that project. I'm not being insincere or cynical I really do think WordPress is pretty fantastic, but Ode is something different.
That package (and many others) do more than Ode at the moment but as I've already said, Ode is different.
Different how? Ode is simple.
- Ode itself is a single Perl script.
- Content are simple plain-text files.
- The look at layout of an Ode site is determined by a theme that is nothing more than standard (X)HTML and CSS.
Is that all there is to it?
Are Legos just interconnectable plastic blocks?
No, that's just the beginning...
Give Ode a try!
Current Release (version 1.2.3, 2010/0613) -- Installation instructions included.
Note: Ode is a self-hosted project. To use it you need either a web hosting account or your own web server.
Don't let that scare you away. There is help available if you need it. :)
Ode?...
Glad you asked. It's a new platform for creating weblogs (and other types of dynamic sites) which emphasizes simplicity, both in terms of usability and design. The idea is that anyone who is interested should be able to understand how the program works at the source code level.
Find out more...
I encourage you to subscribe to this site's feed to keep up with all of the news and info related to Ode.
Is Ode for you?
It might be, if...
- -- You want to take a more active role in your own participation on the web;
- -- You'd like to learn about (and play with) web technologies;
- -- You believe in the potential and the importance of the open web;
- -- You think that learning more is every bit as important as doing more;
- -- The idea of interacting with a community of people who share these ideals is appealing to you.
Does that sound like you?
If so, then you may have just have found the project you're looking for, and we'd love to have you participate.
Community forum
There is a community forum for this project at forum.ode-is-simple.com. Please feel free to register and participate.
Though I plan on very actively pushing content to this site, the forum is intended to be a community effort, as well as a resource. You'll find information about the project on the forum that you won't see here.
Your involvement is key to the project's success! (Yes, I'm talking to you. :)
Contact me
There is a community forum at forum.ode-is-simple.com. For general questions, the forum is a great way to get in touch with me and the rest of the Ode community.
You can also send me an email if you'd rather do that.
Important notices
None (at the moment)
Why do we need weblogs?
Isn't Facebook enough?
Ask yourself if you're comfortable handing over all of your content to a service that you have no control and then hoping that they don't change the terms of service on you in such a way that you're no longer comfortable with their policies.
More importantly, we already have a web. If you're like me, you don't see the need to build a web on top of the web and put it in the hands of a single commercial entity. Something about that just doesn't feel like a step in the right direction. The beauty and power of the web is its distributed, interconnected diversity!
Start a weblog and invest in yourself and your own online presence.
What's more, the web needs your help if it's going to continue to be the free, and open platform that has been from the beginning.
I support the open web
The web is such a great idea, and such a powerful one, that it was capable of producing Facebook, Twitter, Google Plus, LinkedIn, Wordpress, Amazon, Wikipedia, and on and on. It could do all of that without any one company controlling and profiting from it. In fact it was possible because there was no one company controlling and profiting from it.
The web is an amazing resource. We ought to appreciate it. More than that though, we ought to continue to invest in it, and in our own future by supporting a healthy, open web.
Please join me in supporting an open web for the benefit of all.
- This site is powered by
- This theme itself validates as HTML5. (Unfortunately, because of the vagaries of the content, especially embedded content from 3rd party services, the page may not.)
- This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.
