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Just wanted to post a quick note to say that I'm about to release the first iteration of Ode. In consideration of the amount of time I've taken to get the source online, and as something of a throw back to the good ole days of software development before Google started the trend of perpetual beta software and versioning schemes never seem to break that first major release barrier, the first release of Ode will 1.0. After all as a straight forward procedural script, Ode is something of a throwback itself.

(In the future I'm planning on moving to a dated versioning scheme.)

I'm going to start by asking everyone interested in the project send me an email. It can be as long or short as you want and you're welcome to write anything you like. I would appreciate at least non-empty title and body. I'd prefer a short introduction and maybe at least a little information about why you're interested in the project. Eventually, even this minor requirement will be dropped and the script, addins, and documentation will be available on the site to download.

The purpose of this isn't to track your use of the software. The idea is to encourage you to contact me with any questions or problems you may have after you download and install the project. (Consider it an icebreaker. The second email is always easier to write than the first). Furthermore, I'd like to see a supportive community spring from the project, and a short introduction is the first step toward realizing that goal.

Of course I will never sell, spam, or otherwise use your email address in any systematic or profit-making way. I may reply to your email directly, but will do nothing else without your express permission.

Send an email to rob at this domain to be contacted as soon as Ode is made available with a link to download the source and related documentation, themes, etc.

Ode is still very new, and not quite fully baked (but it's really close). Now that there are at least a few people popping by to have a look, I want to make it clear that something is being done on the project every day.

So here's the idea

Each day I'll write a short post talking about the work that was done that day.

Eventually this might develop into a place for anyone involved in the project to let others know what they did that day related to Ode.

But for now it's just me, at least until I make the application available, then we can discuss whether it sounds appealing to expand the idea.

You'll find these posts in the new Fresh Today category.

I was trying to describe Ode to someone who had never heard of it before. My first attempt was to describe it as a 'personal publishing platform for the web', a phrase that you'll see on this site. His next question,

"What do you mean a publishing publishing platform?"

I would say that 'personal publishing platform for the web' is an apt description of any package that is similar to weblog or wiki software. I prefer to say publishing platform because it doesn't have all the baggage that goes along with a term like weblog. Let's look at the phrase.

A personal publishing platform for the web

Personal

It's personal because it's intended to primarily be used by 1 person, unlike say a wiki which may or may not be used by one person, or a CMS which is typically not used by only one person. Yes, a group of people certainly could use Ode together, in fact I can think of a number of different arrangements that might work, but it's not designed for that.

Publishing for the web

Means that it's a way to take information, anything that I can be represented as text and get it onto the web. That's all I mean by publishing... To take something that only you have and make share it with the community of people who use the web. This is consistent with the most basic definition of publishing, which is 'to make public'.

How is this any different than any of the other ways you could get information on the web? I don't claim that it is. But the idea is that Ode is one of the least-hassle ways to do it, involving almost no overhead on the part of the writer.

Take a plain text file, which you can generate in any app you want, move it to the server, and you're done. Unlike a traditional HTML document, you don't any markup, no structural elements or tags, absolutely nothing is required other than your content.

If you would like to include links, images, and formatting, then you can certainly do that, using html or markdown, which is a simplified markup syntax expressly designed for writing.

Platform

Finally, I use the term platform because Ode is a means to an end, not an end. If ode weren't extensible, or if there were a single look and feel to an Ode site, something that couldn't be reworked, then I wouldn't call it a platform, I'd call it an application or something else. But Ode is extensible and you can do with it whatever you want.

To take a more literal approach, any development or design work you do sits on top of Ode, like a platform (a surface on which people or things can stand).

Six Apart calls Moveable Type a 'publishing platform', and the folks responsible for Wordpress describe that package as a publishing platform too. So, I'm not trying to be clever.

You'll also see me use the word 'engine'. as in, 'Ode is a personal publishing engine for the web'. I like the word engine because to me it describes, more accurately than other terms, what Ode does. At its core, it's just a small script that drives an Ode site (i.e. it makes the site go). It's not the rest of the stuff... addins, themes, etc. which you can choose to use or not. Think of a car... the engine is what makes the car go.

Comparing the two words 'platform' and 'engine', Ode itself is more of an engine. It's just a script that does something. It's not an environment, or a framework, or anything like that. Essentially, it takes your text files and pushes them from here to there, where 'here' is your file system and 'there' is a visitor's browser. Along the way, other stuff may happen. That opportunity to for other stuff to happen is what makes the engine a platform.

Ode is very new.

I'm adding content here just as quickly as I can. If something or other referred to in the weblog seems to be missing please be a little patient.

Other things you can do:

• Join the Ode-Discussion group at Google Groups (you'll find a link over there in the sidebar).
• Bookmark the site
  • Hey have you tried Instapaper yet? (Not affiliated with Ode but a very nice implementation of a web based bookmarking service).
• Subscribe to this site
• Send me an email (rob at ode-is-simple.com) if you have any questions.
• Take a look at the introduction to ode posts I've put together.
• Play around in the Sandbox. Take some time to familiarize yourself with markdown and Ode's default editedit theme (pronounced edited-it).

I am working on it every day and will be until this site is completely up.

More info:

Ode itself is done.
By done I mean functional and stable.

I'm working on the bits and pieces at this point including primarily 'packaging', documentation, and the installers/installation routines.

All of this stuff will be in place sooner rather than later, so please do make a point of checking back if you're interested.