Welcome
Welcome to a new piotrpolak.com. A brand new version of this site is finally rolled out to the public and here’s some of the new stuff that’s happening.
The design
For some time now, I’ve been working to redesign this site. At first, my intention was to start from scratch and give it a completely new and fresh look. But after a few hours spend with Fireworks working on a new design I found myself looking at my aging Typo’s Jazz Cafe theme screenshot. I realized, I still like it a lot and would like to give it well deserved refreshment. So what should have been a new design, turned out to be another revision of my old Jazz Cafe theme. While it still requires some polishing, I’m happy with it for now.
Under the hood
It is difficult to argue which of the currently available blogging applications is the best. And what makes live even more difficult, is the fact that there are a lot of them available. Each one has its own advocates, cons and pros. I’m long time MovableType user but felt like I need to look for an application giving me more freedom to experiment with code and extend functionality. Also, I’m more comfortable with PHP and Python then Perl. Keeping that in mind I narrowed a set of candidates I should evaluate to WordPress, Expression Engine and writing my own blogging application in django.
First, I ruled out the last option as one taking to much time. I know, you can implement basic django blog application in a few hours but to get complete functionality provided by “of the shelf” blogging applications would take more time. I like django framework a lot but I also know myself. I would spend a lot of time perfecting the implementation up. Being busy with other projects I simply can not afford it regardless of how much I would like to do it.
Second option on my list, Expression Engine, is to me more of a content management system then blogging application. It’s not open source, and is only free for non commercial use. I find it an overkill for a simple blogging site like this. But, if you look for more functionality like simple e-commerce, wiki or forum, all under one administration, I encourage you to give it a serious thought. I personally see it as cost effective, “of the shelf” solution offering functionality that can be easily tailored to most of the client projects you may experienced in your daily work.
WordPress is in my case clear winner. Very popular, open source PHP application providing basic blog functionality that can be easily extended with endless list of existing plug-ins and dressed up with themes. I like the approach taken by WordPress project of having a good core functionality implementation, also providing clear plug-in mechanism allowing you to tailor the application to your own needs. A friend of mine told me once about some product he bought, “I simply like it, it does exactly what I need, nothing less and nothing more.” I have exactly the same feeling about WordPress, the only difference is, you can make it do more with plug-ins if you wish.
From now on
So here it is, the new design and content management system. What to expect next you may ask. I would like to start writing. While I can’t promise to do it on daily basis I hope to be able to do it regularly. I would like to share wisdom gained from ongoing projects: solutions to problems, small snippets of code, tutorials or reviews. Also, I will be releasing Jazz Cafe theme for Worpress. Stay tuned if you want to give it a try on your own blog.
Thanks for reading and I hope to see you coming back.