Hello, on 08/06/2006 09:52 PM Martin Alterisio said the following: >> >> Anyway, you may want to read this more in depth reflection of the >> state >> >> of the PHP framework world and recommendations on how to pick what >> suits >> >> best for you: >> >> >> >> http://www.phpclasses.org/blog/post/52-Recommended-PHP-frameworks.html >> > >> > >> > Sorry to intrude with my usual obnoxious behaviour, but this is >> starting >> to >> > affect my self-esteem (what's left of it). Am I the only one who has a >> > really hard time reading the blog posts in phpclasses.org? Everytime a >> > reference to this blog is posted I lose track of the discussion, >> because >> I >> > can't really grasp what Lemos is talking about. >> > >> > I'd like to make some some constructive criticism, not just to Lemos >> but >> to >> > the community in general, since I think many of us need to improve our >> > writing skills: >> > >> > 1 - Don't make loooong boooring posts. >> >> This blog in reality is the site monthly announcement newsletter. Some >> months there is more to tell than in others. I usually put a list of >> contents when the post is about many subjects. > > > Then maybe you should consider making it a _weekly_ announcement > newsletter, > 'cause some of those posts are really really too long to digest in only one > shot.
Unfortunately I do not have so much time to post site announcements that often. Anyway, this one was not an announcement. I am commited to post something at least once every month to put something interesting in the site editors newsletter. When there are new features to announce, I try to fill the space with an opinion article. Some people like it, other people are not interested. In any case, at the top of the article there is a summary of the topics in the article so anybody can figure whether there is anything of interest in the article, so they do not have to read it all the way. >> 2 - Get to the point. Introduction are great when they are not two pages >> > long. >> >> I don't know what you mean by introduction. Usually there is a summary >> that goes in the RSS feed that is no longer than 3 or 4 paragraphs. > > > I mean all the things you need to say before actually getting into what you > want to talk about. Just take for example the post about "recommend php > framework", look how much you have to read before actually get any info > relating directly to php frameworks. Is true that there are many things to > say before about frameworks hype, but couldn't it be explained in less > words? I suppose it is a matter of style. As I said, some people appreciate a more articulated style, other people prefer a more objective style like you. Actually I also prefer a more objective style when I am reading other people's articles. That is why I split the article in sections so you can jump to whatever has what matters to you. >> 3 - Stick to the topic. Or use appropiate titles. >> >> > 4 - If the topic is inherently long, use distinguishable headers and >> > subheaders. It's a pain in the ass to read a 5 pages long article that >> > looks >> > the same everywhere, with no easy way to know what is the subtopic of >> what >> > are you reading now. >> >> As I said, these posts often cover many topics. It may not seem by topic >> sections use titles. The problem is that this newsletter posts used to >> go by e-mail to the site subscribers in plain text, so there was no way >> to format titles. > > > I was unaware of that, I understand now. It's really a pain in the ass to > format a text only email for proper reading.... even more if the same text > has to be used in a website. Currently I no longer send the whole article by e-mail. Only the summary is sent now. These posts were being sent to near 150,000 people and that made the site spend too much bandwidth. I just did not had the time to integrate an HTML or BBCode based editor where the articles are posted to make it look better. It is on my todo list. >> 5 - Don't talk so much about your life! You can always make another blog >> > for >> > that... Unless your personal experience can bring an unique insight of >> the >> > point you're trying to make. >> >> I suppose you may be talking about other peoples blogs. Personal blogs >> are supposed to be personal. This is the PHPClasses site blog. Usually >> it covers matters about the site developments and matters of interest to >> the site users. It does not talk about my life. It may talk about my >> experience when it is relevant to the post topic. > > > Generally speaking, yes, I'm talking about other peoples blogs. I'm sick > tired of all the holy crusades out there, specially when it comes to > Web2.0evangelists. You may have not noticed it but somewhere here or > there you let > your subconcious write for you, specially on the topic of Web2.0 (I used > the > term twice already, please stop me before I have to pay royalties to > O'reilly). It may be just an adjective, but that's all it takes to make a > mildly objetive point of view turn into a completely subjective point of > view. heheheh ;-) I do not have a personal blog. I do not have the time even if I wanted. On defense of people that write posts about their personal life, I think they do that to satisfy they egos. It is not a bad thing. It is just normal on human beings. Some need more attention than others. Some achieve that by writing personal blog posts. > Just check your article about "is php ready for ..." *that thing I said > before*, and you'll see that how, without noticing it, personal feelings > tend to appear and change the article completely. Probably that's what made > you write so much about how you believe phpclasses.org is a *that term* > enabled site, and why. Was all that really necesary for the purpose of the > article? Or you were just uncounciously trying to prove something to all > those lamers out there? Does it really matter if your site is "in" or > "out"? > We are not fashion designers... I understand what you mean but in reality my point it is quite the opposite. I meant to clarify that what is being called Web 2.0 is not about technology or social networks, but rather about providing better sites to people by giving the users means to participate in relevant way that is appreciated by others. Technology and social networks can help providing that, but those are just means to reach the ends. When I mentioned what the PHPClasses site has been doing that fit the Web 2.0 spirit, was not really to state that the site is in fashion. It was rather to say a) this is not a new thing, b) here are some examples of how you can provide a better site allowing your site users to take a relevant participation role. Now, I completely agree that it is irritating when people keep talking about Web 2.0, as if they really know what they are talking about, and claim that it is a panacea that everybody should follow. -- Regards, Manuel Lemos Metastorage - Data object relational mapping layer generator http://www.metastorage.net/ PHP Classes - Free ready to use OOP components written in PHP http://www.phpclasses.org/ -- PHP General Mailing List (http://www.php.net/) To unsubscribe, visit: http://www.php.net/unsub.php
