Apple files patent on translucent windows | MacNN News: Apple has recently filed a patent for translucent windows that automatically adjust the opacity as information is updated (or not updated): “overlaid, Information-bearing windows whose contents remain unchanged for a predetermined period of time become translucent. The translucency can be graduated so that, over time, if the window’s contents remain unchanged, the window becomes more translucent. In addition to visual translucency, windows according to the present invention also have a manipulative translucent quality. Upon reaching a certain level of visual translucency, user input in the region of the window is interpreted as an operation on the underlying objects rather than the contents of the overlaying window.”
I’m not so sure I’m all that keen on yet another software patent, but the idea itself sounds very interesting. An extension of Expose, perhaps?
http://www.doug-miller.net/blog/archive/moreoncomments.html
Thu, 13 May 2004 08:50:12 -0500
http://www.doug-miller.net/blog/archive/moreoncomments.html
Blogging
Tinderbox
demiller@gmail.com (Doug Miller)
Jon muses somewhat on future blog-related directions for Tinderbox:
Tech Notes : Tinderboxing: On a related Tinderbox note, I was thinking last night about how Tinderbox could do more to keep up with other blog software now that WordPress and MT have such a hold on blogland along with TypePad
Jon muses somewhat on future blog-related directions for Tinderbox:
Tech Notes : Tinderboxing: On a related Tinderbox note, I was thinking last night about how Tinderbox could do more to keep up with other blog software now that WordPress and MT have such a hold on blogland along with TypePad and the newly updated Blogger.
I think “comments” are the most important missing feature of Tinderbox in terms of blogging (As a note-taker, it’s unbeatable!). I know there is an argument that a blog doesn’t need to have a comments feature for it to be a great blog (Cf Mark or Doug); nevertheless, I do think it is an integral feature that the blogging community currently expects in order to maintain a dialogue. Does Tinderbox need to take this more into account if it’s goiing to keep pitching itself as a major blogging software?
As Jon references, I’ve gone on record as being philosophically opposed to comments on blogs. Having said that, I think he has a valid point when he observes that many who write blogs expect and want comment systems, and see them as a necessary part of blogging software.
I’m not certain, however, that adding a comment system to Tinderbox is something that should happen. For one, doing so would require a server-side component that Tinderbox currently lacks, and seems contrary to the basic philosophy of Tinderbox as a desktop, client-side application.
I think we’re seeing the evolution of blogging tools into two different, but overlapping types, those that are primarily blogging engines (Movable Type, TypePad, WordPress) and those that are blog editors (Tinderbox, ecto, weblog editors built in to apps like Net News Wire). Of course, the blogging engines generally offer some sort of editing environment, though a few, such as blosxom, appear to me at least to rely primarily on external editors. Similarly, some of the editors are equipped to allow one to create a weblog without any sort of blogging engine other than themselves, though perhaps with somewhat limited functionality. I tend to feel that the engine and editing functions should be distinct so that each part can be best optimized for it’s function. Feature rich editing is a very user centered sort of task that requires very different functionality than efficient database and web serving capabilities. Trying to provide both (and possibly throwing in web hosting services to boot) is perhaps more than many weblog software vendors can effectively pull off with limited resources, Manila and Radio notwithstanding.
Tinderbox is perhaps even more of a different animal than even what I’ve written above would suggest, in that it’s an outliner and note taker that provides HTML export capabilities that can be leveraged to create a weblog. It’s more of a general purpose application than a true weblog editor - a “personal content management” application that enables selective sharing of that personal content in various ways. A weblog is obviously one of the ways that can be done, but not the only, or even primary use for the application.
Fortunately, we’re also seeing an evolution of various “bolt-on” weblog accessory applications like comment systems and photo galleries that can be paired with both blogging engines and editors to mix and match a custom solution to almost any individual author’s taste. Building one’s weblog out of these various parts may well be beyond the capabilities of the novice or the desires of the casual blogger, and for them, products exist that provide the entire package - again, albeit at the cost of some functionality, in this case, most often ease of customization. A Tinderbox authored blog can usually easily take advantage of these accessory applications as easily as Tinderbox itself can often exchange information with other client applications.
The point is that the world of weblogging software has evolved to the point that there now exists a continuum of tools that appeal to everyone from the neophyte and casual blogger to the die-hard tech head and everyone in between, and that’s a good thing. Products and vendors can begin to concentrate on refining a niche for their application should they desire to do so, rather than being confined to providing only weblogging tools that provide everything from hosting to database engines and editing, to comment systems.
Of course, I could be dead wrong and for all I know Eastgate is feverishly working on including a web database engine component that will appear in the next version of Tinderbox. It just doesn’t seem to me to be in the spirit of the application to do so. It would be cool, however, if Tinderbox could easily generate trackback pings the same way it can ping weblog directories however, though obviously on a per note/post basis. I think that would be really useful, more in keeping with the current direction of the application, and more in line with my personal philosophy of a community of blogs united by cross referenced posts and trackback references rather than localized groups of comments.
(On further thought I should perhaps have divided the gross categories of weblog software into engines, editors, and services, and included TypePad into the latter category. Having said that, a weblogging service is nothing more than the combination of an engine, an editor or editors, and hosting services, with perhaps some ancillary software and services thrown in, and there’s no reason any such service would be required to be composed of software and services provided by a single vendor.)
Update 5/13/04: Fixed broken permalink
