created on Sat, 2005-12-10 22:31

Actually, the first issue I have is that it's called a weblog API....it's a CMS API, or maybe just a publish-editing API. We're stuck in this concept of "blog". With structured blogging (yep, that damn word again...but I guess that's what you get when all you have is one big text blob to shove data structures into*) just on the horizon, tools like ecto, Qumana, and MarsEdit are going to be pushed to work with the myriad number of web apps out there, and the different ways they've implemented some of the loose aspects of these APIs. Actually, this post was inspired by Gus Mueller's post on the MarsEdit 1.1 beta, where he mentions "the sorry state of weblog api implementations right now, and yes- that even includes you atom."

So...what to do? Well, this is one of the things that needs work both on the web app side and the client side. On the web application side, I'm hoping we'll have a special interest group focused on this at the Open Source CMS and Blogging Tools Summit here in Vancouver right before Northern Voice and MooseCamp.

*Why the rant about blogging and "big text blobs"? Well, I'm biased by my tool of choice, Drupal. We've got separate content types for structured information, like events or reviews, and so don't need to take a step back and find ways to mark up structured information inside text. Of course, we'll support structured blogging standards and formats as they arise (and yes, those funky XHTML level microformats, too). Canter's Law, and all that.

created on Wed, 2005-09-14 14:00 Asterisk is an open source IP PBX system (translation: it uses the Internet to make phone calls, using your own server -- this is usually called "Voice over IP", or VoIP).

The main news site for the Asterisk community just switched to using Drupal as their content management system. The big difference is now that they have such a flexible system in place, they're inviting their members to submit content:

The new Asterisk web site is powered by the Drupal content management system. The Asterisk community is being encouraged to create and submit content to be included on the web site. To submit content, just create an account. Once the account has been created and you have successfully logged in, you will be presented with options along the right which can be used to submit additions or changes to the web site. Asterisk.org: Submit Your Own Content

So that's a pretty common announcement these days. Lots of sites, especially ones that tie into community in some way, are choosing Drupal. The great stuff comes from the release of an Asterisk integration module directly on Drupal.org:

Users can provide a phone number in their profile. Then users can click the 'call user' link to be connected automatically to another user.

It is a distributed system. The asterisk part communicates with drupal via xmlrpc. Therefore, the drupal site can be on a regular webserver while your computer at home or in the office (with asterisk installed and configured) completes the calls.

Tags:

• API
• Asterisk
• Drupal
• IP PBX
• voip