Stephanie Booth's online ramblings
Si vous voulez ouvrir un weblog en français, ne ratez pas Mon-Blog.org
[en] A really neat hosted blogging platform in French. Runs DotClear.
Si vous cherchez une plateforme “hébergée” pour ouvrir votre blog, allez jeter un oeil du côté de Mon-Blog.org.
C’est tout frais (un peu vert encore, mais l’aide sur les forums est réactive), c’est beau, c’est DotClear sans l’installation. J’y ai ouvert un weblog test, allez voir.
Merci Julien pour l’info — tu as su comment?
I’ve set up a few test blogs on various hosted blogging farms. Nasty feedback for some of them.
[fr] J'ai ouvert des blogs-tests à divers endroits qui offrent blogs et hébergement. Voici une liste de mes blogs-tests avec quelques commentaires.
I’ve started setting up test blogs here and there to try out hosted blogging solutions, as I’m eager to encourage people to start blogging, but I’m aware that getting server space, a domain, and installing WordPress isn’t something the casual user will do.
So, very brief review here, more details on the blogs themselves (which tend to be lists of complaints and problems I ran into while functioning in my lazy-lambda-user mode).
My test blog is Chez Steph. ViaBloga is a cousin of Joueb.com, minus the community emphasis, which appears repulsive to some. (Think LiveJournal.)
I’ve run into a few bugs and usability problems there, which have always been quickly responded to and addressed by the staff. I should add that I’ve known Delphine and Stéphane for quite some time now, and that the latter personally asked me if I was interested in testing ViaBloga when they were starting with it.
ViaBloga has got wiki-like features I haven’t really managed to get into. One thing that really has me enthusiastic (and I discovered that today) is the list management system. Just add the url, it fetches the title of the link, the rss feed, and creates a thumbnail. Here is an example of what it can look like — look at Delphine’s blogroll, too. I’d love to see something like this rolled into a plugin for WordPress — it makes me feel like adding all sorts of links to my blog.
I’ve decided to go public with my skyblog, and I hope you appreciate my courage. Skyblog is clearly aimed at a very young public (teens), and even the language in the admin interface reflects that. Many of my pupils have skyblogs on which they post photos of their friends and make brief comments in sms-talk.
I find the blogs themselves ugly, and the admin interface is kludgy, though it seems it works, because my pupils always complain that WordPress is so hard to use and that skyblog is so much better and easier. One thing to be said, skyblog makes it really easy to upload photographs, so many of these skyblogs ressemble a vaguely commented photo album.
I hardly posted anything to my test blog, and upon checking it out again today I was amazed at the amount of (a) visits (nearly 1000) it had had, and (b) nasty aggressive comments complete strangers had left me. I’ve added a photo of my cat, I wonder what the reaction to that will be.
Blogsome is clearly my favourite. Here is my Blogsome test blog, complete with a Pink Lilies theme. It took me less than 30 seconds to open my weblog (a username, an e-mail address, and a title for the weblog — done.)
It’s WordPress, so I’m in known territory, and I’ve been busy posting bugs and comments in the forums. Blogsome is still young, and my biggest gripe for the moment is the caching problems — for example, changes to the template or links are not immediately reflected on the blog (though “publishing” a post helps).
If you’re looking for a free hosted blogging solution right now, Blogsome is the one I would recommend, along with Blogger, of course. I used Blogger for years, before Blogspot existed. I left mainly because it lacked certain features I wanted (like categories) — and I’d say that still now, it’s a little bit poor on the feature side. But it’s a good, reliable service which has been around long enough to be trusted without too many second thoughts.
I just opened a test blog at MSN Spaces. My first two posts complain quite a bit (my biggest gripe for the moment being that it doesn’t convert line breaks into paragraphs — a showstopper, if you ask me). My positive experience was changing the template — that worked fine.
So, if you’re interested, keep an eye on those blogs. I’m always happy to try things out and complain about all the problems I run into.
Edit 06.12.04: Got another test blog at NRJ blogs — though in my opinion you can barely call it a blog. I had to log out to figure out what my blog address was, and it seems totally impossible to make outgoing links. Keep an eye on the individual test blogs for comments on the different systems.
Edit 2: OK, got one at CanalBlog too. The admin interface completely takes over the browser, but it seems really usable (I didn’t run into any problems!) and the default layout is clean enough. Just an ad banner on top. That’s enough for tonight, folks!
Edit 3, 07.12.04: Add a 20six.fr test blog to the list. Follow-up post coming.
Edit 4: HautEtFort, and I think I’m done with creating test blogs. Gah.
Edit 5, 08.12.04: Hopefully the last bunch, but you never know. I seem to be suffering from some obsessive-compulsive blog opening disorder. LiveJournal, BlogSpot, Joueb and U-blog. Have I forgotten someone? I count 12 test blogs. Now let me go and update all my blogrolls.
Edit 6: A fresh new French service, open since yesterday: Mon-Blog.org, based on DotClear.
Explanation and solution to the nasty Wordpress problem which keeps kicking you out of your admin section with ridiculously long URLs. Just a few lines to delete in a file.
[fr] La solution au problème qui fait qu'on se retrouve parfois régulièrement expulsé de la partie admin de WordPress, et qui implique des URLs d'une longueur indécente, ne menant nulle part. Il suffit de supprimer deux lignes dans wp-login.php.
Yesterday, without a warning or an explanation, my WordPress install started acting funky. Even though I was logged in, I would be faced with very very long URLs showing me a broken login page when I tried to go back to the admin section (something like https://climbtothestars.org/wp-login.php/wp-admin/wp-smilies/wp-content/wp-admin/post.php?action=edit&post=xxxx). Deleting all the cruft after wp-login.php allowed me to log in, but a few clicks later I would find myself faced again with the same nasty situation.
This is caused by a bug in wp-login.php. What happens is that the Blog URL option gets changed to that long funky line in the database, and of course, it messes everything up.
The first thing I did was correct the siteurl value in the database (options table), because I have direct access to the database and like sticking my hands in there. If you don’t have access to the database, you can probably (I’m not certain) set this right through the Options screen in the admin section for your blog. (Remember, if you feel locked out, go directly to http://example.com/wp-login.php to log in.)
There is a forum thread about this problem, but the solution isn’t presented very clearly to my taste — hence this post.
Now for the fix: if you are not going to be moving your blog around (ie, changing the blog address) without having direct access to the database, you can edit the file wp-login.php and delete a couple of lines. Open wp-login.php in your favourite text editor, and do a search for get_settings(‘siteurl’)
— that will bring you to the right place in the file. Delete these lines:
// If someone has moved WordPress let's try to detect it
if ( dirname('http://' . $_SERVER['HTTP_HOST'] . $_SERVER['REQUEST_URI'])
!= get_settings('siteurl') )
update_option('siteurl', dirname('http://' . $_SERVER['HTTP_HOST'] .
$_SERVER['REQUEST_URI']) );
I’ve had a similar problem with my Blogsome test blog — with the URL for the CSS file going all funky. It seems to be back to normal, but I’ll check that they are indeed aware of the problem.
Je suis allergique aux acariens. On va faire le ménage.
[en] I'm allergic to acarids. Cleaning up to get rid of the dust. Rather boring and uninteresting post.
Un petit billet sans grand intérêt pour noter que j’ai appris hier avec soulagement que j’étais allergique aux acariens, et pas aux chats (ce qui était une hypothèse possible).
Au menu, donc, nettoyage à fond de l’appart, et prise de mesures concernant la chambre à coucher: changement de draps toutes les semaines chrono, aspi deux fois par semaine, réaménagement pour éviter les nids de poussière.
Ensuite, faudra voir s’il faut faire quelque chose à mon futon pur coton et mes tatamis pure paille de riz pour chasser les bébêtes si elles les habitent.
[en] A lovely phrase from a friend that came up in a conversation not long ago.
Au détour d’une conversation. C’est trop joli pour que je laisse passer.
Un corps n’est parfait que pour celui ou celle qui décide de lui offrir son coeur.
Kumquat
A hosted WordPress weblog provider just opened. I’m testing.
[fr] Blogsome est une solution hébergée fournissant à qui le désire un weblog WordPress en deux clics (moins d'une minute).
Check out Blogsome. It looks exciting. I’ve set up a test blog: enter a username, an e-mail address, your blog title, and there you are. 1 minute.
I’m very curious to see how this will scale, especially given my experiences with my school blogs. I’m also curious to see if they will release the code used.
If you’re trying it, please let me know what you think!
[via Ollie]
Some fun things spammers tried to leave in my comments.
[fr] Quelques commentaires, drôles à mon goût, que les spammeurs ont tenté de laisser sur ce blog.
Now that Spam Karma has been efficiently killing nearly 600 spams during the last 48 hours, here are a few chosen tidbits from the deletion log.
Your website is beautifully decorated and easily navigated. I have enjoyed visiting this site today and hope to visit many more times in the future.
Thank you for opening a wonderfully new sight..I wish you the best of luck with your new venture.
Good morning, I am new to this site. I have just learned about this site. I am going to read on and it’s very interesting to know
I put my step in to your guestbook like I always.
I found your website after I have been surfing the internet to be useful.
Just stopped by to visit and got the crunch on your stuff in here – bravo!
Which one do you prefer? If you got fun spam lines too, post them in the comments.
Les enseignants comprendront. Petit gag tiré d’un échange véritable.
[en] A teacher's joke about what I'm reading now with my pupils.
– Et alors, vous lisez quoi avec vos élèves, en anglais?
– J’essaie de leur faire lire la consigne.
Légère commotion cérébrale au judo vendredi. Quelques jours de repos s’imposent.
[en] Mild concussion at judo. Working this week hasn't helped. Seeing the doctor tomorrow and taking a few days rest.
Une “correction cérébrale” — voilà ce que j’ai dit à l’une de mes élèves hier, alors qu’elle me demandait si j’avais corrigé les tests de grammaire. Le pire c’est que je ne m’en suis absolument pas rendu compte.
“Zéro virgule zéro virgule zéro– euh… zéro virgule zéro zéro deux” — ça, c’était durant le cours de maths de la période d’avant.
Vendredi à l’entraînement de judo, alors que je me trouvais au sol après avoir effectué sur mon partenaire un magnifique tani-otoshi (technique que j’affectionne particulièrement), le ciel m’est soudainement tombé sur la tête. Autrement dit, un judoka voisin (pas celui avec lequel je pratiquais) m’a chuté lourdement sur le sommet du crâne.
Résultat: un occiput pas très content, et la boîte crânienne un peu malmenée.
Conséquences concrètes: un mal de tête persistant, de la difficulté à me concentrer, la nuque qui fait “bloc”, des absences, de petits trous de mémoire et troubles de la parole. Plus, bien entendu, l’effet “je me sens assommée” d’une légère commotion. Une fois que j’ai donné mes cours de la journée, je suis dans un état relativement moyen pour préparer mes cours, et surtout (à deux semaines de la fin de la période!) faire mes corrections.
La pile de papiers fait maintenant une dizaine de centimètres d’épaisseur, et malgré ma visite chez l’ostéo mardi, mon état ne s’améliore pas. Au contraire, il empire presque — à force de rester active et de courir dans tous les coins.
Les commotions, je commence à bien connaître. Celle-ci n’est pas très forte, mais le fait que j’aie travaillé toute cette semaine, et que je sois également fatiguée et stressée n’aide pas du tout. Quand je conduis, je me rends bien compte que je ne suis pas en état.
Il a fallu qu’on me pousse un peu (“ah non, la semaine prochaine ils ont plein de tests, je peux pas me faire remplacer, peut-être dans dix jours, ou bien en début de période prochaine?”) mais demain, médecin, et arrêt de travail de quelques jours.
Here are the two plugins you need to fight comment spam using WordPress.
[fr] Deux plugins pour combattre le spam de commentaires sous WordPress: Kitten's Spaminator et Kitten's Spam Words. [Edit 03.12.2004] Ou plus simple, Spam Karma, que j'utilise à présent.
If you want a quick tip to protect your WordPress installation from comment spam, the killer plugin combination is Kitten’s Spaminator and Kitten’s Spam Words.
The second allows you to “delete as spam”, adding keywords and IPs to the filter, and the second gives “spam points” to new comments (ie, for words matching the filter, previous comment posted within the last x minutes, IP matching the filter), deleting those over a certain threshold directly, and queuing the others for moderation. It’s also smart enough to give bonus points if the commentor has already had comments posted on the blog.
Edit 04.12.2004: See the comment, I’m now using Spam Karma rather than the two plugins presented above.