Comments on: Types of Aggregators

By: Frederick Emrich

Frederick Emrich — Wed, 27 Aug 2003 20:30:02 +0000

Yes, the benefit for me of integration would be one-click publishing. I have to admit I am somewhat technologically hobbled because I am using an Earthlink account. Earthlink uses the basic, minimal version of PERL required to run Movable Type. This means that some features of MT (like Trackback) don’t work correctly on my system. This appears to be true of one-click publishing as well. I could switch ISPs, but this would involve some complications I’d rather avoid. But without the one-click option, I’m basically cutting and pasting urls when I use an aggregator. I know, it’s still better than blind surfing, but I can’t help thinking how useful it could be to design an aggregator to work hand-in-glove with the weblog software.
Your point about flexibility is certainly valid, of course. Perhaps what we are seeing here is the difference between a tech-savvy user (Greg) and a user who muddles through the tech stuff (me). If my past record is any indication, I’ll poke around for a while and eventually figure out a reader setup that meets my needs.
I’ll check out SharpReader and see if I can get it to work for me. Thanks for the suggestion.

By: Greg

Greg — Tue, 19 Aug 2003 18:59:40 +0000

Hmm. I don't see any significant benefit to having content aggregation integrated with my weblog authoring tool. So enlighten me -- what's the benefit? The only benefit I can think of is improving the ease of publishing an item in the aggregator to your weblog, but that doesn't require much. E.g. SharpReader has a BlogThis URL plug-in for Movable Type that lets you right-click on an item and send it to your "Post to MT Weblog" page. Besides, I think what will improve the ease of publishing items from an aggregator to a weblog isn't necessarily direct integration of the two tools -- which likely locks you into one vendor's product -- stability of the specs and APIs that are caught up in the personality wars. Aggregation and authoring are separate (but perhaps loosely related) processes. I'd rather be able to use the aggregator of my choice with the weblog authoring tool of my choice through stable interfaces.

By: Alan Kleymeyer

Alan Kleymeyer — Tue, 19 Aug 2003 18:10:53 +0000

The RU aggregator is not for me either. But how many other weblog services even offer an aggregator? Radio has some great technology and the aggregator issue is easily resolved. SocialDynamX is on its way to resolving it.

By: Frederick Emrich

Frederick Emrich — Tue, 19 Aug 2003 04:03:37 +0000

I tend to agree, with the caveat that I did like the way that RUl provided a reader integrated with weblog. That wasn’t enough to get me to go with Radio–I much prefer Movable Type. But I am still frustrated at getting a reader that integrates smoothly with my current setup. Any suggestions for a reader that a not-particularly-tech-oriented-but-literate-with-a-good-manual blogger could integrate with MT?