Yesterday, I mentioned that I was working on a blog tool not ready to show off yet. Since then, I thought I should follow Colin Walker’s lead in describing some of what I am developing. The working title is MyStatusTool, you can think of it as “Twitter using rssCloud”. The minimum functionality I am working toward is to have a text box to enter a short post, to create a RSS feed based on the posts, for each post to have a page, to ping a rssCloud server when a post is live, to have the posts be displayed in reverse-chronological order, and to display posts from other tools that create RSS feeds supporting rssCloud. This pretty much describes the “Read user feeds…” functionality in FeedLand (link works if you have a FeedLand account). You can also think of the Twitter web user interface as an example. I will probably create a temp Github repo soon to start putting the app under version control. Stay tuned for more updates!
-
💬 Andy
Mentions
Webmentions
I have created a proof of concept for a microblogging tool relying on RSS for data storage and rssCloud for notification. I was motivated to do this to show how rssCloud could be used to support a Twitter-like experience. Also, I was blocked for posting an innocuous comment on the FeedLand user feed tool, and felt that there needed to be an alternative to that tool for microblog posting. My earlier posts on the development of this tool are here and here.
In this demo app, the basic functions are:
Ability to make a short postWhen a post is made, a RSS feed is updated, a separate page for the post is created, and the post appears on the home page via WebsocketsThe tool provides hosting for the RSS feed and posts createdThe tool can display updates to any RSS feeds that support the rssCloud protocol via Websockets (feeds are listed in a configuration file)The contents of the feeds in the configuration file are displayed when the user accesses the page (so they can see what has been posted recently), then any posts with the tool appear at the top of the page
The tool is set up for a single user and requires some configuration. Please consult the README on the Github repo for more information if you want to set up the tool for yourself.
The demo app is available at http://fedwiki.andysylvester.com:443/. The contents of the feeds in the configuration file are displayed, along with any recent posts using the demo app. I encourage people to try making posts and see how they appear and how quickly they appear. As posts continue, so will display of updates to the RSS feeds in the configuration file.
This is a proof of concept, but will be further developed. If you find problems in the tool, or want to suggest features, feel free to create an issue in the Github repo. Also, I would love it if a few other people try installing it and let me know how it goes…
Recently I published a roadmap of the major features for a “Twitter using rssCloud” tool that I am calling MyStatusTool. As of this weekend, I have the major pieces in place (have a text box to enter a short post, to create a RSS feed based on the posts, for each post to have a page, to ping a rssCloud server when a post is live, to have the posts be displayed in reverse-chronological order, and to display posts from other tools that create RSS feeds supporting rssCloud). I spent some time looking at integrating Passport.js to provide multi-user capability, but it turned out to be more than just a day’s worth of work. As a result, I am going to push my current version to Github this weekend after writing some docs. More news to come!
Something seems to be coalescing across the web. Strands are coming from different areas and angles but meeting in the middle. I’m talking about the idea of a single timeline – and that doesn’t mean just using one social network.
Dave Winer wrote:
One timeline for each user. Lots of choice, but one timeline. And there has to be a basic agreement on what goes in that timeline. What are the elements of a message. A way to define more types, without going to a standards body, which always crush the individual in favor of the bigco’s. Something minimal, orderly, easy to document, lots of example code.
Craig Hockenberry, from The Iconfactory, said something similar:
One thing I’ve noticed is that everyone is going to great lengths to make something that replaces the clients we’ve known for years. That’s an excellent goal that eases a transition in the short-term, but ignores how a new open standard (ActivityPub) can be leveraged in new and different ways.
Federation exposes a lot of different data sources that you’d want to follow. Not all of these sources will be Mastodon instances: you may want to stay up-to-date with someone’s Micro.blog, or maybe another person’s Tumblr, or someone else’s photo feed. There are many apps and servers for you to choose from.
It feels like the time is right for a truly universal timeline.
The current buzz is around ActivityPub (and its poster child, Mastodon) but it doesn’t have to be based on this; any way for systems to talk to each other and get information from point A to points B, C, D… Write once, broadcast to many, whatever they are using. Conversely, you need to be able to get stuff from B, C & D all fed back to A – again, no matter what everyone is using. Like blog posts in a feed reader. I’ve always said that I like micro.blog because it acts as a social feed reader rather than just a siloed network.
I’ve taken a look at ActivityPub on a couple of occasions and found it far too confusing to even consider implementing it. As much as I like the IndieWeb ideals a lot of them are also beyond me.
Dave has been reiterating how RSS is a way of moving data around the web and that current uses are too narrow-focused. It’s great for subscribing to blogs and podcasts but could be used for so much more with a bit of vision.
I was curious, therefore, to see Andy Sylvester mention he was working on something with the working title “MyStatusTool” – a Twitter like interface powered by RSS and using rssCloud to get everything updated. He may be starting with “a text box to enter a short post” but the potential applications are so much wider.
One to watch.