A blog engine that supports the creative process
I have already talked about designing personal web publishing sofware. After Drupal and MovableType, like everybody I have been trying out Wordpress. Here are my ideal blog software features.
Obvious features
These are provided out of the box by popular blogging systems or else are available with common plugins.
- comments
- tags
- scheduling
- sitemap
- related posts
- integration with identity systems (Twitter, Facebook, OpenID)
- math output
By related posts, I mean suggestions for further reading at the bottom of a post right next to the comment area. Integration With OpenID and similar is available, but I am not convinced by any of the implementations I have known on Wordpress or Drupal; I would like an interface similar to IntenseDebate or Disqus. I do not know whether to generate math with Latex or MathML. The latter seems more lightweight, but it only works natively in Firefox (there is an IE plugin).
The exotic
These are features which do not seem to have any established implementation.
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Draft functionality which keeps a draft separate at all times from the post (I want to work to have a sort of brainstorming whiteboard for every post)
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Editorial comments, that is comments that are private to the blog authors
These features are directed towards authors, not readers, and towards writing, not impact measurement.
A little authors love?
Most blog software today does not include features to help authors take stock and reflect . It is true that many blogs have far from literary goals; and user metrics are helpful; but blog software could do more to support the revision and refinement work which makes for quality publishing.