My clipboard to blog script now works with WordPress.com

Last year, I wrote a script that copies the content of the the system clipboard to a weblog. Since I use my wikis as an important writing spot, automating the flow of content from my wiki to other writing places, such as my weblogs, increases the fluidity of my writing. I adapted my script to work with WordPress blogs now. (Specifically, I used the Blogger API: blogger.newPost via XML-RPC interface.)

 

A simple test of the XML-RPC functionality of WordPress.com

As I gear up to figure out general mechanisms for moving data from one weblog to another, I can quickly demonstrate that WordPress.com is indeed offering some sort of XML-RPC transport mechanism by using the Flickr blogging feature. Through this feature, I write a blog post that includes a Flickr photo from within Flickr itself and then have that post published directly to my WordPress blog (without having to type in WordPress.com at all). For the setup, I do need to know a few parameters:

• that I’m dealing with a WordPress blog (and not, say, a Movable Type blog)
• that the “API endpoint” for this blog is http://jazzuptheweb.wordpress.com/xmlrpc.php — that is, the URL of my weblog plug “/xmlprc.php”
• the username and password for my weblog.

When I finish the setup procedure, I learn a little technical detail: that Flickr is using the MetaWeblog API to support blogging to WordPress. (one of the three APIs supported by WordPress).

Does it work? It does indeed.

 

Testing the Flickrwordpress.com API connectivity

obligatory meta-ness

Originally uploaded by Raymond Yee.

A picture of my computer screen while looking at my new Jazz Up the Web: The Making of weblog. Will this picture show up in the blog once I use the “blog this” feature from Flickr?

 

Setting up the new jazzuptheweb.com domain

At some point, I will want to move beyond using hosted blogging — or at least have the flexibility of combining services I host myself and those hosted by others. A major step in that direction would be to set up a domain of my own (instead of a shared one such as wordpress.com). The steps to do so are not difficult per se but are hard for me to remember since I do them so rarely. These steps are:

• picking a domain name
• registering the domain name at a domain registrar
• mapping the domain name

Obviously, there is a lot that can be said on each topic. My intent here is record what I did to set up jazzuptheweb.com and point to other sources of information as necessary. (I have wondered where one can find reliable and readable guides to the topic of setting up a domain and hosting it on the personal scale. Maybe articles such How and Where Can I Get a Domain Name For My Weblog? in the about.com family of guides is a useful introduction.

Picking a domain name (in this case jazzuptheweb.com). It was a challenge to come up with a catchy and likable name that gets across the intent and spirit of the website and that isn’t already taken. (I would type in names that came to mind at godaddy.com to check on their availability and had to remind myself not to be disappointed when I learn that an obvious — and not so obvious — good name has already been snatched up.

I’ll write more about the choice of JazzUpTheWeb.com — but I like the associating the connotations of active play, fun, and improvisation with the World Wide Web.

Registering the name at some domain registrar. I have been godaddy.com because of the relatively low price. There are a lot of registrars out there and I don’t have any deep insight into the best one to use. I’ve been happy so far with godaddy.com register.com and Yahoo’s domain registration service. I’m not surprised that lifehacker.com has a good discussion on this topic: Ask Lifehacker Readers: Good domain registrar?.

Mapping the domain name to your hosting service. First you have to have a place to host a domain. Again, there are many options, ranging from setting a web server up at home to get high-end colocation. The service I currently use is cornerhost.com for shared hosting. That is, someone else, in this case one person, the proprietor — Michal Wallace, does the system administration. I have a shell account but no root privileges. I signed up because of Mark Pilgrim’s recommendation and the appeal of a “service with a friendly face.”. One can certainly get better deals on storage/bandwidth though, and I may eventually want to move to get higher end hosting should I need more storage/bandwidth or when I have the desire or need to do my system administration.

As for technical details of the mapping, there are two steps: 1) use the godaddy.com admin panel to delegate the mapping of jazzuptheweb.com to the cornerhost DNS servers (ns1.sabren.com and ns2.sabren.com) and 2) use the cornerhost.com admin panel to tell cornerhost to respond to requests for jazzuptheweb.com.

 

Why a blog on wordpress.com?

Since I already have an account at cornerhost.com, which hosts my Movable Type (MT) personal weblog Hypotyposis on a Good Day, a natural blogging option would be to set up a MT weblog on cornerhost.com. Why didn’t I go that route?

First of all, I wanted to try out WordPress (WP). Secondly, I didn’t to set up WP, which includes configuring my cornerhost accout to respond to the jazzuptheweb.com name, before jumping in with writing.

The solution I chose was to go with hosted WordPress by setting up this blog on wordpress.com. The price was certainly right: $0. The fact that a high profile blogger such as Robert Scoble is using the service gives me some confidence in the ability of wordpress.com to handle heavy traffic. I also confirmed that WordPress had some level of ability to import and export data, even if it means using the XML-RPC programmatic interface. That means that, in theory at least, my data won’t be stuck at wordpress.com.

There’s a lot of power in using a hosted service, primarily because it lets you hit the ground running. Not surprisingly, there are downsides. The fact that wordpress.com lets a user set up an “unlimited” number of blogs with yet unspecified storage limits and commerical plans does make me concerned about the long-term viability of wordpress.com as a business. I look forward to be able to pay for features such a domain hosting and increased storage since the revenue should help it stay around.

 

Setting up jazzuptheweb.com

I’ve created this weblog to help me think through how to set up JazzUpTheWeb (jazzuptheweb.com), a new site about how individuals and groups can liven up and improve the Web through playful improvisation of its existing functionality. I’m still defining such elements as the site’s exact message, structure, and the software to use. I would like to document the process by which I work through these and other issues without cluttering the site to come with “too much meta.”