... Fashion Assassin

I have been using WordPress for around 4 years now and all in all it has been a fun ride but time has come for a change in my quest to simplify life, to refocus on blogging.

Focus on content and not how great and powerful a platform is or how I can play with the header image in every post. Refocus on content. Cut out the bloat. I love WordPress but the platform, a very powerful option which everyone should consider in their quest to run a blog, has grown beyond my personal needs.

What I want here for iFranky is a blog; I don’t need a full-blown CMS.

It’s An Ongoing Fight

This is nothing new and last year two years ago already I tried another platform, Chyrp, here on iFranky. With the impending merge of WPMU and WordPress for the 3.0 version, I feel that my time has come and after the redesign of iFranky to a single column design it is time to simplify the backend as well.

Introducing Habari

In one of my first ever entries on BloggingPro I reviewed self hosted blogging options and included Habari among the platforms, saying the following:

…is one of the blog platforms to watch. Started by some of the core members of the k2 theme for WordPress, the idea behind Habari is simple: a blog platform with the most cutting edge technology.

PROS

• Cutting edge technology, PHP5.2 required;
• Support for both MySQL and SQLite (PostgreSQL support is planned);
• Apache 2.0 license, following the meritocracy principles;
• Support for Apache, Lighttp and Nginx server;
• Respected and blog experienced core developers.

CONS

• Very young community and software, only few themes and plugins available;
• Apache 2.0 license: sometimes discussion, decision can take ages.

Distraction Free Environment

I usually do most of my writing for shorter entries in the WordPress editor and for longer posts I tend to use WriteRoom⁽¹⁾. Habari itself though makes writing in the post editor a lot more enjoyable and although the full screen experience isn’t reached Habari does a great job at keeping the environment distraction free.

The whole admin interface, experience is totally different. After the creation of Kubrick, co-creation of the marvellous k2 theme for WordPress, which certainly served as inspiration for the Kirby theme for WordPress, a concept for a WordPress 2010 default theme, the Habari interface is another gorgeous creation by Michael Heilemann. You should try it out yourself and give the Habari demo a test run here.

I Love WordPress

My love for WordPress as a software blog package will continue. In fact, expect many more WordPress tutorials from me over at BloggingPro in the next few weeks, but there is no doubt that I will also pay more attention to other platforms at BloggingPro. It will be an uphill battle but it’s a challenge I gladly take on.
The beauty of blogging is to have many options available and it is the task of a general blog news site to report about as many platforms as available.

Personally though I have no need for all the features offered by WordPress and both iFranky and frankylicious will be converted to Habari over the next weeks. This is no decision against WordPress, this is opting for the best platform for the job, the best platform for my needs.

I will also port Notesblog by Thord to Habari.

1. I recently discovered Scrivener as the ultimate software for longer features and to work at drafts of future entries. Entries requiring lots of research (↩)