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May 2003 notes on weblog interfaces
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 May 2003 notes on weblog interfaces
started 5/18/2003; 6:25:58 AM - last post 5/18/2003; 6:25:58 AM
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Dave Winer - May 2003 notes on weblog interfaces 
5/18/2003; 6:25:58 AM (reads: 8869, responses: 0)
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I've now read Evan Williams's May 10 piece about weblog APIs, and find much to like there. Most important is a statement that they're willing to re-think the next step in the Blogger API. This is good because it gives us a chance to resynch.
My recital 
Evan notes that he was surprised when that I jumped on board in supporting the Blogger API when it came out, without anyone asking me to. Here's why I did it. I wanted a common API for weblog tools.
I believed from experience in the Mac market that I could try to push an API on my competitors, and they probably wouldn't do it. But here I had the opportunity, without convincing anyone else, to have a common API, all I had to do was drop my pride, and stop promoting the ManilaRPC interface, in favor of the much smaller Blogger API. So that's what I did, and it worked very well.
I kind of hoped that Evan would see me do this and get an idea that he could do the same thing when the MetaWeblog API came out. We weren't communicating at all at that time. The MetaWeblog API was designed as if it were part of the Blogger API. It wasn't a complete API on its own, it assumed that the other Blogger API calls were already implemented.
It took a while for the conversation to start, and perhaps it wasn't as smooth as we would have liked (let's do better in the future) but now the conversation has started. Let's try to do something with that.
Give and take
There are certain things that I really want in the weblog API, so much so that if I don't get them I can't do a deal. One of them is the connection between the API and RSS 2.0. As was noted in the Diego Doval thread, this is what people really like. I do too. It's the easy way the MetaWeblog API covers all the item-level functionality, and is extensible through namespaces as RSS 2.0 is. This is why I've asked both Movable Type and Blogger to fully support RSS 2.0, and not half-heartedly, with both feet in.
Let's stop arguing about what RSS is. We've got a principle that whoever goes first sets the pattern. It's that way for the Blogger API, Trackback and the MetaWeblog API. Now let's get the same principle going for RSS. Guys and gals, I went first here, by years, and puts tons of effort into promoting RSS. Why do you both do it differently? That's not fair, and you wouldn't like it if I came out with an implementation of Trackback that didn't work like MT's or if I called the MetaWeblog API the Blogger API. So if you really want to be different, use a different name. Let's get that much going right in the weblog tools market. Sort of like The Golden Rule. Okay? But what I'd really like to see is both MT and Blogger use RSS 2.0 as it was designed to be used.
We've all gotten behind Blogger's lead in APIs, and the MetaWeblog API really is the Blogger API, with a couple of enhancements, and one subtraction. So let's add back the appkey, or if you guys want, let's put in a struct for the user-login info, and let's call it a standard. Let's ask Phil Ringnalda to put together a group to verify compatibility, and report bugs openly, and lets get the three tools completely compatible.
I think we're incredibly close to being able to do this.
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