as done and enjoyed by all, me especially. We were fortunate enough to have peacefulmuslimah with us, flying all the way from Doha! (she regards Doha as the suburbs of Bahrain, so that can’t be too bad!).
Here’s a mugshot of the crew:
See if you can recognise who’s who!
There are more pictures here
Looking forward to the next one, make sure you register and turn up on Dec 2nd.
Comments
1st Bahrain Blogger Meetup
It was surprsingly relaxed and pleasnat, to be honest. You guys were easy to get along with and it made a difference being around such a a swell and freindly bunch!
Credits due to Haitham for pulling this together (and, not forgetting, for the drink. Cheers mate!)
Thanks everyone and we’ll certainly be seeing you soon.
Re: 1st Bahrain Blogger Meetup
Indeed and hear hear too!
How about also arranging demos of the various software engines that we use for our blogs? I know that you Ali use bravejournal, Haitham uses TypePad and WordPress, everybody else it seems use blogspot while I do Xaraya. Is there any interest in investigating the features, comparisons and why one chose this or that? Or is that too technical and we should concentrate on the content rather than the engine?
1st Bahrain Blogger Meetup
So what did you guys talk about?
1st Bahrain Blogger Meetup
[quote]How about also arranging demos of the various software engines that we use for our blogs?[/quote]
thats a great idea…. i’m having a headache with blogspot… its not flexible at all….. i’ve used nucleus & pmachine in the past…. but they’ve been pretty stiff as well…..
Right now i’m looking for a blog coded in php that has a bbs kind of system where users can have one userid and password to access their own mini-blog, gallery, a pm inbox thingie, their own rss feeds, links … an ipb or vbulletin type of interface thats easily skinnable and can be modded & uses mysql as the backend …..& something thats not xaraya… 😀
I’ll be totally relieved if anyone can suggest me a open-source php blog with the features i’ve mentioned?
Re: 1st Bahrain Blogger Meetup
STEVE!
… and other little topics like Bush, Ali’s book, the amount of smoke in that place was unbelievable! I started caughing and choking after a while. Sent my clothes to the laundry to take away the smell. Oh, we’re talking about what we talked about… oh, yeah, STEVE! Did I say that already? And how Mark was infatuated with shawarmas 🙂
Re: 1st Bahrain Blogger Meetup
boy you don’t ask for much do you?
Re(1): 1st Bahrain Blogger Meetup
mmmmm Shawarma…………… DOH!
Re(1): 1st Bahrain Blogger Meetup
[quote]How about also arranging demos of the various software engines that we use for our blogs?[/quote]
That’s a good idea. Well, I can run a demo of any of the following on one of my domains:
[b]Blogs:[/b]
b2
b2evolution
Nucleus
pMachine Free
WordPress
MT
[b]Content Management:[/b]
Drupal
Geeklog
Mambo Open Source
PHP-Nuke
phpWCMS
phpWebSite
Post-Nuke
Siteframe
Xoops
[b]Discussion Boards:[/b]
Invision Board
phpBB2
YaBBSE
[b]Image Galleries:[/b]
4Images Gallery
Coppermine Photo Gallery
[b]Wiki:[/b]
PhpWiki
TikiWiki
I can install a demo of any, and to make it worth the try:
1. one of the softwares at a time.
2. the invitation is only valid for BBMG (Bahrain Blogger Meetup Group), atleast at the moment.
3. Demo for one week.
So you guys select what you wanna try, and I’m ready.
… in case anyone else is afraid to ask, re: Shawarma!
I know I was.
Shawarma = The Arabian Taco …
[img]http://www.shalombr.com/jpg/shawarma.jpg[/img]
[img]http://images.wcities.com/www.wcities.com/cityrecords/81558.jpg[/img]
[url]http://www.gomideast.com/articles/shw1.htm[/url]
[Modified by: Sandee (Sandee) on November 05, 2004 02:29 PM]
Re(2): 1st Bahrain Blogger Meetup
I see that you’ve been around for quite a while, you mention some dear names there like PHP/PostNuke, Mambo, *Wiki and others which I have gone through once upon a time. Even helping bring about a calendar module (PostCalendar) for PostNuke!
But I have learned that it’s not the engine, but the content is what makes a great site, of course, if the engine is flexible and strong enough to grow with you, the easier it is for you to concentrate on the real reason of having a dynamic website in the first place, and that is to manage your content!
I’m note sure that I would want to go through all of the ones you mention above Haitham, it would be nice to visit example sites to get the flavour. My intention behind the suggestion is to allow the people using the “free” engines like BraveJournal, Blogspot and others to see that there are other solutions which they could grow with, and might make their life a bit easier!
Take Xaraya for instance, it can offer so much more than what I am using it for at the moment, but at least when I wanted to add another section to template the addition of movies, it was simple enough and very quick to create not only a template, but also create the necessary fields to hold the repeatedly required information.
So, why don’t we all make a list of what’s important for us in an engine to manage our content? Then we can distill that list and arrive at a short-list of CMS/Blogging tools that we might want to investigate and demonstrate more fully?
And if within that list we can find champions from within the group (ie, comfortable using one of the tools) then that champion can demo the engine during one of the meetings.
The end result is for us to be cognizant of what is available in the market.
1st Bahrain Blogger Meetup
lol…. i guess i don’t ;)… :)… ok maybe i’ll just have to go with some that haitham mentioned above… i’ve got the same software installed on my server……
1]as for the demos and stuff… i can chip in a couple of space and bandwidth for anyone who wants to try it out.. a demo/week like haitham suggested….oh i’m havin’ it as per week ‘cos i got a limited number of mysql db’s i can use up/
2] the invitation is only valid for BBMG (Bahrain Blogger Meetup Group),
b2 (go for b2 evolution its a lot more nicer)
b2evolution
Nucleus [might use this one again as a last option]
pMachine Free [have used it before, hasn’t offered me much scope]
Content Management:
Drupal
Geeklog
Mambo Open Source (grt on mods)
PHP-Nuke (very, very skinnable)
phpWCMS
phpWebSite (i got a presentation site of this already up, it just took me 20 mins to get everything configured out,…the url is http://www.ucbstudents.info)
Post-Nuke
Siteframe
Xoops
Discussion Boards:
Invision Board [not very pro, on the other hand its one of the widely available free bbs’s thats got a lotta’ hacks for it]
phpBB2 [theres a new look of this come out called – punBB]
YaBBSE [its ok i guess… not a lotta’ mods for it as invision tho]
Image Galleries:
4Images Gallery (got a working version of this as well up n runnin’ – http://www.fansofterbo.info)
Coppermine Photo Gallery
Wiki:
PhpWiki
TikiWiki
3] invitation is valid for those who are & aren’t yet members of the BBMG……if i know how many ppl want one i can set up on a free space set with 12 gigs of data transfer/ month…. just send me an email if u’re interested//// and we’ll try to work something out……
i also propose that we a shared blog on the bbmg site, (like ali suggested or someone else did i think.. not sure abt tht) where one person starts off a post and the other person continues it until… the next meetup….
u’re gonna ask whats the prupose .. well i think its just fun…. and it draws a lotta ppl together….. this way u have yo meetups with more ppl gettin to know abt it…. i dunno.. its an ideal in its skeletal stages…. i guess 😀
Re: … in case anyone else is afraid to ask, re: Shawarma!
Damnit Sandee!! Now you had to go and post that pic didn’t you? Now I have to fly back to Bahrain so I can dine on a few dozen of those wonderful shawarmas. Would someone please call BurgerLand and tell them I am on the way?
Re: … in case anyone else is afraid to ask, re: Shawarma!
problem is, they NEVER look like that!
Just like when I get disappointed that when I wolf a bounty, I don’t feel like I’m on a beach surrounded by luscious beauties!
My ideal blog software would:
Let’s start this thread then and see where we get to. Reply to this post and list the 5 most important aspects of blogging software you would need. Just 5 and then we’ll whittle things down:
1. free (open source)
2. flexible/modular
3. good media/content management
4. search engine optimised/friendly
5. php/mysql based
Re(1): … in case anyone else is afraid to ask, re: Shawarma!
Ha! So BurgerLand wins against GrillLand huh?! 😉
1st Bahrain Blogger Meetup
Steve,
What do I have to do so that they will talk about me in the next meet up? Please I need your advice…..I am so jealeous.
Re(2): … in case anyone else is afraid to ask, re: Shawarma!
On taste YES. Grill Land got my final vote because I can walk there from the house if need be. At this point I don’t CARE which one it is just have them for me when I get off the plane! (beef/lamb please) See you in 24 hours.
[Modified by: Bonsaimark (Bonsaimark) on November 05, 2004 06:59 PM]
Re: My ideal blog software would:
I guess same as you mentioned, apart from the last one, I don’t mind a perl or php.
And I guess when u say flexible/modular, you mean templates, plugins, etc…
Re: My ideal blog software would:
1. open source & good tech support/help guides
2. php/mysql based
3. skinnable & can be modded easily
4. excellent admin/user options & portal-interface
5. seo & ease of use
thats not a lot to ask for now ;)… innit 😀
Whoops …
[size=9]Note to self, don’t press the submit button twice.[/size]
[Modified by: Sandee (Sandee) on November 05, 2004 03:22 PM]
The (www.mahmood.tv) Blog evolution …
VERY cool that you got together to do some face-to-face chit chat and even talk about Blog futures / technologies. But since I’m still a relatively new guy here – I’ve been checking out the achieves … which brought me to [b]www.mahmood.tv of blogs past[/b]! How’s this to demonstrate blog evolution not only in design and technology, but topics (actually, the topics remain pretty consistent!). Your version one blog from July 2001 …
[b]Check this achieve site out:[/b] [url]http://web.archive.org/web const a=JSON.parse(document.getElementById("wp-emoji-settings").textContent),o=(window._wpemojiSettings=a,"wpEmojiSettingsSupports"),s=["flag","emoji"];function i(e){try{var t={supportTests:e,timestamp:(new Date).valueOf()};sessionStorage.setItem(o,JSON.stringify(t))}catch(e){}}function c(e,t,n){e.clearRect(0,0,e.canvas.width,e.canvas.height),e.fillText(t,0,0);t=new Uint32Array(e.getImageData(0,0,e.canvas.width,e.canvas.height).data);e.clearRect(0,0,e.canvas.width,e.canvas.height),e.fillText(n,0,0);const a=new Uint32Array(e.getImageData(0,0,e.canvas.width,e.canvas.height).data);return t.every((e,t)=>e===a[t])}function p(e,t){e.clearRect(0,0,e.canvas.width,e.canvas.height),e.fillText(t,0,0);var n=e.getImageData(16,16,1,1);for(let e=0;e{s[e]=t(o,e,n,a)}),s}function r(e){var t=document.createElement("script");t.src=e,t.defer=!0,document.head.appendChild(t)}a.supports={everything:!0,everythingExceptFlag:!0},new Promise(t=>{let n=function(){try{var e=JSON.parse(sessionStorage.getItem(o));if("object"==typeof e&&"number"==typeof e.timestamp&&(new Date).valueOf(){i(n=e.data),r.terminate(),t(n)})}catch(e){}i(n=f(s,u,c,p))}t(n)}).then(e=>{for(const n in e)a.supports[n]=e[n],a.supports.everything=a.supports.everything&&a.supports[n],"flag"!==n&&(a.supports.everythingExceptFlag=a.supports.everythingExceptFlag&&a.supports[n]);var t;a.supports.everythingExceptFlag=a.supports.everythingExceptFlag&&!a.supports.flag,a.supports.everything||((t=a.source||{}).concatemoji?r(t.concatemoji):t.wpemoji&&t.twemoji&&(r(t.twemoji),r(t.wpemoji)))});