7 ms·

you can't have a content system (like a blog) without a database. (At least you can't have an easy to manage one)

by maybesofast 14y ago

noblethrasher 14y ago
Hacker News doesn't use a database (assuming 'database' means some separate system like an RDBMS or KV store).
- espeed 14y ago
  Doesn't HN run on sqlite?
  - stefano 14y ago
    I think everything is saved in flat files in a directory structure.
ConstantineXVI 14y ago
But it doesn't have to be an online database. See Octopress[0]. [0] http://octopress.org/ http://octopress.org/
- chc 14y ago
  He did say "easy to manage". I guess that's relative. Having the database always available has some conveniences (e.g. you can actually have comments on your pages instead of a JavaScript placeholder), and using a platform that's both really popular and quite mature has even more. A couple of comparisons should illustrate: How to write a post with WordPress: 1. Click the + button 2. Write 3. Check the tags you want 4. Click publish How to write a post with Octopress: 1. Type `rake new_post["whatever you want your title to be"]` 2. Navigate to source/posts/yyyy-mm-dd-whatever-you-want-your-title-to-be and open it 3. Type your post 4. Enter the categories in brackets at the appropriate place in the YAML front matter 5. Go back to the root of your site and type `rake generate` 6. Type `rsync -az public/ user@yourserver.com:yoursitedirectory`. This is based on the Octopress documentation -- I've only ever used naked Jekyll, but it sounds fairly similar, so I don't think I'm being too unfair here. I'm also giving Octopress a lot of leeway by e.g. including the press of "publish" as a separate step for Wordpress but not the equivalent step of saving when writing for Octopress. It only gets harder from there. Installing and tweaking a Wordpress theme or plugin is pretty easy. With Octopress, you actually have to sit down and code. I get that some hackers might be into all that, but surely you can see why somebody might find Wordpress more convenient.

you can't have a content system (like a blog) without a database. (At least you can't have an easy to manage one)

noblethrasher 14y ago

Hacker News doesn't use a database (assuming 'database' means some separate system like an RDBMS or KV store).

espeed 14y ago
Doesn't HN run on sqlite?
- stefano 14y ago
  I think everything is saved in flat files in a directory structure.

ConstantineXVI 14y ago

But it doesn't have to be an online database. See Octopress[0]. [0] http://octopress.org/ http://octopress.org/

chc 14y ago
He did say "easy to manage". I guess that's relative. Having the database always available has some conveniences (e.g. you can actually have comments on your pages instead of a JavaScript placeholder), and using a platform that's both really popular and quite mature has even more. A couple of comparisons should illustrate: How to write a post with WordPress: 1. Click the + button 2. Write 3. Check the tags you want 4. Click publish How to write a post with Octopress: 1. Type `rake new_post["whatever you want your title to be"]` 2. Navigate to source/posts/yyyy-mm-dd-whatever-you-want-your-title-to-be and open it 3. Type your post 4. Enter the categories in brackets at the appropriate place in the YAML front matter 5. Go back to the root of your site and type `rake generate` 6. Type `rsync -az public/ user@yourserver.com:yoursitedirectory`. This is based on the Octopress documentation -- I've only ever used naked Jekyll, but it sounds fairly similar, so I don't think I'm being too unfair here. I'm also giving Octopress a lot of leeway by e.g. including the press of "publish" as a separate step for Wordpress but not the equivalent step of saving when writing for Octopress. It only gets harder from there. Installing and tweaking a Wordpress theme or plugin is pretty easy. With Octopress, you actually have to sit down and code. I get that some hackers might be into all that, but surely you can see why somebody might find Wordpress more convenient.