Christopher Merle

I just upgraded to WordPress 3.0. It was pretty painless. Didn’t have to change my theme or anything. I did upgrade two of the plugins as well. Now to explore 3.0 and see what’s new.

I’ll be attending PyCon 2010 in Atlanta in a couple of days. This will make my 5th trip to the conference. I started going because I inherited a Zope website. Zope isn’t the best introduction to Python but there you have it. I went because it was the closest I’d thing in price and time to getting more information about Zope. At the same time I got to learn more about Python and how cool it was. My eyes were open to the world of Python.

Although the freelance work I’m doing now is WordPress, I’m looking for opportunities to use Python. I helped to start a user group in Tucson called TuPLE. It stands for Tucson Python Language Enthusiasts. It is a small but very active group. So active in fact. Five members of our little group will be attending PyCon this year. Wow! Last year three of us went.

If I had my druthers I’d rather be working with Django or Plone, but my clients needs are fulfilled with PHP based systems such as WordPress. I’d push Plone or Django but most low cost web hosts aren’t set up for Python based CMSes or web apps. I’ve played with several PHP based systems: e107, Joomla, Drupal, and WordPress. I’ve got the most experience with WordPress and the groups or clients I’ve set up sites for WordPress did what they needed to do.

I’m not knocking the others but frankly I don’t have the time to get up to speed on those others except in the most rudimentary manner. I’ve invested quite a bit of time in Plone and Django and I’d hate to see that go to waste.

I’ve been working on some WordPress websites for some clients and I’ve noticed a distinct improvement in themes since I last perused them. So I’ve decided it’s time to update my theme. Right now it’s fspring with minor mods. The picture at the top of the paper maple is mine. So don’t be surprised if the look changes from day to day and you see changes within in a theme.

I’ve started doing freelance work. At the beginning of the year I was helping a company get their feet wet with Plone. A lot of work and I learned a lot. I’ve set up a website for a an author who has a book coming out. I’m looking for other opportunities. Plone is a long term project and really requires me to be part of a team, but for solo projects I’m very good at helping people set up WordPress websites. It’s good for small websites with a small number of users and there are many many skins available that can be easily customized to meet the needs of a client. I’m also familiar with Django, but still have much to learn about it.

I’m a firm believer in content management systems. It allows non-technical people the ability to manage their own websites. Plone is by far the one of the best open source CMSs available. It can take time to set up one but if you have a lot of information to manage and a fair number of end users, it’s the way to go.