Feathers

This is surprisingly hard to describe. As such, here’s the IRC log of us bickering over what the hell to say about them. I figure this should do until we have something more typical here.

10:47 (hrabbit_) AlexSuraci: are you looking for a human document on how a feather works?
10:48 (AlexSuraci) not really how they work
10:48 (AlexSuraci) just wtf they are
10:48 (tnl) i'd love to read that
10:48 (AlexSuraci) but I'm having trouble describing them eloquently
10:49 (AlexSuraci) I'm about to just have the wiki say "A feather is a feather."
10:49 (hrabbit_) Was thinking of taking a crack at it, if your interested of course
10:49 (AlexSuraci) Sure, go ahead
10:49 (tnl) i hope this document addresses philosophy rather than just technicalities
10:49 (hrabbit_) I was thinking if I broke it down to describe what the tumblr pack feathers do it might help some people out
10:50 (AlexSuraci) sure, just make sure you say "For example" in there
10:50 (AlexSuraci) "A feather is a magic thingy Chyrp has that few people understand. Those that understand cannot describe it. Hence the futility of this wiki."
10:50 (tnl) >:7
10:50 (AlexSuraci) Don't want the tumblr pack to be confused with something that is like, close to the metal of chyrp
10:50 (AlexSuraci) they're just feathers like any other
10:50 (hrabbit_) I wasn't going to actually mention the word tumblr in it
10:51 (hrabbit_) just the basic usage and how they.. hmm.. I see your problem now
10:51 (hrabbit_) Intro: A feather is a small code snippet that allows for a very specific type of information to be displayed on your Chyrp page.
10:52 (hrabbit_) maybe without the mention of code snippet..
10:52 hrabbit_ thinks
10:52 (AlexSuraci) I don't know if "small c--yea
10:52 (AlexSuraci) you can compare them to a module
10:52 (AlexSuraci) if that helps
10:52 (AlexSuraci) but the module article isn't up yet either :P
10:52 (hrabbit_) See I was working on this before and came up with...
10:53 (hrabbit_) Hope this doesn't look like spammage
10:53 (hrabbit_)  * Text
10:53 (hrabbit_)    * A simple text entry that allows for your most basic blogging needs. Nothing fancy other than the title and the contents.
10:53 (hrabbit_)    * Most people would probably use this feather the most.
10:53 (hrabbit_)    * Adding embedded items (eg. pictures/links) is as simple as using your preferred markup module.
10:53 (hrabbit_) But that might be too "technical" as well
10:57 (hrabbit_) Okay, so, is the above too vague as well?
10:57 (hrabbit_) Cos if it is.. I'll scrap it and go from scratch again
10:59 (AlexSuraci) I'd say so
10:59 (AlexSuraci) http://github.com/vito/chyrp/wikis/modules
10:59 (AlexSuraci) I'm just putting up scraps at the moment
11:00 (hrabbit_) okay, I could say something like.. "Modules manipulate data behind the scenes. Feathers display a particular data type to the viewer"
11:01 (hrabbit_) It's a post with a specific content type
11:02 (AlexSuraci) hrm
11:02 (AlexSuraci) "Feathers aid in presenting your content."
11:02 (hrabbit_) yeah, see, thats ambiguous, because modules can too :P
11:02 (hrabbit_) although the word "presenting" is the key there
11:03 (AlexSuraci) "...by providing specific types of data"
11:03 (AlexSuraci) blagh
11:03 (hrabbit_) haha.. love ya work :P
11:04 (AlexSuraci) "Feathers allow you to more quickly add a specific type of content to your website, and present them in different ways."
11:05 (hrabbit_) remove "more" :P
11:05 (AlexSuraci) "The concept is most commonly associated with tumblelogs." would be good to have in there
11:05 (AlexSuraci) you're the editor here, not me :P
11:05 (hrabbit_) A feather is a post containing a very specific type of information to be displayed in your Chyrp blog.
11:05 (AlexSuraci) well, a feather isn't a post
11:05 (hrabbit_) oh, damn :P
11:05 (AlexSuraci) a feather specifies the...
11:05 (AlexSuraci) genre? of the post
11:05 (AlexSuraci) and lets you add it quicker
11:06 (AlexSuraci) (I don't want to say category because that has its own implications.)
11:07 (hrabbit_) A feather is an installable extension to allow for quickly adding and displaying a specific type of information your Chyrp blog.
11:08 (hrabbit_) s/your/in your/
11:08 (tnl) +as a single post in itself, because you have nothing else to tie into it
11:08 (AlexSuraci) I prefer content over information
11:08 (AlexSuraci) and to your over "in your" :P
11:08 (AlexSuraci) tnl: probably a good thing to add, yea
11:08 (AlexSuraci) well, maybe in another sentence
11:08 (tnl) :J
11:08 (AlexSuraci) that one's sorta long already :P
11:09 (tnl) change the tone of that |:
11:09 (hrabbit_) yeah okay.. gimme a sec..
11:09 (AlexSuraci) "They are independent posts, and cannot be merged with one another."
11:09 (tnl) i haven't found a use for the feathers, guess i'm too technical with the Text feather.
11:10 (AlexSuraci) they're not meant to be used for everyone :P
11:10 (AlexSuraci) I made it so they can be ignored pretty well
11:10 (hrabbit_) It is handy.. the links one is awesome
11:10 (hrabbit_) find a cool link. Click the bookmarklet.. done :)
11:13 (hrabbit_) "A feather is an installable extension to allow for quickly adding independent genre based post items to your Chyrp blog."
11:14 hrabbit_ starts to wonder if this isn't a lot harder than first anticipated
11:14 (tnl) genre is the wrong word
11:15 (tnl) binary file format :X
11:15 (AlexSuraci) this is for humans
11:15 (AlexSuraci) and not all of them have file uploads
11:16 (tnl) damn humans, always interfering with my plans!
11:18 (hrabbit_) I suppose a feather (other than text) is the difference between a tumblelog and a blog
11:20 (hrabbit_) maybe independent should be replaced with standalone
11:21 (hrabbit_) but that sounds like there is nothing else being presented
11:21 (hrabbit_) grrr
11:22 (AlexSuraci) immutable :P
11:22 (hrabbit_) see, human again :P
11:22 hrabbit_ googles the word immutable
11:23 (AlexSuraci) it's a programming term
11:23 (hrabbit_) okay, cool word, but it's hard to grasp the sentence without knowing the meaning. Making the sentence bad
11:24 (AlexSuraci) say "feathers have spikey things on them that prevent them from merging with other feathers"
11:24 (hrabbit_) haha.. thats brilliant
11:26 (tnl) "A feather is a means for you to let some non-textual content speak for itself, making typing largely optional, because you're too wasted to care."
11:26 (AlexSuraci) hahah
11:26 (hrabbit_) haha
11:26 (arbor) you can use feathers to tickle feet
11:27 (hrabbit_) arbor: not just feet ^^
11:27 (tnl) seriously, that's all i can come up with. seems more point and click. only the Text module requires typing?
11:27 (AlexSuraci) tnl: not really
11:28 (AlexSuraci) and *feather
11:28 (AlexSuraci) it's just a more concise way of centering your post about a specific thing
11:29 (AlexSuraci) and allowing your theme to take it and present it the best way possible for that type of content
11:29 (AlexSuraci) making it easier to, anyway
11:29 (hrabbit_) Maybe we should just post a large list of what each of have said about them :)
11:29 (AlexSuraci) but then they'd be confused D:
11:29 (hrabbit_) Then people can decide the meaning for themselves
11:29 (AlexSuraci) sounds good though
11:29 (hrabbit_) more than they are now?
11:29 (AlexSuraci) I'll just c&p the log