Ryan Sholin » code http://ryansholin.com The future of news. And more. No funny stuff. Fri, 10 Feb 2012 18:54:44 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 2006-2007 ryansholin@gmail.com (Ryan Sholin) ryansholin@gmail.com (Ryan Sholin) http://www.ryansholin.com/wp-content/plugins/podpress/images/powered_by_podpress.jpg Ryan Sholin http://ryansholin.com 144 144 Ryan Sholin on the future of newspapers, online news and journalism education. Ryan Sholin Ryan Sholin ryansholin@gmail.com no no Introduction to open-source GIS tools for journalists http://ryansholin.com/2011/09/20/introduction-to-open-source-gis-tools-for-journalists/ http://ryansholin.com/2011/09/20/introduction-to-open-source-gis-tools-for-journalists/#comments Tue, 20 Sep 2011 10:15:48 +0000 Ryan Sholin http://ryansholin.com/?p=8278 Introduction to open-source GIS tools for journalists: GIS software is expensive, right? Wait, there are open source GIS tools now? And Matt Wynn wrote up a few for Poynter? Let me mash my mouse on that link…

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]]> http://ryansholin.com/2011/09/20/introduction-to-open-source-gis-tools-for-journalists/feed/ 0 Open source tools from the Chicago Tribune news apps team http://ryansholin.com/2011/06/24/open-source-tools-from-the-chicago-tribune-news-apps-team/ http://ryansholin.com/2011/06/24/open-source-tools-from-the-chicago-tribune-news-apps-team/#comments Fri, 24 Jun 2011 17:15:41 +0000 Ryan Sholin http://ryansholin.com/?p=8084 Recent open source work and other projects we’re excited about: Free open source tools from the Chicago Tribune news apps team. Census, Twitter, regional boundary data, etc.

 

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]]> http://ryansholin.com/2011/06/24/open-source-tools-from-the-chicago-tribune-news-apps-team/feed/ 0 JSON output, Ping services – Benjamin Golub’s Blog http://ryansholin.com/2008/11/17/json-output-ping-services-benjamin-golubs-blog/ http://ryansholin.com/2008/11/17/json-output-ping-services-benjamin-golubs-blog/#comments Tue, 18 Nov 2008 02:20:09 +0000 Ryan Sholin http://ryansholin.com/2008/11/17/json-output-ping-services-benjamin-golubs-blog/ Mmmmm – Add a JSON model to your Django app for easy export.

JSON output, Ping services – Benjamin Golub’s Blog

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]]> http://ryansholin.com/2008/11/17/json-output-ping-services-benjamin-golubs-blog/feed/ 0 Django snippets: YUI Autocomplete http://ryansholin.com/2008/10/17/django-snippets-yui-autocomplete/ http://ryansholin.com/2008/10/17/django-snippets-yui-autocomplete/#comments Fri, 17 Oct 2008 17:40:57 +0000 Ryan Sholin http://ryansholin.com/2008/10/17/django-snippets-yui-autocomplete/ Django snippets: YUI Autocomplete

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]]> http://ryansholin.com/2008/10/17/django-snippets-yui-autocomplete/feed/ 0 Orloglausa » Django Comments – Doing it Right http://ryansholin.com/2008/10/09/orloglausa-%c2%bb-django-comments-doing-it-right/ http://ryansholin.com/2008/10/09/orloglausa-%c2%bb-django-comments-doing-it-right/#comments Thu, 09 Oct 2008 14:31:39 +0000 Ryan Sholin http://ryansholin.com/2008/10/09/orloglausa-%c2%bb-django-comments-doing-it-right/ This was totally useful and up to date with Django 1.0, and helped me build my own form.html.

Orloglausa » Django Comments – Doing it Right

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]]> http://ryansholin.com/2008/10/09/orloglausa-%c2%bb-django-comments-doing-it-right/feed/ 0 Getting Started with Ruby on Rails – A List Apart http://ryansholin.com/2008/04/23/getting-started-with-ruby-on-rails-a-list-apart/ http://ryansholin.com/2008/04/23/getting-started-with-ruby-on-rails-a-list-apart/#comments Wed, 23 Apr 2008 10:42:06 +0000 Ryan Sholin http://ryansholin.com/2008/04/23/getting-started-with-ruby-on-rails-a-list-apart/ Getting Started with Ruby on Rails – A List Apart

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]]> http://ryansholin.com/2008/04/23/getting-started-with-ruby-on-rails-a-list-apart/feed/ 0 try ruby! (in your browser) http://ryansholin.com/2008/03/28/try-ruby-in-your-browser/ http://ryansholin.com/2008/03/28/try-ruby-in-your-browser/#comments Sat, 29 Mar 2008 04:27:13 +0000 Ryan Sholin http://ryansholin.com/2008/03/28/try-ruby-in-your-browser/ And suddenly teaching myself another programming language without a very rational reason to back it up.

try ruby! (in your browser)

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]]> http://ryansholin.com/2008/03/28/try-ruby-in-your-browser/feed/ 0 F*cking programming : Codeulate. http://ryansholin.com/2007/12/18/fcking-programming-codeulate/ http://ryansholin.com/2007/12/18/fcking-programming-codeulate/#comments Tue, 18 Dec 2007 15:06:31 +0000 Ryan Sholin http://ryansholin.com/2007/12/18/fcking-programming-codeulate/ Thankfully, someone used Google Code Search to find many instances of the word “fuck” in commented out code all over the Interweb. Put a smile on my face. via Joe M.

F*cking programming : Codeulate.

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]]> http://ryansholin.com/2007/12/18/fcking-programming-codeulate/feed/ 0 Devlounge | WordPress Theme: Log In On The Front Page http://ryansholin.com/2007/11/05/devlounge-wordpress-theme-log-in-on-the-front-page/ http://ryansholin.com/2007/11/05/devlounge-wordpress-theme-log-in-on-the-front-page/#comments Tue, 06 Nov 2007 01:07:17 +0000 Ryan Sholin http://ryansholin.com/2007/11/05/devlounge-wordpress-theme-log-in-on-the-front-page/ This is something that’s been on my wishlist for developing wordpress themes for sorta-social networking purposes. I hate sending users away to a login page.

Devlounge | WordPress Theme: Log In On The Front Page

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]]> http://ryansholin.com/2007/11/05/devlounge-wordpress-theme-log-in-on-the-front-page/feed/ 0 Is your newspaper.com is a big ball of mud? http://ryansholin.com/2007/09/17/is-your-newspapercom-is-a-big-ball-of-mud/ http://ryansholin.com/2007/09/17/is-your-newspapercom-is-a-big-ball-of-mud/#comments Mon, 17 Sep 2007 15:37:08 +0000 Ryan Sholin http://www.ryansholin.com/2007/09/17/is-your-newspapercom-is-a-big-ball-of-mud/ Is your newspaper site a clean-looking, uniform grid of semantic (and validated!) code? Or is it a ‘big ball of mud,’ with includes (scotch tape) and javascript (bubble gum) holding together a jumble of disparate hunks of content?

If you answered ‘YES’ to the first question, congratulations, you work at the New York Times, or the Guardian, or maybe a paper running on Ellington. (Yes, yes, feel free to point out your own brilliantly integrated newspaper.com in the comments. Humor me for a moment, mkay?)

But for most of us, that second answer is a reality as newspapers try to race to build and improve functionality that’s built in to more agile systems across the web.

Comments? Yeah, we’ve got a script for that around here somewhere.

Related stories? Uh, sure, I’ll just write something that queries the database for stuff from the same section with a search for a couple keywords built into it, host it on the only server we have around that runs PHP, then write a piece of javascript to call it in each article page.

And now, the buried lede:

Scott Rosenberg (let’s call him a co-founder of Salon.com to get your attention) has a fascinating post up describing a somewhat academic paper about programming that analyzes the “Big Ball of Mud” style of coding and finds some advantages to it:

Foote and Yoder draw a real-world comparison to shantytowns; they’re ubiquitous because they use abundant materials and require only the most basic skills. Similarly, the Big Ball of Mud “doesn’t require a hyperproductive virtuoso architect at every keyboard.” There may even be a “secret advantage” in its “casual, undifferentiated structure”: “forces acting between two parts of the system can be directly addressed without having to worry about undermining the system’s grander architectural aspirations.”

What do you think?

As a user of a news CMS, you might not notice all the scotch tape and bubble gum, but I’d love to hear from developers and designers about whether you think it’s better to aspire to a clean all-encompassing publishing solution or to just keep dancing dirty and refining the connections between your resources as needs arise.

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