Subtext Logo If you are using Subtext, or are using .TEXT and plan to use Subtext I need to ask you a few questions.  Please answer as your answers may determine whether or not some features are removed for the sake of simplification.

These questions revolve around the Advanced Options when creating or editing a post in the admin tool.

1. Do you use the Title URL field?

Now before you answer, let me explain what this field is used for. You might have values in that column, but that doesn’t necessarily mean it is in use. 

The Title Url field is used to specify an ALTERNATE URL for the title of a blog post.  Ordinarily, the title of the blog post links to the blog post itself.  Older versions of .TEXT and Subtext would update that field with the URL to the blog post, which was unnecessary since we could generate that URL on the fly.

In my humble opinion, it is a bad idea to have the title of a blog post link elsewhere as it is confusing to users. Unless there are large numbers of users who have specific needs for this feature, I would like to remove it.

2. Do you ever enter values for Source Name and Source Url for a blog post?

Scott Watermasysk, the original creator of .TEXT (Subtext, I am your father) graciously pointed out the use of the Source and SourceUrl fields in the comments of this post. These are used for the optional RSS <source> element. It’s for properly attributing credit for a link when republishing a post from somewhere else (see the RSS spec). I’ve never seen any aggregators make use of this unfortunately and most people simply attribute others in the body of the post, so it is still a candidate for removal if nobody makes use of it. As far as I can tell, these fields are intended for comments, not for blog posts.  However the admin section does have text fields for entering these values.  But These values are NEVER displayed for blog posts.

I’m 99.9% sure I’ll be removing these fields for blog posts so in part, this question is a warning.  However if someone has an extremely compelling reason to keep them for blog posts, speak up now or forever hold your peace.

3. Would you find the ability to run Subtext off of another database such as MySql or Firebird very important?

I know some users might like to save a few bucks and go with .NET and MySql hosting.  I’ve thought about implementing multiple database support, but don’t want to undertake such a big task if there is no demand. 

Even if there is demand, it’d have to be overwhelming for me to consider doing it sooner rather than later.

Thanks! That’s all for now. I appreciate your responses.