I had been waiting for the last release of PJBlog3 for a long time. Nearly six months had passed since the previous official version, so when EE uploaded what we might cautiously call the final PJBlog3 test build to Google sometime on December 1, I upgraded almost immediately.
The upgrade itself was uneventful. Nothing went seriously wrong, and the process completed smoothly. I used the new version for two days before switching back to the one I had been running before. In my view, the test build still had too many problems and was nowhere near as polished as I had expected. It was one of those cases where high expectations only made the disappointment more obvious.
That said, I cannot deny how much work EE put into PJBlog. I can only hope that the remaining issues will be addressed before the official release. Some users had already raised several PJBlog problems in the suggestions area, yet a number of them were still present. I do not know whether they had been overlooked or left unresolved for some other reason, but the attention to detail was still not quite there.
So far, PJBlog3 has had a rather bleak ending. Perhaps the final version will turn things around, but I am not especially optimistic about that possibility.
Better interaction, unfinished details
Compared with versions 170 and 227, this build was a significant improvement in terms of interaction. Even so, some of the interaction-related behavior still needed work.
When I was using Jieliao v300, the handling of URLs in comments was not ideal. The system seemed to account for commenters who did not leave a website address, but it did not properly handle what should happen when those links were clicked. The new build still had the same issue.
The treatment of email addresses also needed to be more considerate. Since displaying an address publicly can invite spam, email fields should not be visible to everyone.
The long-standing problem with displaying friend links remained as well. Personally, I would have preferred them to be presented in the same way as the friend-link plugin EE had created.
These are only some of the problems I noticed. At this point, I have stopped expecting much from PJBlog3. I can only hope that PJBlog4 will restore some of the project’s former momentum.
A static system that felt static for its own sake
As I see it, PJBlog3 was introduced largely to achieve a fully static architecture. But that goal may also be the reason the result feels disappointing. It sometimes gives the impression of being static simply for the sake of being static—something awkwardly caught between “useful” and “not worth keeping.”
I have always wanted a truly static blog, although I have continued using a semi-static setup. According to the introduction to PJBlog4, the next version will use a new core engine. Hopefully that will make it faster and deliver a genuinely complete static system. When PJBlog4 finally arrives, I expect I will make the switch to a fully static setup.
One more small disappointment from Google
Around noon today, I received a text message from Google:
“Due to business adjustments, this service—the free weather reminder service provided by Google China, which sends everyone a weather forecast by SMS each afternoon—will be discontinued from January 1, 2010. Thank you for using it, and we welcome you to continue following Google G.cn!”
I had been using Google’s weather forecast service for a long time. With less than a month left before it ended, I still felt a little regretful. Some free services simply do not seem to survive here. That is just how things are in this so-called harmonious society.