Expressions in Solitude

Back to home

noreply@blogger.com (Seshu Karthick) — Sun, 29 Nov 2009 20:23:00 +0000

Back to home (Chennai - India)!!!

The Glamorous Vegas

noreply@blogger.com (Seshu Karthick) — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 23:20:00 +0000

Itinerary:
Dates: Oct 30 - Nov 1
Hotel: The Trump, The Venetian
Flight: American Airlines
Airport: McCarran Intl Airport (LAS)

We flew to Vegas from Los Angeles after sunset... and stayed at 'The Trump' for the night. The following morning, we moved to 'The Venetian' and started exploring the city! The evening was spent in watching the breathtaking 'Le Reve' show at Wynn Theater, and we finished the day with a romantic dinner at a Chinese restaurant in Wynn. The next day was more relaxing as we strolled down the Vegas Strip admiring the architectural beauty of the casinos and a lil betting...

We visited...
All major Casinos along the Strip starting from Wynn to Excalibur

Enchanting Disneyland in LA

noreply@blogger.com (Seshu Karthick) — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 23:17:00 +0000

Itinerary:
Dates: Oct 28 - Oct 30
Hotel: Hilton Anaheim
Flight: American Airlines
Airport: Los Angeles Intl Airport (LAX)

Surprise, surprise, surprise... This trip to Los Angeles (LA) was filled with surprises to Preethi. We celebrated her birthday in style at Disneyland... She had no clue where I was taking her until she saw the road sign to 'Disneyland Resort', and I was pleased to see the excitement in her!! We leisurely spent one whole day at Disneyland, and returned home after the fireworks. After exchanging gifts, the day ended with all smiles and happy memories :) We had just enough time to stroll along Hollywood Blvd the next day before we boarded the flight to Vegas.

We visited...
Disneyland at Anaheim
Hollywood Blvd
Hollywood Sign

Just Missed... Hope to see on my next visit (Or may be not...)
Universal Studios
Rodeo Drive at Beverly hills
Venice Beach Boardwalk

Boring Montreal

noreply@blogger.com (Seshu Karthick) — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 01:18:00 +0000

Itinerary:
Dates: Sep 19 - Sep 22
Hotel: Sheraton Laval and Delta Montreal
Flight: American Airlines
Airport: Montreal, Canada (YUL)

We found the city mostly boring... esp compared to prime US cities like Chicago. We liked the Notre-dame basil where the intricate craftsmanship of the sculptures is worth appreciation. The visit to Biodome gave us a new experience of fauna... and we loved the cuppy cakes in Vieux Montreal.

We visited...
Carrefour Mall at Laval
Montreal BioDome
Olympic Stadium Observatory
Biosphere
Casino de Montreal
Notre-Dame Basilica
Stroll along Saint-Laurent & Cartier
Underground City shopping

Just Missed... Hope to see on my next visit (Or may be not...)
Mount Royal
Botanical Garden

The striking Niagara falls

noreply@blogger.com (Seshu Karthick) — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 23:05:00 +0000

Itinerary:
Dates: Sep 12 - Sep 13
Hotel: Marriott FallsView
Flight: American Airlines
Airport: Toronto, Canada (YYZ)

Preets and I loved the fallsview room at the Marriott. The changing colors of the falls after sunset was spectacular... and the view from Canadian side was just phenomenal. We loved the Maid-of-the-Mist ride, and had fun taking photos...

We visited...
Upper Rapids in Canada Niagara Falls
Maid of the Mist
Floral Clock
Whirlpool
Glass Factory

Just Missed... Hope to see on my next visit
White Water Walk

Splendid Chicago

noreply@blogger.com (Seshu Karthick) — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 16:30:00 +0000

Itinerary:
Dates: Aug 29 - Aug 30
Hotel: Hard Rock
Flight: American Airlines

What a beautiful city Chicago is!! We had one of the best times... starting with a cruise along the Chicago downtown river, and ending with an adventure fun on segways. Some shopping and pizzas are put in the mix to make this a very memorable weekend trip.

We liked our hotel "Hard Rock" more for its location than comfort... Residing in the most happening sweet-spot of Chicago, we did not put our rented car to much use.

We visited...
Michigan Ave (Magnificent Mile)
A very happening place... Shop, eat, and enjoy!

Architectural Cruise tour of Chicago Downtown
Structural Beauty... Jus cant miss it!

Pizza at Due's Pizzeria
Mmmm... its like a pizza I never had!

City Segway tour - The Field Museum, Adler Planetarium, Grant Park, Soldier Field, Lakefront, Chicago skyline viewpoint
Luv riding the segways... Feels like skating N biking - Two in One!

Millenium Park - Cloud Gate
The iconic Bean... photo fun!

Just Missed... Hope to see on my next visit
Signature Room at Hancock Tower (Magnificent Mile)
Willis (Sears) Tower
Navy Pier - Navy Pier AeroBalloon, Transporter FX simulator, Funhouse Maze
Art Institute of Chicago

The Heart of Bay Area - San Francisco

noreply@blogger.com (Seshu Karthick) — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 15:45:00 +0000

Our Itinerary...
Hotel: The Westin at SFO Airport
Dates: Aug 22 - Aug 23, 2009
Flight: American Airlines

Our trip to San Francisco was more romantic than all our prev trips... Jus loved the chill breeze, roller-coaster styled roads, scenic views, and the company of my lovely wife :) However, we missed the 'Half Moon bay beach' and the Marin-Headlands / Muir-Woods.

We Visted...
Bay Bridge - Boring n lengthy drive
Fisherman's Warf - Stream of bay styled restaurants & shops
Pier 39 - A nice outdoor hangout place
Ripley's believe it or not - Hard to believe
Ghirardelli Square - The best Hot fudge sundae icecream
Lombard street (Crooked) - Fun driving
China Town - Time pass shopping...
Golden Gate Bridge - magnificent construction & fantabulous walking experience
My cousin's house

Roadtrip to Austin

noreply@blogger.com (Seshu Karthick) — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 16:19:00 +0000

Our Itinerary...
Hotel: DoubleTree
Dates: Aug 15 - Aug 16, 2009

We Visted...
InnerSpace Caverns
IKEA store
Hotel Oasis during Sunset
Roundrock Premium Outlets
Texas Capitol Building
Friend's house

Just Missed... To visit next time:
Educational tour at UT Austin
Nature Watch & Hiking at Mt.Bonnell
Bats at the Bridge

Impromptu trip to Atlanta

noreply@blogger.com (Seshu Karthick) — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 20:05:00 +0000

On the second long-weekend (July 4) that got on my way after marriage, I tried for tickets to SanFransisco... but no luck this time too. Quickly checking the flight scenario to Atlanta, I found one that leaves Dallas in other 45 mins. Preets and I hurried to the gate located a few yards away. I called and spoke to my co-brother who lives in Atlanta to surprise him of our arrival.

On reaching Atlanta, we reserved a room at Sheraton and got into a convertible sports car (MBushi Eclipse). It took a few mins for me to get used to the car and its comfort. We spent the rest of friday doin nothing at the hotel... and had pizza for dinner.

The fun started on the next day (Saturday - July 4) when Mahesh accompanied us for sight-seeing in Atlanta. The famous attractions including "Coca Cola Museum" and the Aquarium are located in the downtown. Its refreshing at the Coke museum, where we got to taste sodas from around the world. I loved the emphasis of Coke on the Happiness aspect of life more than anything else. Watched a 4D film, imbibed free drinks, and glanced at a few Coke commercials. Its a very nice experience... and we all enjoyed it!!

Then, we walked to the aquarium in the next block. It is supposedly the largest aquarium in USA... and it is maintained by HomeDepot. Its fantastic!!! Preets being a fan of aquatic life, loved it very much. I was equally excited by the ambience and the feel of living in the middle of the ocean :)

We finished the day with some shopping in a mall, and dinner at ChowBaby. The next day (July 5), we visited the BAPS SwamiNarayan temple - once again the largest in USA. The interiors were simply superb, and we had enough time to experience the serenity in the temple. After our lunch, we had a lovely ride to the airport in a topless car on a cloudy day. We got into the flight.. and reached dallas safely. Our impromptu trip to Atlanta turned out very good :)

Itinerary:
Hotel - Sheraton Gateway
Dates: July 3 - July 5, 2009
Airlines: American

Places of Interest:
Coke Museum
Aquarium
Swami Narayan temple (BAPS)
Shopping @ mall

Trip to Washington.D.C

noreply@blogger.com (Seshu Karthick) — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 00:26:00 +0000

Our Itinerary...
Hotel: Hyatt Regency
Dates: June 20 - June 22, 2009
Flight: American Airlines

We visited...
White House
Monument
Museum of Natural History
Aero Space Museum
Capitol Hill

Timeline of Life

noreply@blogger.com (Seshu Karthick) — Wed, 20 May 2009 14:21:00 +0000

Check out Rise of Life at National Geographic!!

Loving my new LIFE!!!

noreply@blogger.com (Seshu Karthick) — Tue, 05 May 2009 22:45:00 +0000

Lost all my free time.. lazy-nap moments, and my stay-idle minutes!!! Well... thats coz I got MARRIED ;) The previously wasteful minutes are now filled with entertaining and romantic moments. No wonder I did'nt update my blog for a while... forget about uploading my wedding pics. I am loving my new post-marriage life :) Btw, its my first month!

My wedding with Preethi went on very well as planned on April 9 in Chennai (India). Thanks to all my friends, relatives and well-wishers! My wife and I had a quick temple-tour in that week.

Following that was a week-long trip to the island of Mauritius for honeymoon. This island is just superb... and a perfect destination for honeymooners!! We had a lovely weather which compliments the luxuries of a 5-star resort where we stayed. Sooo many memorable moments that we had together... the water-sport activities, stroll by the beach, drive thru the sugarcane-plantations and getting wet in the rain while holding hands...

We went back and stayed in India for my third week. On April 27, my wife and I returned to USA. She loved my appartment, the location and this country too. She's been a great wife to me... and I feel sooo lucky for having married her :)

I Love you Preetums :)

noreply@blogger.com (Seshu Karthick) — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 18:04:00 +0000

Dedicating this song to my fiancee!! I Love you Preetums :) Well... I knew I loved you even before I met you....

A special ring from a special person

noreply@blogger.com (Seshu Karthick) — Wed, 28 Jan 2009 19:56:00 +0000

Last week (Jan19 - Jan26) has been the most memorable week of my life. On Jan19, I discovered the love of my life, the one I always wanted to know ever since I was a teen. She's my mom's friend's daughter and lives just 10-min drive away from my house. Its funny how I did not get to meet her all these years.

On Jan20, I asked her out for a special dinner at a roof-top restaurant. Under the stars and a backlit blue light, I got down on my knee, proposed to her and asked her to marry me! You know wot... She said YES! It was a romantic evening and the most memorable of my life:)

The next day (Jan21), I got engaged to this lovely girl with the grace and blessing of my parents, relatives, friends and all our well-wishers. We exchanged our engagement rings in a conventional manner. Thats the moment when my status changed from "Still looking" to "Commited". Hmmm! Thinking of my new status, am happy and sad at the same time ;)

We went out together on all other days of the week and enjoyed our time in each other's company. You can find some of our photos on my orkut profile!

Also check out the countdown for my marriage :) Not many days left...

New-Gen Marriages in India

noreply@blogger.com (Seshu Karthick) — Sat, 03 Jan 2009 08:34:00 +0000

Analysis vs Instinct! Whats ur pick? For a girl in love marriage, she has to love the guy n thats all it takes to marrying him! But in arranged marriage, she usually considers the guy to be a part of the package deal (family, location, job, etc). She will go ahead with the marriage if she likes the package. A question to ask is if she will still be willing to marry him without the package deal and just for him... If so, that will be the best of both worlds:) Ofcourse, same applies for a guy too!!

Its instinct vs analysis! Love marriage is more of instinct n infatuation... while arranged one is based on analysis n prediction. Both have their plus n minus~ Luckily, the current gen in India is adopting a hybrid culture to bring out the best in both worlds - "Instinct after Analysis"...

Its similar to arranged marriage, except for the concept of platonic dating prior to engagement. Its a perfect time to break the ice, build a rapport, exchange flashbacks and build confidence in one-another. If things go good, the next step will be marriage. Otherwise, the search continues... It all sounds like an algorithm for a happy marriage :)

Couple of Love quotes I'm impressed:
You don't marry someone you can live with - you marry the person who you cannot live without. - Unknown Author

If you love somebody, let them go; for if they return, they were always yours.
And if they don't, they never were. - Kahlil Gibran

Related posts: Logic and emotion in decision making of a marriage

Aim of Life for Wanna-preneurs

noreply@blogger.com (Seshu Karthick) — Wed, 17 Dec 2008 17:56:00 +0000

Here is a very good pic I found while browsing the web. This pic represents my true intent and that of several other wannapreneurs... Click to enlarge!

5 Ways to Scale Your Web Application

noreply@blogger.com (Seshu Karthick) — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 15:36:00 +0000

Writing web applications is a time consuming process, and when the application begins to get popular, it may not have been built to scale and handle volume. A great example of this is Twitter, a popular web 2.0 application that often has downtime. Here are some ways you can build your application with scaling in mind.

If you can, build your application with scaling in mind from the ground up. Write tighter code, test it against perceived loads, and continually try to lower the amount of time and resource usage required to run the application.
Build your application on cloud computing. Services like Amazon's Cloud computing service allow you to host your code, databases and files on their servers, and can scale instantly with your demand. It also saves you money in the long run, as you don't need to constantly plan to build new servers, database clusters and bandwidth.
If you're not using cloud computing, try using a grid hosting company. These are companies that can give you instant access to more resources as soon as the demand rolls in. The difference primarily lies in the pricing – cloud computing companies charge based on actual usage, while grid hosting companies will charge based on the amount of "slices" you need to meet your requirements over a month.
Optimize your databases and queries. If you're not a true expert in Databases, hire a freelancer to optimize your code. Correctly writing queries, caching queries that are run often, and correctly building the structure of your database can make or break a web application.
Use reusable, well documented code. Try not to reinvent the wheel –find classes and functions that have already been proven in the field, and use them for the heavy lifting part of your projects. Use frameworks and coding methods that have already been proven, and don't try building a heavy use platform on new or untested code.

This is a guest post authored by Maya Richard, who writes on the topic of high speed internet. You can email her at mayarichard@gmail.com with any feedback.

Mind Matters

noreply@blogger.com (Seshu Karthick) — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 22:23:00 +0000

I just heard the discourse by Swami Swaroopananda on "Mind Matters". Its an excellent speech as you can expect from the great master. Here is a snippet of his teaching. Please listen to the original discourse on CD if possible.

When matters matter, matters mind; When mind minds, matters don't matter.

If the body is unattended... it stinks! does'nt it? It needs daily bath, deos, etc...
What would happen if the mind is unattended. Mind is the real treasure, and the body is just a casing around it. So, Mind Matters!

Why is that we want anything that we want. In my case and most others, it starts with Education.
Why Education? To get a Job
Why Job? To earn Money
Why Money? To buy Things
Why things? To get Happiness!
Why Happiness? ? ? No answer. Thats final!

We only want something, so that we can finally be happy. Afterall, we are all seeking anything that can lead to happiness.
Education -> Job -> Money -> Luxury -> Happiness!
Music -> Melody -> Peace -> Happiness!
...

In this ever-changing world, can there be permanent happiness? As a child, we seem to be happy but cry all the time. As an adolescent, we live with a hope of happiness. Finally as adults, many sadly conclude that there is no happiness.

There cannot be ONE situation in life that can give happiness to everyone on the planet. So, When matters matter, matters mind.

Our wisdom gurus (rishis) have taught us the art of right contact of the mind with the world. Happiness and Joy does not depend on the objects and situations in the world, but it depends on the condition of our mind. So, When mind minds the mind, matters don't matter.

As our mind, so is the world.
The world we experience is according to the condition of our mind. If the mind is joyful, the world appears beautiful; If the mind is depressed, the world appears gloomy. You can compare it to perspectives of a man who has fallen in love, and the man who just got dumped.

Life is a series of experiences, and the whole world is a pair of opposites (Heat-Cold, Joy-Sorrow, Beauty-Ugly, etc). Even if sorrow comes, it is not permanent and it has to change. Nothing is permanent and everything changes. Whatever happens, consider it as the lord's wish and it happens for the best. If we can fine-tune our mind around this concept, we can have a positive perspective towards Life and stay happy all the time.

Attitude of our mind is very crucial. An optimist/realist will look out for opportunities, while a pessimist looks out for calamities. Everyone of us have a limited self image. When the mind decides that we cannot do something, we will not even try it. Only when we break the barriers in our mind, we can shoot for the stars.

Here is a famous joke. According to laws of aeronautics, flight is impossible for a bumble bee due to its huge body and tiny wings. However, the bumble bee does not know about this and continues to fly. Like the bumble bee, we should forget the constraints and "Just Do It". On a similar note, watch out for the movie YesIsTheNewNo by Jim Carrey.

Eventful trip to India

noreply@blogger.com (Seshu Karthick) — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 16:39:00 +0000

After my return from a fabulous trip to India, I find myself in doldrums. I had a great time during my sister's marriage (in India)... Though two weeks is too short a trip for this joyous occassion, I still had a blast. The only stuff I did during my trip (Sep 27 - Oct 12) was to eat, have fun, and sleep. Good times~

Check out my Sister's website for updates on her wedding photos, and the rest.

We like in circles!

noreply@blogger.com (Seshu Karthick) — Sun, 21 Sep 2008 17:57:00 +0000

We all want something... As mentioned in pluggd.in, its the Circle-of-Life. A wants B, B wants C, C wants D, and you know... D wants A. Here is a good AD.

Expressing in Sanskrit is now more fun

noreply@blogger.com (Seshu Karthick) — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 14:33:00 +0000

After the success of Sanskrit-Digest, we are now offering a couple of fun ways for students to express in Sanskrit on the web.

In a survey, a consistent pattern was noticed among several Sanskrit students. Many students in India study Sanskrit during their school days, but they do not get an opportunity to speak or use the language after graduation. As a result, they forget the language very soon.

These students should be given opportunities to converse in Sanskrit on a regular basis, and they should be fun too. So today, we're launching Sanskrit-Expressions - An online community tool that will enable interaction among Sanskrit learners. It has two components to it: Word-Game and Two-Liners.

The Word-game helps the users build their Sanskrit vocabulary steadily, while the Two-liners will encourage them to frame short-sentences and converse in Sanskrit. Further, the users will have complete control over their data (create/update/delete) at all times. One can also keep track and follow other writers via RSS feeds. These tools are proven to be effective tools in the past, and are used in several domains. Now, they are available to the Sanskrit community for the first time.

I conceive this as a proof-of-concept to fix a commonly observed problem which hinders the spread of Sanskrit. If user response for 'Sanskrit-Expressions' is on a high note, new features such as Online-Chat-Rooms shall be soon be launched.

Thanks to the sincere efforts of several NGOs such as Samskrita Bharati which enabled many to embrace Sanskrit in their daily lives. Regular Sanskrit workshops are conducted by Samskrita Bharati in India and abroad. With increasing number of Sanskrit teaching institutes, it is now important to retain the interest of the people and help them stay in touch with the language. Engaging in Satsang and community-meet is a good way to appreciate the language. For the Computer Savvy, online tools like 'Sanskrit-Satsang' can help build an e-Community for Sanskrit speakers.

Elgg and WP-BuddyPress - Evolving the Social Networking space

noreply@blogger.com (Seshu Karthick) — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 15:20:00 +0000

Image by Andy Peatling via FlickrScheduled for release on Aug 18, Elgg v1.0 is set to create a stir in the world of social networking scripts. With an open-source strategy, it has won the laurels of many. It already has a well established community for the Classic Elgg v0.9, and hopes to expand its market with the new release. The v1.0 is advertised to be more flexible and robust in design, and allows developers to create custom social apps with ease.

The best feature of Elgg is the access controls that empower users to control who can see their data. Elgg is used by a few Universities and large organizations, and thus demonstrates its scalability.

However, here are a few things to have in mind before you embrace it for your new webapp.

The community is not as large as that of Wordpress.
There are no ready-made plugins yet for integrating thirdparty components with Elgg (Ex: Integrating a MediaWiki or BBpress). You may expect them in future.
Its hard to find developers/freelancers for developing with Elgg
There are not many themes available out on the web.

Well... A good alternative to Elgg is BuddyPress, a project backed by Wordpress. BuddyPress is a set of WordPress MU specific plugins, each plugin adding a new distinct social feature. The idea of BuddyPress is to take a standard vanilla installation of WordPress MU and turn it into something that represents more of a community building tool, or niche social network. The new theme developed by Andy is awesome. See it for yourself on the sandbox.

BuddyPress is still new and half baked right now. Wordpress has promised to complete the project by the end of this year. The lead-developer Andy Peatling has done a terrific job of adding the social layer over WP-MU edition. He is now employed by Automattic, the company who makes Wordpress.

BuddyPress or Elgg??? Hmmm...

Wordpress has a larger community, easy to find freelancers to work on it, plenitude of themes and plugins, and has a huge community.
Elgg v1.0 on the other hand has the best access controls for users, more flexible in design, and has been well-tested for over an year.
Developing on Elgg may require more work and tech knowledge to integrate various third-party components, build a theme, and configure it.

Next week, I will get my hands on both of them and test the waters. So until then, I cannot choose one over another.

How to Secure Your Web Application

noreply@blogger.com (Seshu Karthick) — Tue, 05 Aug 2008 14:18:00 +0000

Disclaimer: This is a guest post written by Heather Johnson, who writes on the subject of dial up Internet.

Web applications will install firewall to restrict unauthorized access to ports 80 and 443. But these don’t exactly stop unwanted attacks that come over these ports. There is much more that a web professional should do in addition to installing firewall. We’ve come up with a list that should help you sew up any holes that may appear in your latest web application that you’re working on. Without further ado here’s our list that should help maintain the integrity of your newest program:

Limit access to your profile. One of the first things a hacker looks for is information regarding your web server. Be sure to take away the server header from the response of your web server. Go ahead and map out different paths to the file extensions of your dynamic pages. Take steps to ensure your machine isn’t named something that could identify its operating system. Take out your personal information from your WHOIS records that help someone in a social engineering attack.

Authenticate. Unfortunately you can’t always trust the users that visit your website. You need to have your users authenticate who they are and their intent for visiting your site. You want to try to separate legitimate traffic from traffic that can hurt you. We’re not saying that every user is evil, but you need to be aware that there are unsavory people out there that try to hurt people in your position.

Always be ready for the worst. If your server is compromised it’s important that you go offline and plug up any holes. You need to protect customer data such as credit card information and in order to do so you need to install security software that will protect this information.

Always be monitoring. Instead of waiting to take care of a problem after it occurs if you are constantly logging your website’s activity you can help avoid a problem instead of simply reacting to it. Make sure you pay careful attention to your server’s error log.

Don’t execute a poor request. There will be times when a user’s request is simply not good for you. Many attacks occur that attempt to modify the HTTP request that will end up create an averse effect. You should set up the positive model that will only allow what you want to allow; everything else should not be allowed to be processed on your site.

By-line:

This post was contributed by Heather Johnson, who writes on the subject of dial up Internet. She invites your feedback at heatherjohnson2323 at gmail dot com.

Its summer time - Its movie time!

noreply@blogger.com (Seshu Karthick) — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 18:39:00 +0000

The summer is a festive time for movie-freaks. I am no freak, but do enjoy watching good movies. A usual weekend during this time of the year is spent worthwhile by watching a movie a day. That means watching 2 movies in theatre every weekend.

Yesterday, I watched 'Jaane Tu, Ya Jaane Na', a movie by Aamir Khan Productions. Aamir indeed has a great acumen in selecting his movie scripts. This movie is fantastic with a fresh cast and a debut director. Genelia is cute as always, and the movie packs so much fun! The music is at its best as you would expect from the master Rahman.

Prior to this, I watched Hancock and 'The Dark Knight'. I liked both of them. Hancock was bit of a drag, and its good for a one-time-see. 'The Dark Knight' is a superb action-packed movie that is worth its hype. I regret not having watched it on IMAX. A couple other good ones I watched are Wall-E and Wanted.

Now, I'm waiting for the launch of "The Mummy", and that Steven Spielberg's upcoming movie (I forgot the name). Life is Fun!

Moving from Textpattern to Wordpress

noreply@blogger.com (Seshu Karthick) — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 16:39:00 +0000

Until recently, my website SanskritVoice was using Textpattern as the CMS. But now, I'm moving to Wordpress. Read below to know why and how.

I liked Textpattern for several reasons. I can have multiple Sections like Home, About, Articles, and Resources. Each section can have an assigned template, and I can publish blog-posts for a specific section. Under a given section, I can further classify my posts based on category.

The main drawback with Textpattern is the difficulty in moving the website to a different server. It has weak import/export features, and less support for unicode. It lacks a WYSIWYG editor, no widgets, and has relatively less number of plugins.

On the other hand, Wordpress has a huge community, excellent feature-set, and myriad plugins for almost anything. However, Wordpress lacks the concept of a section. It only has Pages, Posts, Categories and Tags. Ofcourse, I can assign an appropriate template to a page. I spent some time in reading the Wordpress docs on how to use it as a traditional CMS. I had to use custom-templates and custom-variables to match the URLs of textpattern and to create pseudo-sections.

Here is an overview of what I did. A traditional Page in Wordpress is static. So, I created a custom template (say "Featured Page" template) that displays the content of the Page, and reads a custom field "categoryid" defined on that Page. The template then displays all posts that were published under that category. Thus, I projected a Page that contain posts from a specific category as a virtual Section.