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Shel Holtz
Communicating at the Intersection of Business and Technology
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OPML potential comes into focus

OPML—Outline Processor Markup Language—has been around for a while now. I use Dave Winer’s OPML editor to create the outlines for For Immediate Release, although once I’ve finished the outline, I wind up copying it to a text editor so I can email it Neville; I don’t post it online for others to link to. My blogroll is available in OPML, but an attempt to link to it on my blog—so keeping the OPML file updated would mean the blog would always be current—didn’t work out too well. I’m subscribed to an OPML newbies mailing list but most of what I read there is over my head.


imageA new website called Grazr helps clarify one of the ways OPML can serve as a useful tool. By adding the URL of any OPML file, the site generates code you can add to your own website or blog. Enter the URL of an OPML file, adjust the height, width, font and font size, and the site generates the code to paste onto any web page or template. For an example, take a look at my blogroll/link page—I’ve replaced the list of communications-related links on my blogroll with the one produced by Grazr. (Right now, in its alpha state, you can only put one such list on any one page, or I would have made the change for all of my lists.)

The example at the Grazr site includes the U.S. Constitution, Tech Memeorandum‘s OPML file, and the Top 50 podcasts from Podcast Alley, among others. Suddenly, the value of outlining for the web becomes much clearer.

03/19/06 | 6 Comments | OPML potential comes into focus

Comments

  • 1.What? No Better Communication Results? [author is saddened..]

    Lee Hopkins | March 2006 | Adelaide, Australia

  • 2.An oversight, my friend, that has now been corrected.

    Shel Holtz | March 2006

  • 3.I'm not clear on the advantage of OPML. Is it b/c I can just subscribe to one link (to receive a bunch of blogs) rather than having to subscribe to all the blogs, one by one?

    Al | March 2006

  • 4.Thanks Shel! In return I'll stop calling you 'the other one' from now on :-)

    But like Al, I have to admit I can't see what the fuss is about OPML yet...

    Lee | March 2006 | Adelaide

  • 5.Al (and Lee), there are a number of advantages to OPML. One is the fact that you can create a file that's made up in whole or part of other OPML files located anywhere on the web. If you look at the demo OPML file on the Grazr.com site, you'll see exactly that -- one list that's made up of several OPML files from various places. Let's say you want to create a web-friendly file that lists information about various states in the U.S. Someone in Delaware creates a Delaware OPML file while someone in Texas does the same from Dallas, and so on. As the coordinator, you just list all the states but link to the OPML files of the state-based authors. To the viewer, it's seamless -- just one file with lots of information about the various states.

    Using Dave Winer's OPML editor, there are many people writing their blog entries; the OPML editor serves as the external editor. A lot of people like it because they already think in outline terms.

    Some OPML references:
    http://www.wynia.org/experiments/opmlsampler/
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OPML
    http://www.opml.org/

    Shel Holtz | March 2006 | Concord, CA

  • 6.There’s an interesting discussion starting up over on Shel (the more handsome one)’s blog. It concerns OPML and what use it is for communication.

    ...

    http://leehopkins.net/2006/03/21/theres-an- | March 2006

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