There is a brand new blogging platform thats just starting to poke its head above the horizon. Habari which is the Swahili word for ‘news’, is being built from the ground up by some well known names in the blogosphere. This is how its described on the Habari Google code site:
Habari represents a fresh start to the idea of blogging. The system is fast, easy to use, and easy to modify. New users should have no problem using and enjoying Habari. Advanced users should have no problem tweaking Habari to do exactly what they need it to do.
Habari relies on PHP5 with PHP Data Objects (PDO), and your choice of SQL database (MySQL, PostgreSQL, SQLite). Habari is strongly object oriented, and implements the full suite of the Atom Publishing Protocol. User-created plugins make Habari do nearly anything imaginable, and a robust theme system permits the use of several popular templating solutions.
The first mention of Habari, at leas the first I saw about it, was by Chris J Davis early in the new year when he announced that his blog was now powered by Habari. They have also set up the beginnings of a wiki as well as a couple of Google groups for those who are keen on being involved in the project in anyway. The source is currently available via svn for those who want to give it whirl, simple installation instructions can be found in the wiki. I setup up a copy on my dev server this afternoon, only took a couple of minutes.
Obviously there is still alot of development to go, but if you think you might have something to offer then have a look at joining the Google groups. Thats what I did, and I hope that I can contribute in some way to the development, even if its just small thing like bug testing etc.
One of the running discussion is regarding a logo for Habari. Several people have put forward there own suggestions, and I just could resist, I had to try something for myself. This is the first thing that came to mind while looking at some of the other suggestions.
Initially I really liked this idea, but the more I looked at it the more I could see other logos within it. For example, the speech bubbles inside the letter ‘a’, is very much like the old Vodafone logo. And while unintentional, the black and white version of the logo is similar in idea to the Wordpress logo. Habari really needs something a little more unique. This was my second shot which I whipped up this afternoon. There are a few variations.
Trying to move away from the “letter inside a circle”, but still using the letter ‘h’. I also tried to think of some sort of generic icon/logo that could be used instead. The only one that I was really happy with was the ‘asteriks’ which I added a touch of colour too…very Web 2.0…I also played around with a few font faces for logos. This combination was my favourite.
So maybe you’re tired of your current blogging platformand looking to try something fresh and exciting, or maybe you are just curious, as I was, and want to know more about this exciting new project. Check out the Habari site for more info.
