I hate the term 'blog'. I have hated it since the very first time I heard it. It's a nothing term, a weblog is, taken literally, a journal on a website. That's it. By that definition, I've been blogging for years in one form or another.

But, the actual use of the term has morphed to refer to a very specific type of website. One driven by software that provides a framework for 'entries', as well as a method of easily posting entries, generally requiring little or no technical skill. At this I have scoffed. Real Men don't blog, they edit HTML. Better, they generate XML. Blogs are for emo kids, dammit. Right?

Since entrenching on this opinion, I have done a lot of web development. I have seen the beauty of writing software that produces web documents, even written software that writes software that produces web documents. And through this process, good old HTML, css, javascript, these have all become commodities of sorts.

Don't get me wrong, good HTML and its accompanying js/css/etc cruft can be wonderfully sexy. But my real focus has shifted to both the functionality and the user interface.

As a user, I just want to get something done. I don't care what's going on behind the scenes, I just want a site that works with how I want to use it. It should support my desired process, or workflow.

When wanting good UI (and thus good processes), abstraction becomes key in meeting these goals. So whether the framework is full-blown MVC (model, view, controller) or just a simple php script that uses templates, both extremes provide some degree of separation of logic, and as a result allow more flexibility in an application.

A modern content management system (CMS) is a beautiful thing. You still dictate the end result: a web page. But the software that produces that page handles the details, and thus allows you to shift your focus from the details of appearance and syntax to the real goal: information. This is the ultimate abstraction.

As CMS systems have evolved, in many ways the concept of an "article" has merged with the concept of a "blog entry". Now a CMS such as Drupal can provide a framework for all of the above, with the added benefit of bringing searches, keyword structures (taxonomy), flexible content types, and user management to the table.

So here we go. Welcome to my new blog thingy, and the new website. I hope to use Drupal to provide a framework for a new fridge-like forum thingy, photo galleries, blogs, news, etc. I hope that my family and friends find it more and more useful and valuable as it progresses.