Forgot the guestbook

Posted at 03:44 AM Notebook

Forgot to apply the textbox class to the Guestbook page...http://www.synaptic.bc.ca/guestbook/ [EDIT Got that]

Oh, and the grey in the context bar too. [EDIT Got that]

And the contact form has that nasty width=100% thing happening. [EDIT Corrected]

Might want to do something about the mailing list too. [Hmmm. I'll just leave that grey-green for the moment. -- create a new todo and close this one]

Ahh, yes, and don't forget the drop-down menus...

Renovations...

Posted at 03:38 AM Notebook

Spent much of the last couple days reworking the eJournal's site design. Shouldn't have taken that long, but there's this pesky difference in the behaviours of Netscape and IE. In IE, specifying a percantage width for an object in a table may not work the way you'd expect.

<table width="100%"> in IE produces a table fully 100% of the size of the current element, without taking into account any formatting done on it.

This caused no end of grief -- well, eventually I figured it out. On the pages, the box the main text appears in often contains a 100% wide table, and this table was forcing the box to contact with the context bar rather than have the little space between.

Worked great in Netscape, though. Just have to remember to be more careful to test on both platforms.

p.

Third notification test

Posted at 12:48 AM Testbench

This is the third notification test.

New notification test

Posted at 12:46 AM Testbench

Another notification test.

Notification test.

Posted at 12:18 AM Testbench

Testing forum notification

Testing new block quoting style and macro

Posted at 06:43 PM Testbench

This is some text,

This is some quoted text

And this is some more text after the quote.

Testing Macros plugin...

Posted at 01:01 AM Testbench
This --> !!! <-- should become a fist in the individual archive
Presently listening to:
Protection - Massive Attack - Protection (07:50)




 

Add Amazon links to Feb 15th Chomsky event in Critical Events

Posted at 07:45 PM Notebook, To Do List
Presently listening to:
The New Messiah - The Philosopher Kings - Famous Rich and Beautiful (04:07)



 

Testing new listening to string

Posted at 02:28 PM
Presently listening to:
Anthrax - Gang of Four - (04:26)



 
Presently listening to:
Anthrax - Gang of Four - (04:26)



 

More trackback testing...

Posted at 02:23 PM

Does it have something to do with the format of this string?

Presently listening to:
%T% - %A% - %B% (%D%)



 

Trackback test

Posted at 01:24 PM Testbench

Test to determine if Trackback is working.

Helprin

Presently listening to:
Across the Universe - Rufus Wainright, Moby, Sean Lennon - (04:20)



 

Fix 100% width banner table

Posted at 06:40 PM Notebook, Too Done List

With the current CSS banner class, a 100% width table forces the banner to be GT the window width. In Netscape, this doesn't cause any problems...but in IE -- lookout!

Have to rethink the banner formatting.

[EDIT] OK, that's done. Much better...

Also changed the templates for NoMad MaN to match My Messy Workbench.

AHA! Add forum notification!

Posted at 11:30 AM Notebook, Too Done List

http://www.phpbb.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=13386

Look for Davil's MOD.

Provides the user with the ability to subscribe to a whole forum!

This will also provide a "backdoor" method for allowing blog visitors to receive notificaiton of all new updates.

[EDIT]

That was just too complicated -- mod never seemed to get out of Beta, too many posts with suggested changes...

I'm about to try this one instead:

http://www.phpbbhacks.com/viewhack.php?id=293

Or at least I was until the site went down, just now!

It's back. We're on.

[EDIT jan 18, 04]

Completed. Want to know how? See New Topic Notification.

Presently listening to:
I Against I feat. Massive Atta - Mos Def - blade 2 (05:43)




 

Get newsfeeds from forums

Posted at 11:09 AM To Do List

http://www.phpbb.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=144548

This is will allow a "what's up in the forums" kind of thing, as well as allow other pages to harvest forum inputs.

Presently listening to:
P5hng Me A wy - LinkinPark,Mike,Stephan - Reanimation (04:38)




 

Add newsfeeds to forums.

Posted at 11:04 AM To Do List

http://www.phpbb.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=130271

This one looks nifty -- add newsfeeds to the forum.

Presently listening to:
Do You Swear - The Philosopher Kings - The Philosopher Kings (03:39)




 

phpBB Abnormal posts widening fix

Posted at 10:59 AM To Do List

http://www.phpbb.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=149861

Fixes poor formatting with large images in forums.

p.

Map Locations!

Posted at 11:00 AM Backburner

Hey, this map locations stuff looks useful for the next trip, or even for now...


Look at the Page Parser

Posted at 10:42 AM Notebook, To Do List

Page Parser has some built in modules for scanning powell's and IMDb -- hmmm.

p.

Presently listening to:
Like A Hurricane - Neil Young & Crazy Horse - Live Rust (08:02)




 

Add a referrer's list

Posted at 10:38 AM Notebook, To Do List
Since I've got AWStats running on my server, might as well take advantage of the AwStatsReferers.
Presently listening to:
Weather Storm - Massive Attack - Protection (05:00)




 

Editing your blogs offline -- not ready for primetime.

Posted at 05:39 PM Notebook, Reviews

I've been looking for a good offline editor for posting entries to my Movable Type blogs. There are several exceptional freeware and donationware editing clients available for MT, and a few are useful when disconnected from the internet, so long as only one blog is to be edited. SharpMT, Zempt and w.Bloggar, in particular, make for serviceable single-blog offline editors. However, no editor provides more than the most rudimentary functionality and features called for in an offline environment. And bloggers who publish more than one weblog are in a particularly cumbersome bind.

Continue reading "Editing your blogs offline -- not ready for primetime."
 

Complete integrating changes for phpBB comment engine

Posted at 03:49 PM Notebook, Too Done List

http://trikuare.cx/mt/archives/000425.php

Still working on step Get the correct comment counts.

[edit]

Comment counts installed.

Now working on comment display, which is not working at the moment. fetch_all is not getting the list of posts, for some reason.

[edit]

got that going (Missing CRLF at the end of a comment in the code, caused a crucial line to get deleted.

Next item up on this list is to integrate fluffy's display code, which includes login/logout links. Very nice.

[EDIT]

OK, done with that. Next up: recent discussions list, which should be easy enough...

[EDIT]

Actually, that took some debugging. Fluffy's php was hard-coded for FluffyBlog, so I abstracted the hard-coded stuff to allow a bit more flexibility for use in both my blogs.

It's operating in MyMessyWorkbench, just have to port it over to NoMad MaN -- but it's time to head out to my cousins' for xmas dinner...

[EDIT]

Complete!!

Presently listening to:
Peter Gabriel & Massive Attack - Games Without Frontiers - Peter Gabriel - (05:17)

/" target="_blank">
 

Testing content... VI

Posted at 01:42 PM Testbench

OK. Just a quickie test to see if step #2 below is required.

[]

OK, it's the square brackets causing the phpBB comment bug.

p.

Testing content... V

Posted at 01:39 PM Testbench

OK. Just a quickie test to see if step #2 below is required.

[something else]

Yep. You need to re-update the Blog links after posting if you want to edit the post.

p.

Testing content...

Posted at 01:37 PM Testbench

OK. Just a quickie test to see if step #2 below is required.

[

Yep. You need to re-update the Blog links after posting if you want to edit the post.

p.

Testing content...

Posted at 01:35 PM Testbench

OK. Just a quickie test to see if step #2 below is required.

[]

Yep. You need to re-update the Blog links after posting if you want to edit the post.

p.

Testing content... II

Posted at 01:34 PM Testbench

OK. Just a quickie test to see if step #2 below is required.


Yep. You need to re-update the Blog links after posting if you want to edit the post.

p.

Testing content...

Posted at 01:33 PM Testbench

OK. Just a quickie test to see if step #2 below is required.

[EDIT]

Yep. You need to re-update the Blog links after posting if you want to edit the post.

p.

Testbench category test for phpBB comment engine bug.

Posted at 01:31 PM Testbench

Testbench category test for phpBB comment engine bug.

Gems category test for phpBB comment engine bug.

Posted at 01:29 PM Testbench

Gems category test for phpBB comment engine bug.

[edit]

Moved to Testbench after test

Coffee Break category test for phpBB comment engine bug.

Posted at 01:28 PM Testbench

Coffee Break category test for phpBB comment engine bug.

[edit] moved to testbench after testing

Reviews category test for phpBB comment engine bug.

Posted at 01:28 PM Testbench

Reviews category test for phpBB comment engine bug.


[edit] moved to testbench after testing

Testing toolbox category

Posted at 01:24 PM Testbench

Toolbox category test for phpBB comment engine bug.


[edit] moved to testbench after testing

Testing for notebook fault.

Posted at 01:22 PM Testbench

I really hope this works OK.

p.
[edit] moved to testbench after testing

Testing from Zempt

Posted at 01:18 PM Testbench
OK. Just a quickie test to see if step #2 below is required. [EDIT] Yep. You need to re-update the Blog links after posting if you want to edit the post. p.

Retest to see if this code will regenerate the error after it's initial publishing II

Posted at 01:13 PM Testbench

OK. Just a quickie test to see if step #2 below is required.

[EDIT]

Yep. You need to re-update the Blog links after posting if you want to edit the post.

p.


[edit] moved to testbench after testing

Presently listening to:
Wild Horses - The Sundays - Blind (04:46)




 

Test with table removed

Posted at 01:11 PM Testbench

OK. Just a quickie test to see if step #2 below is required.

[EDIT]

Yep. You need to re-update the Blog links after posting if you want to edit the post.

p.

Retest to see if this code will regenerate the error after it's initial publishing

Posted at 01:08 PM Testbench

OK. Just a quickie test to see if step #2 below is required.

[EDIT]

Yep. You need to re-update the Blog links after posting if you want to edit the post.

p.

Presently listening to:
Wild Horses - The Sundays - Blind (04:46)




 

Test to see if this code is causing a phpBB comment engine error

Posted at 12:51 PM Testbench

OK. Just a quickie test to see if step #2 below is required.

[EDIT]

Yep. You need to re-update the Blog links after posting if you want to edit the post.

p.

Presently listening to:
Wild Horses - The Sundays - Blind (04:46)




 

Hey! Where's the sidebar?

Posted at 11:35 AM Notebook

Hmmm. The sidebar's gone on the Main Index page. Wonder what happened to that?

Must be something I've done with the continued integration of phpBB as the new comment engine... oh, <sigh>

[EDIT]

Turns out it's a bug in the fetch_all plugin for phpBB which is coughing-up on square brackets [ ] if they appear in the forum comments. Now fixed in integrate.inc, the code for integrating phpBB as the MT comment engine.

Phew!!


Presently listening to:
Cry - The Philosopher Kings - (03:03)



 

Changed comment engine from MT default to phpBB bulletin board.

Posted at 05:10 PM Notebook, Too Done List

Just completed phase I of implementing phpBB as the new comment engine for this blog.

If you like the way the commenting facility is implemented on this site, kudos should be forwarded to fluffy, who wrote the tutorial describing how to do it (and added a bit of code to integrate MT and the phpBB forums which do it.)

The tutorial is big and takes numerous steps, but if you follow the instructions explicitly, it'll get you where you're going. I'd misread a step and fluffy was prompt and quite helpful in resolving the issue.

Presently listening to:
Damaged Goods - Gang of Four - Entertainment! (03:21)



 

Add user notification via email

Posted at 04:58 PM Notebook, To Do List
There's a plugin out there somewhere. [EDIT] Trying to accomplish this through phpBB bulletin boards. It's sorta there, but needs some work. [EDIT 11 JAN 04] OK, it's working well in phpBB -- user can select to be notified when a new topic appears in a forum. Also, default phpBB reply notification is still setup. Now I need to integrate it a little more fluidly with MT. EG:
  • Add notification links to MT templates as appropriate.
  • Add links in phpbb ui back to MT entry as appropriate.
p.
Presently listening to:
Breakdown - Tantric (03:11)



 

Need more glue

Posted at 04:39 PM Notebook, Too Done List

http://mt-plugins.org/archives/entry/glue.php

Install this plugin to provide "glue" functionality for MTCategoryList and other listing tags (Only MTEntryEntryCategories is empowered by MT to glue entries together.)

Use it to glue the category menu appearing at the top of the Category Index.

[EDIT completed JAN 06 03]

Also made some minor formatting revisions to the category archive.

p.

Presently listening to:
Warm Ways - Fleetwood Mac - Fleetwood Mac (03:55)



 

MTCategoryList ?? NO!

Posted at 12:31 PM Testbench
Quick test to see if there is an undocumented MTCategoryList tag
Presently listening to:
Letter to Hiro - vapours - New Clear Days (06:23)




 

MTCategoryList ??

Posted at 12:28 PM Testbench
Quick test to see if there is an undocumented MTCategoryList tag
Presently listening to:
Letter to Hiro - vapours - New Clear Days (06:23)




 

Created a Category Archive Index

Posted at 08:37 PM Gems, Notebook, Too Done List

I created a Category Archive Index template in the Index Templates section. It creates the file http://www.synaptic.bc.ca/NoMadMan/CategoryIndex.html, listing all categories, with their descriptions, and the entries in them. It also uses <a name="..."> to create links to anchors within the document, which I use to build a menu bar at the top of the document.

To do this yourself, create a new index template called CategoryIndex.

Copy the default MasterArchive index template to your new CategoryIndex template.

Insert the code below into CategoryIndex, replacing the <MTArchive> container. <div align="center"> <MTCategories glue=" | "> <a href="#<$MTCategoryLabel$>"><$MTCategoryLabel$></a> </MTCategories> </div> <div> </div> <dl> <MTCategories> <dt><a name="<$MTCategoryLabel$>"></a><a href="<$MTCategoryArchiveLink$>"><h2><strong><$MTCategoryLabel$>  (<$MTCategoryCount$>)</strong></h3></a> </dt> <dd><blockquote><$MTCategoryDescription$></blockquote> <MTEntries> <a href="<$MTEntryLink$>"><strong><$MTEntryTitle$></strong></a> ::  <MTEntryCategories glue=" | "> <a href="<$MTCategoryArchiveLink$>"><em><$MTCategoryLabel$> </em></a> </MTEntryCategories><br /> </MTEntries> </dd> <br /><br /> </MTCategories></div> </dl>

When you rebuild, there'll be a new CategoryIndex in your blog root directory. Just add links in your other templates and you're ready to go.

Presently listening to:
September Fifteenth - Pat Metheny & Lyle Mays - As Falls Wichita, So Falls Wichita Falls (07:45)




 

SharpMT 2.0 editing test II

Posted at 12:17 PM Testbench

This is a test of SharpMT 2.0's entry editing capabilities.

This first attempt is an unpublished draft, published here for the first time.

[EDIT]

Now I'm trying to repost after an edit.

[EDIT]

OK, now I've re-downloaded the entry into SharpMT. (Last time I made some changes on the local copy and posted that.) I'll try posting that.

[EDIT] OK. That worked fine.

Now I'm working on the same copy I just posted. The question is, do I have to remember to get the updated copy every time?

[EDIT]

Here's the dope on SharpMT entry editing:

1> Post a new entry
2> Update Blog links
3> Get the posted copy of the entry from the blog.
4> Edit and post that copy as many times as you like.

Just don't forget step #3!!!

I need to recheck if step 2 is necessary.

Presently listening to:
Here Comes The Sun - Beatles - Abbey Road (03:06)




 

SharpMT 2.0 editing test

Posted at 12:15 PM Testbench

This is a test of SharpMT 2.0's entry editing capabilities.

This first attempt is an unpublished draft, published here for the first time.

Hmmm. Time Travel test worked, sorta.

Posted at 05:34 AM Notebook, Testbench

If you post an entry with a date sometime in the future MT behaves pretty much as I would have expected it. Except that it's displayed in the Main Index as well, which is a bit counter-intuitive to me.

It's OK to have the future date archive appear in there. However, the Main Index should be a place for current news. Not the distant pass, but also not the future, whether close-at-hand or quite distant.

I hope I'm not going to be looking at that thing for the next year.

Maybe I'll just change the date...

There's more about future behaviour in in This is a calendar/date/archive test

Bug report at MT coming up.

Presently listening to:
Lord of the Rings Soundtrack - - - (02:07)



 

This is a calendar/date/archive test

Posted at 11:47 PM Testbench

Let's just see what happens if I set a date in the future. Will it create an index and archive for the date?

[EDIT]

Well, it did. The original date was December 16, 2004. That's 2004.

Let's see what happens with the archives if I change the date back to, say, January 16, 2004.

[EDIT]

Ahh, well, it was that smart at least. The December 2004 archive is gone. Replaced by a January 2004.

Good, that's what I would expect.

And the category archives contain them too. I'm not sure whether that's a good thing. Have to mull that one over.

[EDIT]

OK. I'm changing the date on this one. Tired of seeing it at the top of every list!

 

Presently listening to:
Like A Hurricane - Neil Young & Crazy Horse - Live Rust (08:02)



 

Got some category stuff up.

Posted at 01:31 AM Reviews, Too Done List

Obviously way too tired to be doing this. Slooooow. Bleh.

Anyway, finally got some category stuff displaying. Added some links to the header but also made it so the categories an entry is in will display to the right of the entry. Even wrote up a little tutorial for it, uhhh, yah here.

I'll knock off after propagating that code throughout the templates. That oughtta take, oh, another 5 hours!

Presently listening to:
Pigs (Three Different Ones) - Pink Floyd - Animals (11:28)



 

Q: How can I get the category(ies) to display with my entry?

Posted at 07:52 PM Gems, Notebook, Too Done List

How'd I get the "Notebook" category link to display on the same line as the entry title?

This one's really easy. First, take a look @ The MT Wiki MTCategory page. You'll get the basics there. And while you're there, bookmark the MT Wiki site -- very useful.

Armed with that little tidbit of knowledge, all I did was find MTEntryTitle tag in my index templates. They looked like

<h3 class="title"><$MTEntryTitle$></h3> I wrapped them in two-cell tables, like this.
<table width="100% border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"> <tr valign=top><td> <h3 class="title"><$MTEntryTitle$></h3> </td><td align=right> <MTEntryCategories glue=", "> <a href="<$MTCategoryArchiveLink$>"><$MTCategoryLabel$></a> </MTEntryCategories> </td></tr></table>

The title is in the left hand cell and the piece of code from MT Wiki is in the right-hand cell. I set that cell to right justify.

No sweat!

p.

Presently listening to:
Letter to Hiro - The Vapours - New Clear Days - (06:23)



 

Second draft

Posted at 02:11 AM Testbench
Howdy, bud.

Presently listening to:

Posted at 06:10 AM Gems, Notebook

This is a tutorial for installing a Windows-only implementation for Moveable Type (MT) bloggers, though Mac users may nonetheless find some useful ideas here, as certainly will enthusiasts for other blogging systems..

If you want to be able to insert Amazon links to whatever's playing on Windows Media Player or WinAmp into your blog entries, read on. It's not all that difficult: it does require some trival edits to some of your MT templates, and you'll have to install a couple plug-ins. If you don't already use Zempt 0.3 SharpMT 2.0 or w.Bloggar, you'll need one of these too, if only to generate the required code.

Continue reading "Presently listening to:"
 

Tweaking...

Posted at 09:31 PM
Presently listening to:
South Side Of The Sky - Yes - Fragile (08:09)




Test

Posted at 09:23 PM
Presently listening to:
Sell My Soul - Midnight Oil - Diesel and Dust (03:37)




PHEW!!

Posted at 05:55 PM Testbench

It's been an interesting couple of days. Read all about it in the the MovableType Plugin Development Forum

And if you go there, you'll find out how to do this in your blog:

Presently listening to:

Wish you were here - Pink Floyd - Wish You Were Here (05:40)


Presently listening to:

Wish you were here - Pink Floyd - Wish You Were Here (05:40)



p.


Another (the lastish?) MTAmazon tweak

Posted at 03:30 AM

OK. This one provides a hyperlink from the album title. Should about do it for now.

Even the Linkin Park can't keep me awake any longer...

[Listening to: Points Of Authority - Linkin Park - Hybrid Theory (03:20)]


YES!!!

Posted at 07:49 PM

Still testing, but getting some positive results ;)

[Listening to: And You And I - Yes - Classic Yes (10:06)]


Take me to the river!

Posted at 07:47 PM

Another test

[Listening to: Take Me To The River - Lenny Kravitz & Al Green - (04:56)]

Hey, that's kinda cool!

Posted at 07:41 PM

A little Gang of four, anyone?

[Listening to: Ether - Gang of Four - (03:51)]


Testing Zempt "Now Listening to:" with Amazon plugin.

Posted at 07:37 PM Testbench

This is kinda cool if it works...

[Listening to: Pigs on the Wing - Pink Floyd - Animals (03:22)]



MTAmazon Test

Posted at 06:44 PM Testbench




MTAmazon Test

Posted at 06:42 PM Testbench





On to Zempt 0.3

Posted at 03:20 AM

Zempt 0.3 has a bit better support for Movable Type post editing, with full compliance for all editable fields.

Not as feature rich an editor as w.bloggar, but very close. Includes an HTML preview tab.

And it claims to work offline. I'm just about to check that.

Well, not quite what I'd hoped. I can save a draft version of a post, but that appears to be about it for management. It defaults to saving the post as a file, but there's no information concerning order, date/time stamp or the like. Further, in order to post the draft, I have to manually open it and execute the publish.

Not quite what I'd hoped...

Even if it does support the media insert stuff (EG:

[Listening to: Wild Horses - Tori Amos - (05:43)]
)

Well

Posted at 02:40 AM

Looking bad for offline editing...< sigh >

w.bloggar provides only "save current post" and "save as"

What I'm really hoping to find is a client that will recognise when the computer's offline. It would then store/queue any entries posted (or even post&published) on the local hard drive.

Best if it would then detect if the computer goes online and then post/publish any outstanding entries.

Hmmmmmm.

Keep looking, I guess.

w.bloggar test

Posted at 02:23 AM

OK, now we're trying the w.bloggar windowsXP client.

This is actually quite nice. Pretty UI. Lots of editing features, including one-click tabbed HTML-preview window. And, in a second, we'll see how well it works offline...

p.

Eww.

Posted at 01:43 AM

Eww.

blogBuddy makes ugly posts.

Also, no offline posting...which is the basic functionality I'm after.

A blogBuddy test. http://blogbuddy.sourceforge.net/. Looks

Posted at 01:42 AM

A blogBuddy test.

http://blogbuddy.sourceforge.net/.

Looks a bit simplistic -- no title tags either.

We'll see what the post looks like.

umbilical leash

Posted at 12:11 AM Coffee Break

OK. So I appear to have come to a full stop. After years of international nomadism (http://www.synaptic.bc.ca/homepage.htm) I've run out of steam/cash/motivation.

Worse yet, there's this nasty habit of digital cocooning :: me and my laptop and four walls with a drawn shade.

What's up with that?

Gotta find ways to get myself out of the house, and out of my head.


So far, this is the best I can come up with. Write. Yes. Write.

If I can get the laptop mobile -- into some coffee houses, perhaps. Onto a ferry, or a bus. Go camping (picked a great time of year for that didn't I!?).

I dunno. Let's see where I can get this thing.

First, though, I'll have to load a desktop client to log these entries...