Comments on: New paths into the old thicket http://www.vianegativa.us/2008/04/new-paths-into-the-old-thicket/ How can we live without the unknown before us? —Rene Char Sun, 12 Feb 2012 19:48:49 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: Peter http://www.vianegativa.us/2008/04/new-paths-into-the-old-thicket/#comment-7846 Peter Wed, 30 Apr 2008 01:25:42 +0000 http://www.vianegativa.us/?p=2348#comment-7846 This comment string has the feel of the WordPress forums i spent so long on last summer for my school project. If they get tag bundling down right, I might just find WordPress irresistible. The lack of dates or chronology shouldn't matter for the timeless installments of "Words on the Street." (Actually, no. I do remember some of them that depended in part on then-current events, trends, or controversies.) This comment string has the feel of the WordPress forums i spent so long on last summer for my school project.

If they get tag bundling down right, I might just find WordPress irresistible.

The lack of dates or chronology shouldn’t matter for the timeless installments of “Words on the Street.” (Actually, no. I do remember some of them that depended in part on then-current events, trends, or controversies.)

]]> By: Dave http://www.vianegativa.us/2008/04/new-paths-into-the-old-thicket/#comment-7845 Dave Tue, 29 Apr 2008 14:35:20 +0000 http://www.vianegativa.us/?p=2348#comment-7845 Yes, but you were so good at designing themes! I should've asked to borrow one of your old ones here. Considering how much it does, "Simple Tags" seems quite misnamed. Though I suppose it was intended to appeal to minimalism fetishists like yourself. :) Yes, but you were so good at designing themes! I should’ve asked to borrow one of your old ones here.

Considering how much it does, “Simple Tags” seems quite misnamed. Though I suppose it was intended to appeal to minimalism fetishists like yourself. :)

]]> By: Harry http://www.vianegativa.us/2008/04/new-paths-into-the-old-thicket/#comment-7844 Harry Tue, 29 Apr 2008 14:24:55 +0000 http://www.vianegativa.us/?p=2348#comment-7844 "This means, among other things, that you could use a tag-based “related posts” plugin if you wanted." Actually, that's another thing that Simple Tags can do, so I've turned it on and am considering whether or not I like it. I mean, I think it's a good idea: it's just question of whether or not I think it's visual clutter. When it comes to adding new functionality, the whole minimalism thing is a bit of a rod for my own back. “This means, among other things, that you could use a tag-based “related posts” plugin if you wanted.”

Actually, that’s another thing that Simple Tags can do, so I’ve turned it on and am considering whether or not I like it. I mean, I think it’s a good idea: it’s just question of whether or not I think it’s visual clutter. When it comes to adding new functionality, the whole minimalism thing is a bit of a rod for my own back.

]]> By: Dave http://www.vianegativa.us/2008/04/new-paths-into-the-old-thicket/#comment-7843 Dave Tue, 29 Apr 2008 13:40:38 +0000 http://www.vianegativa.us/?p=2348#comment-7843 O.K., thanks for the reply. I'll definitely join the discussion at the forum thread. I should have thought of that on my own. O.K., thanks for the reply. I’ll definitely join the discussion at the forum thread. I should have thought of that on my own.

]]> By: Darren http://www.vianegativa.us/2008/04/new-paths-into-the-old-thicket/#comment-7842 Darren Tue, 29 Apr 2008 13:12:41 +0000 http://www.vianegativa.us/?p=2348#comment-7842 Dave, Instead of de-selecting the "Display list of Series Box" try just removing the "%postcontent%" token from the series post-list template. That *should* give you what you want without resorting to a <code>display:none</code> bandaid. As for the other stuff you mentioned it's actually really easy to implement (well, easy is a relative term - but if you know how to modify your theme files you'll have no problem with this). I'll tell you what, if you can post your ideas/requests in my support forums at http://unfoldingneurons.com/forums/forum/usage-help - I'll post the solutions there. It just makes it easier for other users of Organize Series to discover ways of using the plugin :) As for the missing <code>«/div»</code> - it's a carryover from testing on one of my custom themes. I'll have to put it back in because I realize most themes will require it :) Dave,
Instead of de-selecting the “Display list of Series Box” try just removing the “%postcontent%” token from the series post-list template. That *should* give you what you want without resorting to a display:none bandaid.

As for the other stuff you mentioned it’s actually really easy to implement (well, easy is a relative term – but if you know how to modify your theme files you’ll have no problem with this). I’ll tell you what, if you can post your ideas/requests in my support forums at http://unfoldingneurons.com/forums/forum/usage-help – I’ll post the solutions there. It just makes it easier for other users of Organize Series to discover ways of using the plugin :)

As for the missing «/div» – it’s a carryover from testing on one of my custom themes. I’ll have to put it back in because I realize most themes will require it :)

]]> By: Dave http://www.vianegativa.us/2008/04/new-paths-into-the-old-thicket/#comment-7841 Dave Tue, 29 Apr 2008 12:06:27 +0000 http://www.vianegativa.us/?p=2348#comment-7841 Hey, that's a pretty cool-looking plugin! Yeah, just the other day I clicked on your archive list and noticed you'd turned all your categories into tags. I can see why you did that, but absent the current organization scheme, you seemed to just be telling visitors they were on their own. I love the way it works now. Unlike me, you have a real advantage in that your posts were so thoroughly tagged in the first place. This means, among other things, that you could use a tag-based "related posts" plugin if you wanted. Which of course would be another way to lure readers into the archives minus a sidebar like mine. (I'm very sympathetic to the minimalizing impulse, by the way, even if I've moved in the opposite direction.) Hey, that’s a pretty cool-looking plugin! Yeah, just the other day I clicked on your archive list and noticed you’d turned all your categories into tags. I can see why you did that, but absent the current organization scheme, you seemed to just be telling visitors they were on their own. I love the way it works now. Unlike me, you have a real advantage in that your posts were so thoroughly tagged in the first place. This means, among other things, that you could use a tag-based “related posts” plugin if you wanted. Which of course would be another way to lure readers into the archives minus a sidebar like mine. (I’m very sympathetic to the minimalizing impulse, by the way, even if I’ve moved in the opposite direction.)

]]> By: Harry http://www.vianegativa.us/2008/04/new-paths-into-the-old-thicket/#comment-7840 Harry Tue, 29 Apr 2008 08:01:40 +0000 http://www.vianegativa.us/?p=2348#comment-7840 Ha! I found a solution. The <a href="http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/simple-tags/" rel="nofollow">simple tags</a> plug in has a related tags feature, so now I have a small tag cloud on my archive page and then above the archive for a particular tag, there's a list of related tags. So you can click on 'art' on the main archive page and quickly see what subjects related to art I've posted about. Ha! I found a solution. The simple tags plug in has a related tags feature, so now I have a small tag cloud on my archive page and then above the archive for a particular tag, there’s a list of related tags. So you can click on ‘art’ on the main archive page and quickly see what subjects related to art I’ve posted about.

]]> By: Harry http://www.vianegativa.us/2008/04/new-paths-into-the-old-thicket/#comment-7839 Harry Tue, 29 Apr 2008 05:53:35 +0000 http://www.vianegativa.us/?p=2348#comment-7839 The series plugin does sound like a good idea for organising old posts. I'm currently a bit dissatisfied with my navigation set-up: I just changed all my categories to tags because I was effectively using them that way - as keywords, that is - and in WP 2.5 having a lot of categories completely slowed down some of the admin pages, and I was finding it so irritating. Supposedly 2.5.1 has improved that situation, but I can't change back now... What I really want is something with just a <i>bit</i> more organisation than tags as they usually are: as it is I have a tag cloud with all 571 tags all mixed together, which isn't very user-friendly. My ideal would be several tag clouds divided into broad categories like 'art' and 'books': if you've seen tag-bundling on delicious, that's what I have in mind. A kind of very shallow hierarchy. Or, if I'm inventing solutions, a single dynamically generated tag cloud that displays some chosen subset of the total. I don't actually think that anyone uses my archive pages much, so I'm not going to lose sleep over it. It just annoys me when I don't think something is quite working. I think the sidebar list of favourite posts is a good idea: the only thing I sometimes miss about not having a proper sidebar is some way of pointing readers back to selected material from the archive. Just having recent comments displayed made people much more likely to click through and see what was being said. The series plugin does sound like a good idea for organising old posts. I’m currently a bit dissatisfied with my navigation set-up: I just changed all my categories to tags because I was effectively using them that way – as keywords, that is – and in WP 2.5 having a lot of categories completely slowed down some of the admin pages, and I was finding it so irritating. Supposedly 2.5.1 has improved that situation, but I can’t change back now…

What I really want is something with just a bit more organisation than tags as they usually are: as it is I have a tag cloud with all 571 tags all mixed together, which isn’t very user-friendly. My ideal would be several tag clouds divided into broad categories like ‘art’ and ‘books’: if you’ve seen tag-bundling on delicious, that’s what I have in mind. A kind of very shallow hierarchy. Or, if I’m inventing solutions, a single dynamically generated tag cloud that displays some chosen subset of the total.

I don’t actually think that anyone uses my archive pages much, so I’m not going to lose sleep over it. It just annoys me when I don’t think something is quite working.

I think the sidebar list of favourite posts is a good idea: the only thing I sometimes miss about not having a proper sidebar is some way of pointing readers back to selected material from the archive. Just having recent comments displayed made people much more likely to click through and see what was being said.

]]> By: Dave http://www.vianegativa.us/2008/04/new-paths-into-the-old-thicket/#comment-7838 Dave Tue, 29 Apr 2008 01:55:26 +0000 http://www.vianegativa.us/?p=2348#comment-7838 Hi Darren - Thanks for stopping by, and for developing such an awesome plugin. One problem I'm having is that when I uncheck "Display list of series" on the Settings page, I also lose the navigation links at the bottom of the post. My current solution is a band-aid: to block the list display with a display:none in the CSS. Another improvement you might consider - and I have no idea how easy or difficult this might be to code - would be an option to display that series table of contents list in the blog's sidebar somehow. Even with a 500-px-wide main column such as I have now, it's hard to find a spot for the box where it doesn't interfere with the flow of content, especially if the content consists of poetry with longish lines or begins with a wide photo. I have one series that I have yet to tag that includes around 150 posts, an epic poem, and for that one it would be kind of cool to have the list, but not if it's going to be a distraction - which would be hard to avoid for such a long list. Finally, I should mention that upgrading WordPress to 1.5.1 today has made Organize Plugins think I updated it as well. I have not, though I see you have an update. I'm a tad nervous about losing all my customizations if I update, but I guess that's groundless since most of those customizations are in the theme files. Speaking of which, there seemed to have been a missing "/div" tag in seriestoc.php. Hi Darren – Thanks for stopping by, and for developing such an awesome plugin. One problem I’m having is that when I uncheck “Display list of series” on the Settings page, I also lose the navigation links at the bottom of the post. My current solution is a band-aid: to block the list display with a display:none in the CSS. Another improvement you might consider – and I have no idea how easy or difficult this might be to code – would be an option to display that series table of contents list in the blog’s sidebar somehow. Even with a 500-px-wide main column such as I have now, it’s hard to find a spot for the box where it doesn’t interfere with the flow of content, especially if the content consists of poetry with longish lines or begins with a wide photo. I have one series that I have yet to tag that includes around 150 posts, an epic poem, and for that one it would be kind of cool to have the list, but not if it’s going to be a distraction – which would be hard to avoid for such a long list.

Finally, I should mention that upgrading WordPress to 1.5.1 today has made Organize Plugins think I updated it as well. I have not, though I see you have an update. I’m a tad nervous about losing all my customizations if I update, but I guess that’s groundless since most of those customizations are in the theme files. Speaking of which, there seemed to have been a missing “/div” tag in seriestoc.php.

]]> By: Darren http://www.vianegativa.us/2008/04/new-paths-into-the-old-thicket/#comment-7837 Darren Tue, 29 Apr 2008 01:30:50 +0000 http://www.vianegativa.us/?p=2348#comment-7837 Hi Dave, excellent implementation of my Organize Series plugin! If I can help with any of the minor problems you're having just let me know :) Hi Dave, excellent implementation of my Organize Series plugin! If I can help with any of the minor problems you’re having just let me know :)

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