Comments on: Related

By: marja-leena

marja-leena — Wed, 09 Apr 2008 23:13:20 +0000

Not too long at all, Dave, thanks! I’m so code illiterate that I think I’ll stick with what already works. (The ‘gallery’ is coming, just haven’t had the time for it lately.)

By: Dave

Dave — Wed, 09 Apr 2008 15:44:37 +0000

Yes, it’s all auto-magic. And yes, it’s WordPress-specific; WP and MT are fundamentally different and incompatible. One of those differences is the open-source nature of WP, which had led to an astonishing proliferation of plugins from hundreds, maybe even thousands, of different contributors. However, Automattic, the private company that runs WP.com and drives development of WP core, has begun to impose uniformity on the once-happy chaos of WP plugins in order to please their corporate clients, so I don’t expect this version of blogtopia to persist much longer. If you’re contemplating a switch to another content management system, for what you’re trying to do with a blog + website with gallery, etc., I’d recommend looking at Drupal instead. (Sorry for the long answer to a simple question!)

By: marja-leena

marja-leena — Wed, 09 Apr 2008 13:54:25 +0000

Now that I’ve seen it in action, I’m really liking your “Related Posts” feature! Does the plug-in automatically find them? I guess that’s a WordPress feature; wish I could have it in Movable Type, it would save a lot of work.

By: Dave

Dave — Mon, 07 Apr 2008 03:30:53 +0000

marja-leena – Well, I restrain myself on certain subjects too, as you can imagine. In particular, i try to avoid talking about politics in the abstract (though I think my Personal/Political category contains some of my best posts), in part because I don’t have too many insights of my own — I would mostly just be echoing others — and because, despite the title of the blog, I’d like to avoid the kind of rampant negativity that political blogs seem to inspire in their authors and commenters.

SB – I’m sure you could do some great things with that!

Peter – I’m glad you find that useful, because I have considered replacing or eliminating that page. Actually, there’s a plugin I have my eye on which uses javascript to produce expandable lists for each month. But last time I tried it, it wasn’t working properly, so I’m still displaying this slower-loading complete list, generated by the Smart Archives plugin. (I list all the plugins I’m using in the Credits page, linked from the footer.)

I don’t know if I have more guts, or if I’m just better at shutting things out of my mind. I’d rather not think about some of those early posts.

By: Peter

Peter — Sun, 06 Apr 2008 22:56:33 +0000

Rereading this post got me nosing around your site, and I tried out the table of contents. I thought it was fascinating. I think it makes your older posts a lot more accessible than a standard set of links to “archives” in a sidebar. I assume you have it set so that posts are added to this list automatically. (You’re beginning to make me consider WordPress again.)

I went back and read a few of your earliest posts. There’s something almost tender about them. (As you know, a sense of chronology evaporates from my site earlier than two months back. You have more guts than I do.)

By: SB

SB — Sun, 06 Apr 2008 22:25:34 +0000

Oh, man, I’ve been completely underusing the title feature. Got to get more creative…

By: marja-leena

marja-leena — Sun, 06 Apr 2008 19:12:00 +0000

Oh, this makes me feel better. I’ve sometimes questioned my own blog’s subjects going all over the map though I’ve restrained myself on certain subjects. I guess I’m falling behind, not keeping up with all the latest blog tricks, heh. Just comfortable in my old shoes…

By: Dave

Dave — Sun, 06 Apr 2008 15:36:56 +0000

…deb – Nope, this post is the first where I’ve ever included rollover text, snarky or otherwise, on hyperlinks. As I say, the new version of WordPress (2.5) makes it easy to do that if you use WYSIWYG editor, which I’ve just enabled here for the first time in nearly two years. It had been pretty much F’d up in earlier versions of WP.

I guess you manage a self-hosted WP blog over at Read Write Poem, so maybe this info is useful. (I’d advocated holding off on switching to 2.5 for at least a month, though — there are a few bugs with it that will probably be fixed by then.)

donna and Rurality – Thanks for making that connection. Not being a boomer, it hadn’t occurred to me. But yeah, isn’t it fascinating (and just a little nauseating) the way marketing has adopted the language of the former counterculture? Another example that comes immediately to mind is the way everyone talks about “growing” a business.

David – It’s good to know that there are readers like you out there. I sometimes worry that general-interest readers just aren’t logging on much at all, having heard that the blogosphere was a vast cultural wasteland. That’s why it was so reassuring to hear John P. suggest that y’all number in the tens of thousands.

Theriomorph –

It’s like the prize in the Cracker Jack box.

Ha! Well, I can’t promise this style of rollover text for every post, of course, but I’ll try and keep it up where appropriate. I stole the idea from our friend Chris Clarke, though I realize there’s no way I’ll ever be as witty as he is.

By: Theriomorph

Theriomorph — Sun, 06 Apr 2008 15:13:37 +0000

Also a fan of the self-effacing, sarcastic, non-sequitur, and/or purely absurd roll-over text. It’s like the prize in the Cracker Jack box.

The related posts feature might be a great way into the uncategorized archives, yes – will poke around that way for a while.

By: Rurality

Rurality — Sun, 06 Apr 2008 14:11:41 +0000

Have you ever been blog-brand experienced? Well I’m not sure if I have or not… ;)

Love your version of text on links!