Release Candidate 3
Apr 19, 12:19 AM · from the mouth of JakeI updated us to the latest version of Textpattern. Some things still don’t work, like the search box and the category drop down. And some new things have broken, like the click an author name and get a listing of articles.
I finished Ambershed.com for the most part, so before I move on to something totally new I figure I’ll tidy up around here a little bit. Let me know if you notice anything new that’s broken and I’ll add to the list of things to repair.
Update: If anyone has any ideas on what to do about a logo and the text up top I’m all ears. I don’t want it to be too outlandish, but I’d like some text that isn’t so boring and that we can turn into an actual graphic to overlay onto the background images. If you need some web sites to peruse for ideas let me know. I’m having the same problem with the Band’s logo…
Tell me what you think!! [4]A new way to connect.
Feb 17, 11:07 AM · from the mouth of JakeFirst off, this is my first post using XML-RPC. “What the hell is XML-RPC?!?” I hear you saying. Basically it a script with a bunch of functions that allows other interfaces (usually a desktop application) to connect and post content. I haven’t gotten to test all the applications out there to tell you which one works best, and they all revolve around Movable Type so things aren’t always what they seem. For example I am writing this with ecto which is a neat little application, on OS X. On windows it’s still in its infancy and pretty much stinks.
I began testing it while working on my band’s web site. (It’s still not done, and I think I’m going to end up redesigning it in 6 months, I just built it, I didn’t design it.) And I’ve been really wanting to put it into Re¢ently. The problem with that being I have to take the base and build it out to work with my home grown system.
If you’d like to play with all this stuff you can by just pointing whatever program you have at the front page. I set up a header element to point the program at the XML-RPC stuff so you don’t need the subdirectory information.
In general this isn’t a huge deal, you guys don’t have any problems posting by yourselves to the web site. But I find a program like this can help for something that’s mulling in your head. I’m currently working on my bio for Ambershed on my Power Book and can just save the draft of it until I’m done and ready to publish it. Of course you can just hide posts from the public in the web admin too… If anyone has any questions let me know.
CommentBeer logos and other random naughty bits
Dec 6, 12:09 PM · from the mouth of JakeA lot easier than building it from scratch, while drunk
Well ok, so they’re not actually naughty.
I almost met this guy once, there are occasionally blogger meet and greets in the Boston area, Dan Cederholm. He’s got a link to a large list of Beer Logos in Illustrator format. So if any of you are in need of a logo, head on over there. I’m not sure how long the web site will be there since one of the beer companies might complain.
And of course it’s mostly famous beer brands.
Free camera for Christmas
It’s going along smoothly so far. With one random person I now have 4 tentative referrals. Bryan and Ty, make you sure you follow through with that stuff, they need to get a 100% confirmation. Just remember, the free ISP signups seem to be the best bet. I plan on cancelling my service soon and just reaping the free referral. :) Thanks again for helping me out with being cheap.
Photo headers
Everything seems to be working fine, but we need picture submissions. Remeber it’s 770×130 currently for picture size. The two I put up there were crops from some desktop wallpaper I have so it’s not my work. I’d like the delete them so as not to get in trouble with the true owners.
I’m trying to come up with ways of highlighting who posts the picture and stuff. I don’t want too much text on the page, so maybe just a small “by: so and so” in the bottom right hand corner.
That is all for now…
CommentHow to work with images.
Nov 12, 11:23 AM · from the mouth of JakeI thought I’d give you guys some various ways to work with images on the site. There’s multiple ways and it’s tough to know which one to use. So I’ll go through each one and hopefully help everyone figure it out.
Textile
!/images/44t.jpg (Old school house)! Notice the “t” that means I’m using the thumbnail. A big help if the image is huge. You have to make your own thumbnails until I add in a thumbnail generator thingy.
Textpattern
<txp:thumbnail id="44" /> This is using the type of code that is native to this system. The one above is Textile, by the same developer.
XHTML
<img src="/images/44t.jpg" /> This is similar to the last one in structure, but it’s the actual html code that you’d be putting in if we didn’t have this system. It allows adding a lot of extra attributes and stuff. Not necessarily needed however. Notice the “t” again.
jbe_dsimage Plugin
<txp:jb_dsimage src="/images/44.jpg" /> One of the great things about this system is it allows plugins. We actually have five of them running right now. This one puts in the thumbnail for you and links it using Javascript to the larger image in a pop-up. It’s also tweaked to add in the shadow to the background of the image. Which is a nifty feature. Especially if you’re using a modern browser like Firefox, Opera, or Safari, Omniweb on the Mac. Internet Explorer 6 can do something similar (using hacks that bloat the code) but since the browser hasn’t been fucking updated since 2001 there’s lack of full support for PNG files. which the shadows are, providing full alpha transparency so the shadow blends in with the background. Whether it be a solid color or some bizarre tiled image of Jim’s member.
Sorry about the rant on IE, it’s just one of those things that pisses off many of us web developers. And considering Firefox has many more features and is 1.0 you should be using it anyway. It also has less security holes. But like I said, an updated browser in OS X can do all this stuff too.
Conclusion
So that wraps up working with images. I hope it helps you guys include images in your posts as opposed to just linking to the full size image. Just make sure your thumbnails aren’t too huge. And remember, you can add a link (just like some of you have been doing) to the full size image.
CommentFirst Image
Sep 3, 02:26 PM · from the mouth of Jake
Well boys, I haven’t had a chance to go through photo stuff yet, but I did notice a couple of plugins for Textpattern that let you do images so I’ll have to go through them.
But here’s an image to hold you over I took while we were in Virginia. Not any of you guys, but it’s one of the better photos I took that didn’t have John’s ass for a focal point.
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