Guess what I am testing?
The "Read more" code of course!
It's cool. It works.
There are two methods of creating expandable posts. 1. the "peekaboo" method, where the posts appear on main page after you click on the link; 2. the "post page" method, where pages appear on its own page after you click a link.
This is created using the "post page" method, as it is the same method I used in the old blogger.
Ramani of Hackosphere shows us how to do it in this post.
1. Find the
</head>
tag in your template and add this line before it (if you have not already done so).
<script type='text/javascript'
src='http://www.anniyalogam.com/widgets/hackosphere.js' />
2. Find this div for the post-body and add the portion of code in red color.
<div class='post-body' expr:id='"post-" + data:post.id' >
<b:if cond='data:blog.pageType == "item"'>
<style>#fullpost{display:inline;}</style>
<p><data:post.body/></p>
<b:else/>
<style>#fullpost{display:none;}</style>
<p><data:post.body/></p>
<span id='showlink'>
<a expr:href='data:post.url'>Read More!</a>
</span>
<script type='text/javascript'>
checkFull("post-" + "<data:post.id/>");
</script>
</b:if>
<div style='clear: both;'/> <!-- clear for photos floats -->
</div>
To include the "Read more" link in your post, type <span id="fullpost">
at the point of the break, and </span> right at the end of your post.
I have to go back to all the old posts to change the code from "class" to "id". The costs of progress... :)
(Thank you Ramani for the code.)
Wednesday, February 07, 2007
This is a test
A gripe about the new blogger
I like the new blogger because it allows for labels and it is faster to publish. All the other stuff is just just bells and whistles to me.
But this gets under my collar: I can't customise the html so that I can make expandable blog posts or align my images any more. There must be a new way to align the images not hosted by blogger—I can't imagine them upgrading blogger and not including this function—but I don't know it for now, and even if I do, I have 988 old posts using the < div id="image_left"> and <span class="shortpost"> tag which is now completely useless. Aghhh.
What is a blogger supposed to do if she has an afterthought that she wants to append to a post?
(Just noticed that "blogger" may refer to the person who blogs, the software that we use to blog, or the company that hosts the software. Very versatile!)
Is it even possible to switch back to the old blogger?
Wednesday, January 31, 2007
New blogger here I come
I've gone ahead and upgraded to the new blogger. They didn't give me any choice in the matter actually, but I am liking it quite well.
Was afraid of losing my template when I upgraded but I wanted to have labels in my sidebar more than I was sentimental about the old template. I suppose I will have to say goodbye to my ancient method of creating categories for blogger. It is time to move on. Life as someone put so eloquently, is a trapeze act, grabbing and letting go, grabbing and letting go, until you get to the final bar that is greased.
This is my 989th post and I'm anal enough to want to go back to label everything. It is starting to look a bit like what I would like my brain to look like: posts on running, reading, etc. and all the important and interesting stuff uncategorised. ;) I'm deliberating how specific I want my labels to be. Do I want a post on "Irving" or "Gaiman" or just leave everything under "Books"?
I'll figure it out along the way. :)
Wednesday, December 20, 2006
Blogger and Gmail
Just what is wrong with blogger and gmail today? Everything is so slow! I can't get to my gmail because I get a time-out page and when my blogger account finally loads up, there are very important buttons missing...I'm blogging this via my yahoo account now. Grr.
I think why everything is so slow is because Blogger came out of beta today. I'm still on the old version and have been resisting going to beta because this new version integrates gmail and blogger. I use my regular name in my gmail account, and it is just too scary to see my name suddenly appearing on the comments I make. I'll rather be mis_nomer, thank you very much.
I hope it irons out soon. This makes me want to plonk down good money for a domain name and server space.
Thursday, July 28, 2005
Blogger Categories
I just created categories for my blog. It is a somewhat tedious process, but the earlier you decide to do it, the more work you would save. This was how I did it:
1. Create a new blog for each category.
I have three categories for now, running, reading and poems. These were the blogs created (`category blogs'):
the pencil runs: http://onemillionruns.blogspot.com/
the pencil reads: http://onemillionreads.blogspot.com/
the pencil poems: http://onemillionpoems.blogspot.com/
2. Copy template from main blog and paste into category blogs.
This ensures that your entire website has the same look. I used the same template except that I included a link back to the main page in the category pages. I also ensured that the links in the category blogs made sense, for example "Home" should lead back to main page rather than to the category blog.
3. Populate category blogs with relevant previous posts.
This is the tedious part of the process. What I did was to go through my archives and copy and paste each individual post, remembering to change the date to match the original date.
4. Tweak email settings in main blog and category blogs.
Email all new posts in the main blog to yourself by specifying your email address under "Settings" and "Email". Set a mail-to-blogger email for all category blogs so that you can publish via email. Remember to tick the "Publish" box.
5. Start posting!
When you post to your main blog, a copy of the post will be emailed to you. Forward the post to your category blog via the secret email address and it will be published. You could also set your email rules to automatically forward the emails.
Tuesday, July 19, 2005
How to display source code
1. Replace < with & lt; (remove space after &)
2. Replace > with & gt; (remove space after &)
Therefore to tag this post "code":
<a href=http://technorati.com/tag/code" rel="tag">code</a>
Therefore an invisible technorati tag:
<a href=http://technorati.com/tag/code" rel="tag"></a>
And, the final clincher, to display the code above:
& lt;a href=http://technorati.com/tag/code" rel="tag"& gt;& lt;/a& gt;
(remove all spaces after the &)
(I feel like I'm speaking in a foreign language)
Things I learnt this week
1. How to include invisible technorati tags.
It is actually exceedingly simple. All you have to do is to leave out the link name in the tag. See directions here. I would have typed it all out myself except that I don't know how to post code in blogger (see number 3).
2. That NKF was the number one search at technorati.
Unbelievable isn't it? That a nation of 4 million can generate so many search enquiries? See screen shot here. Singaporeans must use a lot of technorati.
3. That I don't know how to input source code in blogger.
If I can't use the plaintext tag, what can I use? The pre tag doesn't work either so I've given up.
Thursday, March 17, 2005
blogging issues
Decided to play around with the layout of this blog and ended up with more problems than I started with. But I like the more "finished" look of this site for now, so I'm going to see if I can work through the bugs.
Installed the code to add a "read more!" button to truncate my longer posts. Internet is interactivity so you might as well fly with it.
The contents in the right column (viewed in IE) are pushed down way to the bottom. I read somewhere that it is a problem with my pictures and tables being too large. In IE, the container enlarges to fit its content, so if I put a picture that is too large in the main column of my blog, the container enlarges, bumping all the content down in the next column. Brilliant. So these are my proposed solutions:
1. Re-size all my pics manually. (What a bother!)
2. Increase main column width (But that affects the layout of the entire page)
3. Don't do anything about it. :)
I've started a flickr account. And I like it a bunch so far. :) It appears less cranky than hello, and it gives you cool features, like the "flickr stamp" you see in the column in the right (pushed way down of course, at least until I get it fixed.) My flickr stamp are of my running routes. But how do I limit the stamp's range to a particular group of pictures in flickr?
I'm considering taking my running log offline. Since end July last year, I've jogged 279 kilometers in 42 hours. It is so much easier to keep track in excel, and no one looks at my log anyway, and it is really a record just for me. But of course if I take it off, all my earlier links would be dead, but no one looks in the archives anyway.
I'm also considering taking onemillionpictures offline. I used this page primarily as a "holding place" for the pictures in Pencil Shavings, and now if my flickr use goes without a hitch, I may not need this blog anymore. I kinda like the name though.
see, you can read more!
Thursday, May 29, 2003
Re-discovering html
All of a sudden, the light came on.
I could use html in my blogger entries!
(You were expecting something earth-shattering like I discovered gravity weren't you? wait long long) I used to do html in school a long while back but it is all fuzzy inside my head. It wasn't difficult - it was the simplest bit of the whole java course - but I can't even remember the programme that we used to input the data anymore.
But heck. I'm still young, I can learn it again.
