Categories
Weblogging

How to get ahead

Recovered from the Wayback Machine.

I wrote a post in Just Shelley about my reasons for dropping Burningbird. Chief among them is not having the energy to continue to ‘feed the monster’, as Sheila aptly puts it.

What does feed the monster are posts such as this: over the top, sensationalist, faked outrage, petty bickering. There’s such a desperate need to be linked, I felt one should be given–for pity if no other reason.

I also wanted to commend Dare Obasanjo on his patience and the honesty of his reponses in comments. Dare doesn’t need my support, as he managed extremely well on his own. Dare’s also a popular weblogger and doesn’t need my link. I give both for no other reason than I think he’s one of the most ethical and decent webloggers I know; it’s a joy to be able to link to someone who truly deserves it, rather than a monkey flinging feces around his cage.

(OK, that last wasn’t part of a dignified debate. Luckily, I’m not part of this debate, so I don’t have to worry about being dignified.)

I also liked what Mike Torres wrote:

Me: I really don’t care what people think the word blog means. I just want people to have tools that allow them to communicate with friends, family, and the rest of the world. Not everyone wants to be “famous”, so it’s important that these tools promote privacy, safety, and control to the meet everyone’s unique needs – and that they aren’t limited to text, but incorporate other types of media as well. Call it a blog or don’t. Whatever. As Bruce Lee used to say, “it’s just a name, don’t fuss over it.”

Another link I was happy to give, especially since I couldn’t comment. Note to the LiveSpaces gang: pleeaasseee remove the LiveID requirement to comment on Spaces. It’s ucky poo.

(Ucky poo is a technical term meaning: cumbersome, and requiring more effort on the part of the end user than would be returned as benefit.)

Categories
JavaScript Technology Web

The Bubble Popper

Recovered from the Wayback Machine.

Over at ScriptTeaser a participation exercise where you can help pick what Ajaxian tech is hot, or not, for a weblog. Feel free to jump in, as opinions are not only welcome, they’re being actively recruited.

I have one more for the list: The Ajax Bubble Popper. When enabled, any post that contains an over abundant use of Web 2.0 terms and fuzzy feel goodness, as well as earnest assurances that the ‘bubble is not over, no sirree’, will automatically *POP* before you even have to spend any time on it.

Come to think of if, this is probably more of a Firefox extension, since I never ever say the bubble is not ove…

*POP*

Categories
JavaScript Technology Weblogging

Back to work

Recovered from the Wayback Machine.

I’m looking at all the possible areas where one can apply Ajaxian technologies to a weblog. Some uses strike me as just pushing the bits around for the fun of it. Others, such as my live preview for comments, seem to be so handy they’re worth having JavaScript turned on.

Before blasting script, willy nilly at my sites, I wanted to gather opinions from those most impacted: you. Of the following, which do you consider useful as compared to frivolous? Are there any you consider important enough to introduce invalid XHTML?

  1. Live Preview, where a comment is previewed as the person writes it.
  2. Spellcheck of comment. Which of the two options: Live spellchecking or the current open new window spellchecking.
  3. In-place editing of comment as compared to server-side editing of comment (as currently enabled at this site).
  4. In-place editing of comment as compared to having no post-comment editing.
  5. Live update of list of comments or posts, as you’re reading and without page refresh.
  6. Expanding comments in the main page when the comments link is clicked (in-page reading).
  7. Animated or otherwise activated menus, such as the one currently implemented at ScriptTeaser.
  8. Dropdown menus that expand to show all menu options.
  9. Summarized posts on the front page, which then expand when a plus sign (’+’) is clicked.
  10. Be able to turn photos off, and have the site remember to filter photos.
  11. Only display photos if a button of some form is clicked (or if JavaScript is disabled).
  12. Expand code blocks on demand.
  13. Being able to re-arrange weblog page and have the new arrangement ’stick’. (IE being able to size main content, sidebars, move sidebars, eliminate sidebars, and so on.)
  14. Being able to pick stylesheet.
  15. Being able to choose font: family and size.
  16. Being able to change site colors based on a pick list.
  17. Autosaving of longer comments, as they’re being written.
  18. Expandable metadata sections for each post.
  19. Mouseover that pop up information associated with post, such as related posts.
  20. Use of microformats for reviews, events, where microformat exists.
  21. Being able to access Google/Yahoo map through link, metadata, expandable section, or live embedding when post is somehow geographically related (such as with photos, events, and so on).
  22. Being able to add your tags to post.
  23. Being able to add other metadata, such as related links, to the post.
  24. Being able to expand a photo in the page.
  25. Add a slider to darken or lighten the page text.
  26. Adding a live chat feature.
  27. Being able to opaque everything but a post you’re currently reading (remove distraction).
  28. Persist commenter’s name, email, and URL.
  29. Live search (posts/comments returned as search term being input)
  30. Games. Yes, games. Just like the paper mat you used to color on when you went out to the pancake house when you were a kid.

If I missed any ideas, let me know. Appreciations for the feedback.