Recovered from the Wayback Machine.
At Burningbird, I modified my Movable Type template to display a small graphic associated with the subject (category) of a posting next to its title. Those who are less interested in my technology writing can then skip postings with the associated binary graphic next to the title; those who are uninterested in politics, can avoid that graphic, and so on. (My friend Chris at Empty Bottle also uses graphics to designate categories. However, his graphics are a lot more sophisticated than mine.)
I thought about creating multiple weblogs and focusing each on a different topic within the framework of my writing as ‘Burningbird’, but I wouldn’t write more (or less) on any subject just because I split them out into different weblogs. All I would do is scatter my thoughts about like dried bits of corn on a dusty field, forcing my readers to take on the visage of Crow, pecking about hoping to find that edible kernel among the dirt.
Besides, my thoughts don’t split cleanly along subject and topic, neatly categorized into discrete buckets. I’m just as likely to throw new photographs or a bit of writing whimsey into an essay on RDF, or mix a little technology into an essay on the Environment. My weblog reflects my writing, which reflects my mind: muddied waters of blended interest.
First, I created all the graphics of a relatively uniform size. I made them slightly longer than the heading caption bar, as I wanted to drop just below it. I then saved the graphics in the PNG format, naming them the exact name of the category.
Next, to add the graphic, within the main index template, I found the entry section associated with the posting title, as marked with the use of the MT template tag <$MTEntryTitle$>. I then replaced that tag with the following, which not only displays the graphic, but also has a link to the category page for people who want to read more entries based on that category:
<a href=”MTBlogArchiveURL<$MTEntryCategory dirifty=”1″ $>/index.htm”><img src=”http://weblog.burningbird.net/mm/<$MTEntryCategory$>.png” alt=”<$MTEntryCategory$>” align=”left” hspace=”6″ border=”0″ /></a>
<div class=”titlebox”><span class=”title”><a style=”text-decoration: none” href=”<$MTEntryLink$>”><$MTEntryTitle$></a></span></div>
The exact same template code can be used with the title on each individual page, for the same effect.
Graphic/Topic:
– Adventure
– Connecting
– Culture
– Environment
– Life
– Metablogging
– Neighborhood
Photography
– Politics
– Sensory
– Technology
Writing
– Sensuous Technology
– Women’s Writing
