Singpolyma

Archive of "Hacks"

Archive for the "Hacks" Category

For New Blogger : Blogger del.icio.us categorising, pinging, and trackback helper

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JoongSeob Vito Kim has created a version of this script that works with the new blogger post editor.

I have made some minor bug fixes to this script, as well as made it so that it saves the trackback URLs when you save a draft. I took time to fix it, but now my website silverringthing.org.uk is back to normal.

Some time ago I married Johan’s del.icio.us and pinging script with my own trackback script into one new script. That script does not work on the new version of Blogger, and the trackback feature has been glitchy for some time. Outgoing trackback is still something we need on the new version of Blogger, and the pinging services provided by this script might even be useful on other blogging services. Del.icio.us posting? Now that we have labels? Well, Freshtags, my calendar widget, and just tag management in general, will work better if you use del.icio.us. If you disagree, this part of the script is optional.

This script does not overwrite the old script. Running both simultaneously will look dumb on the Blogger Classic interface (there will be duplication), but will not break anything. If you only run on the new Blogger, please remove the old script (if you have it installed).

Install the new script

Userscripts.org entry

Comment Forms and Blogger BETA

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Blogger now has an inline comment form that is native: http://buzz.blogger.com/2008/10/commenting-made-easier.html

Update 2007-02-08 : Contrary to a bit of a misunderstanding this hack DOES work with the new Blogger out of beta. If you can’t find the code try checking the ‘Expand Widget Templates’ checkbox. I have added a bugfix for the redirection bug some were experiencing.

The old inline comment form is dead to Blogger BETA (or, should I say, the new Blogger). Deader than ever, the form now does absolutely nothing.

Have no fear — there is good news!

Since we must use Blogger’s ugly comment page in some form (because of their new security token system), I wanted to include this in our pages somehow. I thought of making it inline, but discarded this idea because it would look rather dumb (since we can’t style that page) and would be displaying comments twice on the page, etc.

Enter lightbox. The following hack gives you a nice, integrated comment form that still appears somewhat separated (so visitors know you didn’t create that ugliness!). Visitors can close the ‘popup’ without commenting, but if they comment it will close and reload the page automatically. (See a demo on my test blog, but I can’t guarantee it will be there forever. My test blog is for testing and is therefore unpredictable.)

To install the hack, follow these steps:

  1. Go to the ‘Template’ tab and select ‘Edit HTML’.
  2. Check the ‘Expand Widget Templates’ box.
  3. Add this code right before your </head> tag (if you have my calendar hack, or any other Lightbox Gone Wild for Blogger hack, installed, this step in unnecessary):

    <script src='http://jscripts.ning.com/get.php?xn_auth=no&id=1093361' type='text/javascript'/>
    <script src='http://jscripts.ning.com/get.php?xn_auth=no&id=2655847' type='text/javascript'/>
    <link href='http://singpolyma.googlepages.com/lightbox.css' rel='stylesheet' type='text/css'/>
  4. Find this code:

    <a expr:href='data:post.addCommentUrl' expr:onclick='data:post.addCommentOnclick'><data:postCommentMsg/></a>

    and replace it with this:

    <a class='lbOn' expr:href='"#comment-form-" + data:post.id'><data:postCommentMsg/></a>
  5. If you do not use peek-a-boo comments or have a footer link pointing to the inline comments section (if you don’t know, you don’t) then find this code:

    <b:if cond='data:post.allowComments'>
    <a class='comment-link' expr:href='data:post.addCommentUrl' expr:onclick='data:post.addCommentOnclick'><b:if cond='data:post.numComments == 1'>1 <data:top.commentLabel/><b:else/><data:post.numComments/> <data:top.commentLabelPlural/></b:if></a>
    </b:if>

    and replace it with this:

    <b:if cond='data:post.allowComments'>
    <a class='comment-link lbOn' expr:href='"#comment-form-" + data:post.id'><b:if cond='data:post.numComments == 1'>1 <data:top.commentLabel/><b:else/><data:post.numComments/> <data:top.commentLabelPlural/></b:if></a>
    </b:if>
  6. Find this code:

    <b:loop values='data:posts' var='post'>
    <b:if cond='data:post.dateHeader'>
    <h2 class='date-header'><data:post.dateHeader/></h2>
    </b:if>

    And directly after it put this code:

    <script type='text/javascript'>
    var isLoad<data:post.id = 0;
    function checkDeactivate<data:post.id {
    if(isLoad<data:post.id > 1) {
    //<![CDATA[
    document.getElementById('lbContent').innerHTML = '<div style="text-align:center;width:100%;font-size:16pt;font-family:sans-serif;"><br /><br /><br />Reloading...</div>';
    //]]>
    window.location.reload();
    }//end if isLoad
    isLoad<data:post.id;++;
    }//end function checkDeactivate
    </script>
    <div expr:id='"comment-form-" + data:post.id' style='display:none;'>
    &amp;lt;iframe onload=&quot;checkDeactivate<data:post.id src=&quot;<data:post.addCommentUrl/>&amp;amp;isPopup=true#commentForm&quot; frameborder=&quot;0&quot; style=&quot;border-width:0px;width:100%;height:380px;&quot;&amp;gt;&amp;lt;/iframe&amp;gt;
    <div style='text-align: right;'><a class='lbAction' href='#' rel='deactivate'><img alt='' src='http://www.ning.com/xnstatic/icn/cross.gif' style='display: inline; width: 10px; height: 10px;'/> Close</a></div></div>
  7. Save your template

Blogger Calendar

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If you don’t use del.icio.us and want more posts showing up in your calendar try appending ?max-results=999 to your feed URL. So it will look like:
http://yourblog.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/full?max-results=999

So you’re not satisfied with just an archive list? You’ve perhaps switched to BETA and even the hierarchal menu just isn’t cool enough? Well, you’ve come to the right place.

This hack allows you to generate a calendar of your posts for people to browse inline in your blog! This hack works with either Blogger Classic or Blogger BETA and, best of all, is one of my easiest hacks to install yet!

Just go to the setup page. Enter your feed URL (do NOT use a FeedBurner feed, it tends to mess things up) and your blog title. Click generate. Follow the instructions.

Now, if you use mine (click the calendar next to the archives box in my sidebar) you’ll note that I have posts in the calendar going all the way back to forever it seems. Your probably only has this month’s. Well, that is just one extra hack, but there’s a catch — you have to be one of those who posts all blog entries to del.icio.us (I know, the BETA people no longer have a GM for that, I’m working on it.)

Go to the full del.icio.us feed setup page (I won’t steal your password!), enter your del.icio.us username and password in the upper form. Click Go. Go back to the setup page. Enter your username (and optional anchor tag) in the lower form. Click Go. Use the contents of your address bar as your feed URL for the calendar instead of your normal feed.

A translation of this page exists. Not sure on the language of that page, but thought I’d give them a link.

To the Confused

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Dear Confused Reader,

You are reading this because much of the Geekery to come out of the Singpolyma – Technical Blog confuses you. The code is far beyond your comprehension, and sometimes so are the instructions. You are the one who emails me your template to hack, instead of hacking it yourself. That’s OK, and I’m willing to help, but in case you wanted to try doing a little bit more yourself….

Hoctro, another brilliant hacker, has written a sort of 101 (or is that 411?) post on hacking your blog, or at least following the instructions to do so. Complete with screenshots illustrating his points, this article will help you understand not only my writings, but those of other Blogger Hackers, forever.

Yours,

Singpolyma

Read Hoctro’s Post (Blogger BETA Only)

Other template-related posts by Hoctro

Feed Links Widget

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As promised, here is the revised version of my Feed Links Widget. Just click the button and follow the wizard!

Some Notes
Due to circumstances beyond my control, if Blogger changes the URL format for feeds this hack will break (and I will, of course, speed to fix it 😉 ).

If you want to make it easier for others to add this hack, clicking the button below will add the button above to your sidebar.