A while back I upgraded our blog software and last night I finished the job by upgrading our theme to enable even more of the features. I’ll still need to do some tweaking of the style but I’m pretty happy for now. Here are some of the new features:
Gravatars
One of the most obvious changes is that you might have noticed some peoples pictures next to their comments. OK, well just Aubrey for now, but she seems to be the only one reading commenting on our blog since she currently hold 4 out of the last 5 comments. That little picture is a Gravatar. It isn’t coming from our site. You have to go sign up for one for your email address and then our site uses your email to go fetch your picture. You can go and change your pictures as much as you want. If you don’t have one setup for your email account, then instead of showing a goofy default image, I hacked it a bit to not display an image. But it is still my site and I reserve the right to replace your gravatar (or add one) with a picture I deem more appropriate.
Threaded Comments
When leaving a comment you can now “reply” to a previous comment and your comment will be indented below the comment you were replying too. This probably isn’t that cool to all of y’all because we don’t actually get that many comments, but it once in a while, especially when Tim comments, people often have reply comments.
Tags
You’ve probably seen “tagging” in other applications such as photo organizing software. Folders make sense for physical things like a photograph. It can only be in one physical folder at a time. But with electronic documents tagging makes way more sense. If you are organizing your digital photos or email (don’t even get me started on my email rant. that is a whole different post) in folders you are wasting your time. You are always going to have items that belong in two folders, but can only go in one. With tags you can simply add multiple tags to it and you can sort on any of them. We’re still keeping the categories around for course grain organization, but we’ll also be tagging posts. It also meant I got to add the cool tag cloud widget which animates the tags as if they were on a 3D sphere. Go ahead and move your mouse over it and see it react.
WordPress Features
The update made the internal software that we use to “run” the blog is a huge improvement. It went from something that took someone who knows about web hosting, php, and html programming to something that any average person could use and maintain. Updating in the past was tedious. Now you just click a button and it all happens automagically. It is all AJAXy and you can just drag things around to easy change the layout of the site. Overall, very nice. I haven’t used Blogger or other hosted blog services, but I can’t imagine they are better or easier to use. And that is saying something considering that WordPress is free and open source.
Text Widget
OK, so this is an internal feature too, but I thought other wordpress users should know about it because initially I didn’t realize how cool it was. To design the sidebar, you add widgets. There are some widgets that come with WordPress and other users can create more. But what if you want to add something that there isn’t a widget for? That is what the Text Widget is for. All you have to do is past in some HTML code into it and BAM, there it is on your sidebar. So when you want to add your Google Reader Shared items and not have it look all ghetto using some RSS plugin which kinda works. Just copy the javascript that Google gives you and paste it in the text widget. No more hacking up your theme which makes updating your theme a pain.
K2 Makes WordPress Better
OK, so this is just a plug for my theme which rocks. I’m not doing it justice with the lame header image. Yes, Jenny I am going to put something cool up but first you asked me to help with Violet’s announcement remember and plus I’m busy with all this blog stuff. But K2 is actually more than a theme as it is a mod to wordpress. For example it provides a better widget manager with more options.
Mystery Feature
OK, so it isn’t a mystery but more of a “what is that?”, although Jenny had a hard time finding it. I figured I’d try it out and see what it is. I mean, I gave facebook a chance. Just wait for the upcoming post on what is wrong with facebook. Feel free to use it, or just rail on me in the comments. Just remember I can replace your gravatar on my site if I want. You did go sign up for one right?
Hey there,
Outside of not understanding any of the terminology you used, or any of the actual stuff you did, I couldn’t help but notice that you used only one term I’m familiar with in the Tags section. “Course grains” as used by USDA would include corn and feed grains used in livestock rations and ethanol production, but I’m not real sure how that helps the “organization”.
I thought I was going to know gravitar as a star or one of the universal bodies that creates gravity, but I guess not(the link shot that down).
Well at least I understood the “all of y’all” so your languange is still kind of Techno midwestern with a slight drawl.
As always
Grandpa Andrews
Oh gee, I guess the USDA calls them coarse grains not course grains.
As always
Grandpa Andrews
I’m pretty sure he’s making up most of this gibberish (or terminology if you’re nicer than I am) as he goes, so I wouldn’t worry any more about understanding it than you would worry about understanding Violet if you were holding her and she were telling you about her day. I’m sure he only accidentally used a term that has application in the real world.
I love the 3D tag cloud, and I wants it.
It is WP-Cumulus.
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By the way, the fact that my comments need “moderation” and my avatars are subject to Droz’s approval makes me wonder what other Soviet style “improvements” he has in mind next.
Tim, the reason that your comments went to moderation is that you didn’t use the same email address that you used when you commented previously. I know, I know. It must be difficult to keep up with both a yahoo and a hotmail account. Seriously Tim, are you still in junior high? When are you gonna get a grown up email account?
However, I am quite impressed that you were able to figure out how to create yourself a gravatar. I still haven’t figured out how you made it into a link to that page with all your personal information.
Okay, so the mystery thing is the Google Friend Connect below?
Then I’m thinking that blogger’s layout is fairly simple as well; you drag the boxes around (in a layout screen) to rearrange the blog. They also have widget boxes in which you can paste html in order to make the box do what you want. That’s how I put in the new background, the Catholic Mothers Online, and the counters that I have.
I like the tag cloud! I like the threaded comments. That makes a lot of sense to me.
The thing I struggle most with on blogger is formatting. I don’t even know if that’s the right term. I mean that sometimes the site wants to stick extra breaks between my lines or remove the breaks that I put in there. I need to get a little more familiar with html code. I did learn to use html for strike-thru and italics, so that’s a start.
Are you sure that it’s not coarse grains (as opposed to course grains)?
Yes the mystery thing is Google Friend Connect. Its kind of like facebook for blogs. Blogger has a similar feature where you can see what blogs people are following in their profile and you can show it on your blog. But its limited to just Blogger blogs. It might be cool but no one else is using it on other blogs. I don’t think it will be staying but I figured I’d check it out.
Formatting is still something that could be improved. I confess that whenever I want to do anything interesting I switch over to code view and do it in HTML. And I do enjoy strike-thru. Sometimes a bit too much.
Yes, yes, it should have been coarse instead of course. Grammar’s never been a strong point of mine.
Okay JR and friends,
I just have to know if you all know that gravatar is not a real word?!? By real, I mean it isn’t in the dictionary, even my online dictionary. When I read it I thought it was some kind of Starwars or Star Trek term that I missed cuz I never really enjoyed when I had to watch those shows with my brothers. I guess computer “geekos” really do just make up words and have their own language. What is amazing to me is how easily you all do this, and how you all follow the language blindly.
From your NON-geeko sis!
PS I don’t have to “srike through” cuz I know how to use the backspace and delete keys.
PSS I am not getting a “Gravatar” for now in support of Abby, 4th grade, who missed a question on her computer quiz. She answered that one thing you should never give out on the computer is your email address. This was the wrong answer. They were looking for a list of answers including phone, school, picture, address.
Actually Lisa, if you would have followed the link to Gravatar.com you would have read that it is a partial acronym for, Globally Recognized Avatar. Avatar is actually a word and the globally recognized part simply means it works everywhere, not just a single blog.
And how old are you? You still have a paper dictionary? What do you use it for, holding up your antique furniture that is falling over?
I recommend Abby take me to the next parent teacher conference. I mean seriously what kind of teachers do they have teaching 4th grade these days at that school. Email address is an excellent answer as would be passwords and Instant Message name. Stay strong Abby! Fight the good fight. And if you need help hacking the Smart Board let me know.
-The Supreme Geeko
BTW: Did you see and click on Tim’s gravatar?
Your’s will be coming shortly.Alright JR,
I am amused, but I want my personal info changed to this page instead. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8E8xMcXmI9E
Do you mean that only blogger has the ‘Blogs I Follow’ feature or do you think that blogger only lets its users follow other blogger blogs? (That sentence sounds really stupid as I read it.)
I’ve entered several WordPress blogs into the ‘Blogs I Follow’ feature and use it (in my dashboard) to do quick catch ups on those blogs I read regularly, rather than using a feed reader although I’m going to experiment a little with the latter.
I’m making myself dizzy with the all of the almost-rhymes in my comment. I think I’m too tired and need a little caffeine. I’m going to remember not to mess with you on your blog…I like my Gravatar just the way it is.
I admit to not knowing much about Blogger. I didn’t know that you could add non-Blogger feeds to the ‘Blogs I Follow’ feature. I’m going to have to get a blogger blog just to test out their features.
Aubrey,
I think you should upgrade Dr.Seuss and write a book about following the Blogs on the Blogger Blog
As always
Grandpa Andrews