I've recently added a small cosmos link to each footer section of this weblog's posts. It seems to be the latest fashion trend, at least among Movable Type publishers who are ready to customize their publishing templates. What about Radio Userland? Well, it doesn't seem to be possible to do it with the current (8.0.8) Radio version, unless you are ready and able to modify a small piece your Radio source code.
The trick is to modify the item template (#itemTemplate.txt file) to include an HTML link tag making a call to the Technorati Cosmos service. The Cosmos Service http GET request expects a 'url' argument specifying the permalink of the post:
http://www.technorati.com/cosmos/search.html?url=permalinkwhere permalink is the URI of the published item, suitably encoded to fit into the arguments component of a GET request.
This is where Radio cannot currently deliver: the <%permalink%> macro referenced for use in the item template does not provide a straight or encoded URL, but an image HTML tag encapsulating the URL instead.
However, if you're confident enough to modify Radio's source scripts, there's nothing preventing you from adding a new <%encodedPermalinkUrl%> macro. Template level macros are defined in the system.verbs.builtins.radio.weblog.render script.
To add a new 'encodedPermalinkUrl' pseudo-macro, locate the //set permalink bundle in the code, and add a single line at the end of that bundle's content:
t.encodedPermalinkUrl = string.urlEncode ( url )Compile and save the modified script. Keep in mind of course that your modification will be wiped out the next time Userland publishes an update to the radio.weblog.render script.
The full HTML tag to add to the item template then looks like this:
<a href="http://www.technorati.com/cosmos/search.html?url=<%encodedPermalinkUrl%>" title="technorati cosmos link" target="_blank">cosmos</a>Since this a very simple modification, let's hope the <%encodedPermalinkUrl%> macro will become part of the next Radio release.
Update: If you don't feel confident enough to update your Radio source code, Matt Mower has released a Technorati Radio macro that you may download from Lilia Efimova's Mathemagenic site.
Taking advantage of Feedster's feedpapers, I've updated activeRenderer's rssBox demo page to display a side by side view of both Kerry and Bush consoladited news feeds.
The outlined view makes it easy to compare news headlines, and the preview mode lets you scan through interesting looking posts by simply hovering your mouse's cursor over the 'wedge' handle at the left of each title. Clicking the wedge actually opens, or expands, the news item.
The template for the demo page is available for download, as an example of rssBox macro use.
Another way of leveraging RSS feeds is including an RSS box in a blogroll, as I do on s l a m's home page.
Bruce Loebrich has made impressive progress porting some of activeRenderer's features to the Movable Type weblogging world.
Check out the MT weblog outlined view on our experimental site.
We're getting closer to a first release, though I cannot commit to any specific date at this time.
We're interested in all suggestions from current MT users regarding expected outline publishing features.
[image] Gwénaël Le Dréan demonstrates the first level of localisation achieved in activeRenderer version 2.1 and later (as well he should since he's behind a large part of our common effort towards a fully localised tool :-).
Even if you don't speak French, you will notice his outline carries correctly accented vowels like é è à. Gwénaël also localised the output of the activeRendererFunctions macro with its latest parameters, to display the French mentions 'tout déplier', 'tout replier' instead of the default 'expand all', 'collapse all' in the right side bar.
This version features a new twist in weblog outlining: you can now select outlined styles for each weblog category that has HTML rendering turned on in its settings, separately from the style given to the main home page.
[image]
Category selection comes handy when publishing several web sites from the same Radio installation. For instance, I'm publishing s l a m as the 'main' site of my Radio installation, with no outlined style at all, whereas activeRenderer News is publihed from the 'activeRenderer' category with both day headers and post titles outlined.
To turn categories on, check Radio's categories preferences. Click category names in Radio's categories page to turn HTML rendering on or off. Check out the updated preferences page to experiment with weblog outlining.
I've also fixed a number of bugs in the tool's uninstallation code, and upgraded it to my latest understanding of Frontier's tools suite.
When you uncheck activeRenderer from Radio's Tools page, if you had the activeMenu or any of the weblog outlining preferences checked, all original templates are restored, so that the Radio's desktop website menu no longer includes the 'Browser' option, and the next publishing session will occur without applying any outlined style. Rechecking activeRenderer in the Tools page will restore it, complete with its preferences, to the state it was at the time of its last de-activation.
When you remove activeRenderer.root from Radio's Tools folder and restart Radio, all components of activeRenderer, including its serial number and preferences, are removed from Radio's object database, leaving no trace behind.
The 'activeRenderer', 'opml' and 'outlines' folders created by activeRenderer in Radio's www file structure are left in place though, since removing them has consequences on the public sites contents. Think twice before removing them manually.
activeRenderer modifies Radio templates. The 'activeMenu' option (checked by default) modifies '#desktopWebsiteTemplate.txt' and '#template.txt' in the www folder. Weblog outlining modifies '#homeTemplate.txt', "#dayTemplate.txt', and '#itemTemplate.txt', either in the www folder or in all relevant subfolders of the www/categories folder.
Before making any modification, activeRenderer backups the original files in 'activeRenderer/local/backup'. Before restoring any original template, it copies all modified versions to 'activeRenderer/local/custom'. 'activeRenderer' folders can be found in www and in each category folder for which an outlined style was selected. In the unlikely event something goes wrong, you should always be able to restore the proper templates from the 'backup' or 'custom' subfolders.
To update your version, click on the update link in the activeRenderer section of the status center in Radio's desktop website home page, or select the Tools / activeRenderer / Update... Menu in the Radio application.
You may also choose to set your activeRenderer preferences to auto update the tool every time you launch Radio: this is the way to ensure you are running the latest available code.
I'm now switching to other projects (replacing the registration service for one), while Gwénaël tries to keep up with the localization effort.
I've run into unexpected problems when readying the next 2.1.1 minor update of activeRenderer: I'm overhauling the installation / uninstallation process to go along with the newly implemented outlining styles for weblog categories, and it's an even worse nightmare than I thought it would be :-)
I should have finished the testing by Friday though, Murphy willing...
[image] [image] This week's featured publisher, Gerald Gleason, doesn't use Radio Userland to publish his weblog. He doesn't use Movable Type either. Yet, look at the navigation lighthouse that forms the left side of the page: you'll recognize a familiar outline structure, with a nautical twist :-)
[image] Gerald has put activeRenderer's javascript code to work, and produced wonderful looking 'nautical' replacements for the 'standard' outline wedges.
[image] With his authorisation, I'll soon include those picts as part of a 'nautical' style for outline wedges. Alternate sets of wedges with specific styles are scheduled to show up in the next 2.2 version of activeRenderer.
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