TW Blog :: Entries for Blogging
The meaning of a word is its use in languageLudwig Wittgenstein
Personal Aggreg8or
This post does not relate to any other topics
Before I even got round to building this blog, I actually started out building an aggregator using PHP to parse RSS news feeds. This is
a simple interface with an iframe (to comply with XHTML Strict) containing a separate document parsed as XHTML showing the news feed.
It has some of the blogs I spend most time reading, so I can quickly switch between them and keep track of the latest news and gossip.
Posted on Jul 11, 2003 at 04:37:39. [Comments for Personal Aggreg8or- 0]
Fresh Look To Blog
Also relates to CSS Design
Since the logs seem to be showing a few visits to this blog, I decided to throw in a bit of style
as it was all looking a bit plain. Kept things simple, clear and accessible, but in a hurry I nearly ran
into a wall, when I failed to account for the content pane being less than the size of the screen window.
Once again DOM came to the rescue in browser Standards Modes, with a simple script to retrieve the height of the window pane and individual
div containers:
document.getElementById("id").offsetHeight (for the height of a container)
document.getElementById("id").offsetTop (to get the top pixel position of a container)
Then the container can be resized on the fly as the page loads, or window is resized. The DOM inspector in Mozilla is excellent for working with all the DOM properties and testing scripts that manipulate the document tree quickly and accurately. Don't know how I got by without it now!
I also wanted to apply fixed positioning to the menu, so this property is also added on page load following a browser
detection script, since div {position:fixed} does not place the container in the right place in IE - where absolute
positioning is assigned instead.
Posted on Jul 11, 2003 at 03:13:56. [Comments for Fresh Look To Blog- 0]
A Blog Apology
This post does not relate to any other topics
Finally for the night, a brief apology to anyone who does spill across my blog, and wishes to make a remark, since I have yet to incorporate a form based API for the comments within each Permalink.
Hopefully I will add this in the next few days, as well as looking at some different designs for my Web Log using DOM based stylesheet switches.
I will finish for the night with an emotionally driven quote bearing my sentiments for the current design predicament that still imposes critically on Web Standards advocates in this country.
Man was born free, and everywhere he is in chains.Jean-Jacques Rousseau
Posted on Jul 01, 2003 at 03:54:15. [Comments for A Blog Apology- 0]
Personal Promulgation
Also relates to Peregrinations
And so the journey begins.
It wasn't long after discovering Simon's excellent Blog that I was inspired to start my own Web Log. I felt it was time to start giving something back to the community from my own peregrinations around the Internet. At first I was tempted to give Movable Type a go, but never satisfied with just using other software, and constantly compelled to deconstruct code I get hold of, I decided to start with a Lockian-esque blank slate, figuring it would probably take a similar time to develop my own customised system than to learn the intricate details of a pre-packaged blogging tool.
Well, ok, I was a bit over zealous in my estimations, and it has taken longer than forecast to get a system up and running, but I have enjoyed the journey into the intricate workings of RSS builder classes in PHP and my first face-off with RDF.
I wanted to be able to write up my logs on my local machine, so to avoid unnecessary transfer of data between my local and remote MySQL databases, and tedious FTP tranfer of directories and files, I compiled a PHP script to run from the command prompt that will do all this for me.
So now I am quite excited! As I have been building and wandering the web, there are so many remarks I have wanted to make. Be they for my own satisfaction, or global consumption. So I hope my personal Blog may perhaps be of interest to you, and that perhaps some of my peripatetic path may help us all make new discoveries.
A flag moves. What is it that moves? Is it the flag or the wind?…Neither it is the mind that moves.Tibetan Mystic
Posted on Jul 01, 2003 at 03:40:21. [Comments for Personal Promulgation- 0]
