I created this post with the YUI Editor I integrated into my private branch of dasBlog (release coming soon).

I also added my own Flickr photo plug-in like the folks over at Yahoo did. Behind the scenes is just a simple REST proxy.

I am also using a custom toolbar version for the user comments. I will hookup the Flickr plugin for a while so that folks can see how it works. Feel free to enrich your comments with Flickr photos until I close the feature.


No html view means I will continue to use TinyMCE as my admin editor. It also doesn't support an undo-buffer like many of the other leading rich-text editors.

For visitor comments however, I will be testing the YUI editor until I decide if it is as good as the TinyMCE implementation I hacked up (which also has support for all the major browsers). I suppose it would be an easier choice for someone using the YUI lib already. Let's see what the user acceptance is like.

technorati: YUIEditor, YUI, Editor, Rich Text

Created 134 weeks, 18 hours ago

If you would like a dasBlog for asp.net 1.1 (latest v1.9 branch) assembly with rich text comments and support for FCKEditor, tinyMCE and of course FTB, get the patch version (diy) or the prebuilt version:



Feedback appreciated. Install notes are in the zip. AJAX version coming soon after I test it more.

technorati: richtext, patch, blog




Created 137 weeks, 4 hours ago

Folks, I can't seem to find anything wrong with the RecentComments macro!? I need more details.

I just downloaded the latest versions of dasBlog (1.9 and 2.0), built them and installed jforsytheMacros. I added some test posts, test comments and the results can be seen in the screenshots below.

If anyone using this macro can help me produce an error, please contact me and I will fix it. Also, go ahead and make your requests for next versions here if you have any.

Created 138 weeks, 5 days ago

The AJAX comment feature has now been tested enough to release the first patch. The demo is still available for those who wish to try it out. Thanks to all those who helped with the testing.


technorati: dasBlog, comments, AJAX, patch

Created 149 weeks, 2 days ago

I am trying to finish up a small mod to dasBlog to allow for AJAX enabled comments. I went a tad bit overboard and decided to juice it up with some visual effects. I might pull those for the next build as they just munged up the script for Safari.

If you would like to check out the very early work, see the test blog here and post a comment if I still have comments enabled and you have one of the supported browsers.


technorati: dasBlog, ajax, comments

Created 161 weeks, 10 hours ago

I have been working on adding support for AJAX comments to dasBlog with what little time I have lately and it is just about wrapped up.  Test it out at my AJAX comments test blog.

I started with the bits that Justice Grey had built in for the auto-save feature and extended it to work with UI interaction and back-end validation.

I will create a new UI layer soon that will look and perform better, but the underlying framework is just about done.

technorati: dasBlog, Ajax, comments

Created 161 weeks, 2 days ago

Whoops, seems like there was something wrong with my installation instructions and the compression script to get the TinyMCE Editor Adapter working with dasBlog.

I have now updated the instructions and added a new download for a modified version of the TinyMCE Editor asp.net compression script required to get this working with dasBlog.



technorati: dasBlog, add-on, editor, adapter, tinyMCE

Created 162 weeks, 5 days ago

If you are tired of using the FreeTextboxAdapter or standard html textarea to edit your posts through the integrated dasBlog entry editor, you now have another choice in rich-text editors. I have completed an adapter that gives you access to the Moxiecode TinyMCE Editor.

a small example of the tinyMCE editor and some of the tools in the toolbar

The TinyMCE Editor has advanced support for xHTML compliant markup and accessibility minded markup. It supports all the features of FTB or even FCKEditor and supports almost all modern browsers and platforms. I have added support for most of the common button types, and if you feel particularly adventurous, you could add support for the image browser or file browser into your site.

Installation is a snap (copy some tinymce files, copy the .dll I provide, copy some caching files) with no need to compile any source. If you think you would like to try it, head on over to my new dasBlog add-ons, extensions and patches project page to get your copy.

technorati: dasblog, tinymce, freetextbox, fckeditor, rich text, editor, adapter

Created 163 weeks, 1 day ago

I have decided to include a few more bits of dasBlog code on my site. These are the easy-to-install add-ons and extensions or the more difficult to apply code patches that I develop for dasBlog.

I am including here the items that don't make it into the dasBlog public release as they are either too specific to a solution or else too wild for all installations. As someone once said to me, take them or leave it.

You can find the new section linked from my project page or at this direct link to dasBlog add-ons, extensions and patches.


technorati: dasBlog, extension, patch

Created 163 weeks, 1 day ago

I didn't realize that Gravatar.com was down for upgrades until I had read it on a forum I moderate. The service continues to serve the existing registered-user icons but the entire new user registration and account settings pages seem to be down.

A little research turned up that MyBlogLog and whooiz.com might have some kind of JavaScript solution that I will look into over the week.

The security and moderation behind Gravatar.com was the best thing about it. I might have my own solution for avatars and dasBlog soon enough. Stay tuned!

technorati: gravatar, mybloglog, whooiz, avatars, dasblog

Created 163 weeks, 6 days ago

I created a new dasBlog macro that displays content based on different page types. 

Example syntax to target the homepage:

<%ConditionViewType("homepageview", "<strong>Welcome to my blog</strong>")|jforsythe%> 

An example of the output of the ConditionViewType macro for dasBlog

The total conditions are:

commentview = viewing comments on a post
dailyview = a historical homepage view
monthview = all posts for XX month
yearview = all posts for XX year (only from monthview.aspx)
currentmonthview = default monthview.aspx
categoryview = all posts filtered by category
searchresultsview = internal search results page
homepageview = the homepage only, no filters (default.aspx)
edititemview = Editing a post
loginview = Logging in
defaultview = Everything else (experimental)

You can get this macro as part of my macro collection from my dasBlog project page.

technorati: dasBlog, macro

Created 164 weeks, 5 days ago

The RSS feed for the last 10 comments posted across your entire blog is:

http://[yoursite]/[blogdirectory]/
SyndicationService.asmx/GetCommentsRss



The RSS feed for all comments made on an individual post is:

http://[yoursite]/[blogdirectory]/
SyndicationService.asmx/GetEntryCommentsRss?guid=[POST GUID]



technorati: dasBlog, RSS, comments

Created 164 weeks, 6 days ago

Please enjoy my new theme for dasBlog: DirectionalRedux.

My friend Jon helped with the creation of theme based on my older Directional theme. The date-flags are now inset to make the page work better with a full screen liquid layout. The comments have been adjusted to allow for a wider display. The admin view has all new icons and a separate homepage template.

This theme has been tested with most browsers (thanks Lee). Please let me know if you find anything wrong with the code or have feedback or enhancements.


Preview Screenshots:


technorati: dasBlog, theme, blog, design

Created 165 weeks, 5 hours ago

I created a new WorksInProgress macro for dasBlog that will show all your unpublished "works-in-progress" posts on one page. The intent is to help you find them easier. If you are a current user of dasBlog, you know this process is currently a pain.

The macro will show an ordered list of items on the "Add Entry" page of the blog. More specifically, it should display the items under the Content Editor section of the page for both contributor and admin roles. Contributors will only have access to the posts that they have created, whereas administrators will see all posts that are not yet published.

You can get this macro as part of my macro collection from my dasBlog project page.




technorati: dasBlog, macro

Created 170 weeks, 14 hours ago

Please enjoy my new theme for dasBlog: Directional. This blog theme is designed to enhance blogs that are date oriented. I particularly like the orientation of the "callout" tabs on the left for posts and comments. With some luck we will have a theme-able comments section soon which will let me modify the comments tabs even more.

I have done a fairly good job of testing the design for i18n using the 30% rule. Let me know if you have feedback on this.

Download the theme on my dasBlog project page.


technorati: dasBlog, theme, blog

Created 170 weeks, 2 days ago

In the previous build of my dasBlog macros I accidentally introduced a bug into the RecentComments macro. Spam elements were mistakenly decreasing the number of items shown to visitors. That bug is patched up now.

Get the latest build from my dasBlog project page to update the your macros.


technorati: dasBlog, macros

Created 170 weeks, 2 days ago

The PageViewType macro returns a string that describes the type of dasBlog page a user is viewing. It is most useful for breadcrumb-type functionality to help a user understand what exactly they are looking at in dasBlog.

Many times a Internet search will land a user on your Category page. Typically a user will not have a clue as to where they are on your blog. This is an attempt to help improve the IA of your pages.

As an example: if a user ends up on a month filter for all posts in November, 2006 the macro will return a string "All posts in the month of November, 2006".



The macro can be padded on either side with special characters or html entities if you wish.

You can get this macro as part of my macro collection from my dasBlog project page.

 
technorati: dasBlog, macro

Created 170 weeks, 2 days ago

Two new macros for dasBlog. NakedPageTitle and NakedItemTitle.

Both of them improve Search Engine indexing for dasBlog on item and category views. They do not have any parameters to pass, so they should be pretty straight forward on use. Plus they auto-sense the view they are used on.

These macros are intended to replace the default macros included with dasBlog: <%title%> and <%itemTitle%>.

Go get the new macros on my dasBlog macro project page.

NakedPageTitle looks like this:



NakedItemTitle looks like this:



technorati: dasBlog, macros

Created 170 weeks, 4 days ago

I wanted to syndicate some RSS recently for my blog so I created a new macro for dasBlog. The GetRSS macro will pull in some RSS, cache it and wrap it in a standards compliant unordered list for you to stylize.

Download the new macro from my dasBlog macros project page.

Updates since first version:

---

I updated the script to have it auto-create a "getrsscache" folder in the content folder (thanks for the feedback).

I also totally forgot about the date node, so I added 2 new params for date (show date, and show elapsed time)

---

technorati: dasBlog, macros, rss, syndication

Created 171 weeks, 1 day ago

So.. want to show a badge with a list of recent comments on your blog?

Do you have AKISMET running and have you upgraded to dasBlog 1.9 latest build?



Well, your in luck. Based on the original macro from voidclass, this version has many new features (read below)

Download the Recent Comments macro at my dasBlog project page.

---

Features for this macro:

• Admins and visitors can be shown a different number of recent comments.
  
  
• Admins can see comments marked as spam. Admins will notice that the comments are spam based on some custom css styles.
  
  
• Visitors will have spam filtered.
  
  
• You can truncate either the title, comment body, or comment author to better fit your design.
  
  
• You can choose to show or hide the comment body.
  
  
• The macro produces xHTML standard list elements.

technorati: dasBlog, macro, asp.net, blog

Created 173 weeks, 2 days ago

Good a' mornin'. Time to-a' fix the comments. A little paint over the obvious memory leaks... duct tape across some structural connections... a few decorative stickers over the holes... that ought to do it.

Yeah.. umm.. the comments should be working again .

Also, thanks to Joshua Flanagan we are back in the comment spam-filtering no-need-for-CAPTCHA business with a patch he checked in with an AKISMET fix for the comment blockage this morning.

Jforsythe.com is running a nightly-build version of the dasBlog code, so this very blog gets to uncover some of the problems with the software before those same problems make their way to the final build. The older AKISMET code was about 90% of the comment problem, with my Rich-Text comments the other 10%. Lets hope we both get it right with our fixes.

I love being part of open-source collaborative software. I think seeing others check-ins and getting to be part of the development process makes everyone a better programmer. Of course, those who are already amazing geniuses which check in the amazing stuff probably rue us armchair-programmers.

technorati: dasBlog, AKISMET

Created 173 weeks, 3 days ago

Thanks to the more than one person (I love yall) that wrote to me telling me the comments were being chomped. The best I can do at this moment is warn you that comments will be eaten, digested and turned into cybernure by my blog.

It makes perfect sense that the day leave my laptop and source code at home that the blog will decide to start this shiiat again.

If you care, it is related to how the comments are sniffed by AKISMET for spam. The system is still having the kinks worked out as you can tell. My favorite part is how the new feature I added for rich text comments was the culprit for a week, then immediately after I fixed that, the spam sniffing service found opportunity to fail.

Come back tomorrow when I get it worked out. I really do treasure your comments. Like gold. Like precious golden comments.

Created 173 weeks, 5 days ago

So my blog was probably eating your comments for the last few days. Sorry about that if you posted something really important and it didn't get through. I think I have fixed the offending pieces, we shall see.

Created 174 weeks, 2 days ago

I think I added a nice feature. An upgrade from simple html editing (by hand) for comments

I am using the FreeTextBox adapter that is running in dasBlog as default but it should be able to be configured to use other textbox WYSIWYG editors.
Update, now it is using the tinyMCE adapter.

It has full configuration properties (choose your allowed html elements and it shows the corresponding toolbar buttons) and it still works with the coComments feature (this was too buggy and the workaround involved a lot of hacks, maybe next version) .

Post a comment to try it. [still very early beta] now tighter and stronger

technorati: dasblog, blog, comments

Created 176 weeks, 1 day ago

I have been working on my own macros for dasBlog outside of what I contribute to the core build. I wanted a Google site search and a feedburner feedflare macro that worked with dasBlog 1.8 (I ran it for the longest time) so I finally rolled them up into a common macro library.

Now that I have some momentum, I want to share them with everyone else. You can find all of my dasBlog macros and themes I have made in the new section of my Projects page.

The new Google site search macro is as easy as:
     <%GoogleSiteSearch("dasblog.us", 20)|jforsythe%>

If you need any macros developed, let me know and maybe I can help.


technorati: dasBlog, macros, themes

Created 177 weeks, 6 days ago

DasBlog 1.9 is released today. This isn't your typical minor build as it has major upgrades, bugfixes and a ton of new features since a year ago and version 1.8.

Check out Scotts post on it over at his blog where he lists a majority of the features. http://www.hanselman.com/blog/DasBlog19Released.aspx

If you want the Kubrick theme that I ported for 1.9, you need to download it from my blog as it can't be released with the official build (license rights and all).

Created 180 weeks, 5 days ago

I have been contemplating Scott Hanselman's reply to a somewhat critical dasBlog review. As a dasBlog contributor and user, maybe if we had a snazzy theme or two we would get more respect

You can get this theme as part of my thheme collection on my dasBlog project page.

Bugfixes
-------------------------------
(9/9/2006 - 3:39 PM PT) Macro for category cloud fixed

Installation:
------------
Extract it into your dasBlog themes directory and refresh your cache to enable it.

I ported the Klassic Kubrick theme from http://binarybonsai.com/kubrick/ to dasBlog 1.9.

Here is what it looks like (click for larger view in Flickr):

Home Page

 

Comment View

tags: dasblog, themes, kubrick

Created 182 weeks, 4 days ago

Yes, for those of you who post comments: You will now be happy to know that after you post a comment you will no longer be sent back to the root of my blog. You will stay on the same page you posted from. Also, when you go to view comments, you will be taken to the section of the site that the comments are located.

Created 213 weeks, 7 hours ago

I integrated Gravatar icons into the comments section of my blog using the MD5CryptoServiceProvider in asp.net last night; it was a hoot .

Provide your gravatar-enabled e-mail address in your comments if you wish to use your gravatar image in the replies.

Technorati : dasblog, gravatar
Del.icio.us : dasblog, gravatar

Created 213 weeks, 2 days ago