The Issues with Blogger in Beta
Thursday, November 09, 2006

Last night I finally had the opportunity to change over to the new blogger system and it's associated improvements. My main reason for shifting was the inclusion of labels - finally I can categorize my posts and provide easy access to certain topics. The lack of labeling or categorization had tempted me to migrate to Wordpress but alas I have stuck with Blogger and I may make it through this difficult transition period also. My first process lead me to check templates loaded OK and blogs could be fully published as usual. This lead me to a few discoveries:

• Upon migration the URL for archives was reset so all updated archives linked to a 404. I quickly fixed this once my server, that has been up and down a bit lately, allowed me back into the FTP.
• Previous Post links have stopped working, the conventional tag instead of providing a list of the 10 posts prior to the post being viewed now shows only the ten most recent posts. This makes navigation of the older pages less fluid and to find old posts you need to visit label pages or archive pages with the aim of finding a specific post.
• The uploading dialogue for blogger has also been tweaked, it now shows the successfully uploaded files in a list and when errors occurs it tells you them. A nice addition to this would be a suggestion on whether or not to perform a republish based upon the severity of FTP errors. When I see the errors I ask myself whether or not all the files uploaded ok - the last thing I need is a corrupted page that I don't know about. One caveat of this new system is the removal of the percentage uploaded indicator, I like to know how far through the process is and whether or not connectivity is good or bad, taking away the only indication seems wrong to me. Hopefully it is just part of the inevitable blogger beta ftp teething stages.

Moving onwards, once I had confirmed files could be uploaded and my template would not be utterly destroyed I chose to add labels to my posts before publishing the blog again. It is now that I discovered the new template system blogger has developed and is implementing, one in which blog style editing is made easy for those that do not know code, html or css etc. Simple colour picking schemes etc. However in doing this they seem to have completely abandoned the template tag technique which I like to use to fully customize my template design. Backwards compatibility remains yet under my existing html templates I cannot add the new shiny features. Blogger also provides no template tags for these features, instead opting for defined widgets and sections. After publishing I also noticed that labels were automatically appended to the post body in a separate div with the name "blogger-labels". The text "Labels:" cannot be altered in anyway and I have had to use absolutely positioned CSS to shift the labels into the comments bar where I want them and alter the hyperlink format. Here are a few other problems I noted:

• Labels with a gap in there name e.g. "My Life" would link to a labels page: "labels/My Life.php" without substituting the space for a '-' character or removing capitalization (e.g. labels/my- life.php)
• The labels directory is not customizable and is fixed to the "/labels/" default.
• No pagination occurs on the label pages, despite the number of posts - one of my labels has 33 posts and they all load to create a mammoth scrolling fiasco.
• When labels have a gap in their name they do not show up in the labels section on the individual post page - I noticed this and tested it to check it had uploaded correctly. All pages that I had applied the label "My Life" to did not show any labels, though others did. I have since changed the label title but it is an issue that needs fixing.

Finally I decided to post something new. The inclusion of a quick switch between html and rich formatting is an excellent addition that is very handy. Posting via a 1280x resolution the blogger post box seems very small. I like a large area to play with and it would be nice if the box could expand to fill the whole screen, much like in Gmail.

The interface is all very fluid and fast, quickly pulling up 160 posts and labeling them was not a daunting task as I had expected. The dashboard makeover also improves usability, I now only need one click to reach certain regularly visited sections.

I now have one plea: Please do not abandon the template tags scheme. I love it and use it successfully to create my blog exactly how I want it. Please maintain these tags and add respective ones so that us power users can continue using blogger and its new features in the same way we always have done. We do not need to utilize simplified template editing techniques and whilst two separate schemes never seem wise I don't know why they cant run side by side - leaving the templates tag as an advanced yet maintained option for those with a little more knowhow.

This is still in beta so I can remain hopeful for changes, it is nice to finally see some changes and I do feel that Blogger is moving in the right direction.

Labels: Technical, Website

Recent Video, Audio and Image Posts
Video - Juno, I have lost my fangs
Video - What I have been watching lately
Images - Californication
Video - Haloid and Dead Fantasy
Video - Heroes
Video - How to do a press conference badly

Version 7 "and into the light"
Thursday, October 19, 2006

The site has changed and I would like to dub these edits and improvements an upgrade. The old black and orange layout, shown below, was my first attempt at creating a site completely from CSS, more than a year ago now. This turned out a failure, after hours of messing and continual frustration with the discrepancies between Internet explorer and Firefox and the bastardization of CSS rendering, in desperation I resorted to methods I knew best - tables and those dreaded font tags. This resulted in formatting that was half controlled by a hacked IE-fixing style sheet and half by random style and formatting strings placed sporadically throughout the design. To say the code was messy was an understatement. Another problem became the accessibility of content - all the links to older posts, archives, special pages, my websites and other random articles became obscured, hard to find and ultimately hidden from the reader. Thirdly the site, although looking relatively stylish on a flat screen was almost illegible on a classic CRT. For these reasons, and probably a few others I decided to address my distaste with this blog and fix everything that was once wrong.

My aims were thus to create a clean crisp appearance that looks good on all screens, where links are in visible and logical positions and the separation of posts, content, ads and information is obvious. This was to be brought about using a pure CSS design, no tables - a site that's content can be completely separated from its appearance. I am pretty pleased with the results, my aims have been fulfilled and the style sheet did not have to revert to a single IE fix. The biggest problems I had to overcome were firstly the central positioning of the main table and the right column.

My first attempt at creating the centre-piece was to use an auto-margin on either side of the <div> using margin-left and margin-right, yet Internet explorer doesn't like this in the slightest. I remember having a number of simple margin issues with IE during previous escapades. I switched to the 'all-in-one' definition and defined only the left margin as auto: "margin:0px auto;" and then set the table width to a fixed amount before applying the 'work-around' which is to provide the body element with a "text-align:center", this positions the <div> in the centre of the page from the start. A second text-align is then required within the <div> so that all the text within it is not also centered.

Fixing the column issue has a less elegant solution. In fact the first method was the best, it utilised the float parameter and allowed text to flow around the column once it had ended, the height of the main <div> would adapt to include all the content. However applying my design to blogger prevented this, on each post Blogger adds an irremovable <div> with the style "clear:both" which renders all floating around said element impossible. I imagine this is a security measure to prevent users hiding malicious things, etc. Going back to the drawing-board yielded an absolutely positioned column with margin to get the correct alignment and a restriction on the post <div> to prevent overlap. A new problem presented, by placing the content absolutely the main container would not stretch to encompass the full content, a crude fix for this was to include a minimum-height tag within it. If anyone has some better suggestions on solving this dilemma I am all ears.

Labels: Technical, Website

Time for a revamp
Wednesday, July 12, 2006

After 18 months or so this place had a solid layer of unpleasant dust covering everything, and not that cool kind of musky dust, the horrible flaky skin stuff. It was about time for a good dust off and rearrangement. Thus I have refined the site and cleaned up many of its buggy aspects including those old ugly looking comments. Simple CSS and HTML tweaks have yielded a few dramatic improvements here and there and for good measure I have introduced a number of new features to my blog. Image and video posts tend to clog up the main opinions blog I have here on the front page so they have been promoted to their own blog categories; [Images] [Video] much like the music section used to be. These will basically be areas for me to post up random images I find, cool videos I have seen and other peculiar tidbits. In addition I have added a desktops page which shows and logs my desktop setups over the years, provided links to my personal "Mega Search" pages that just search a lot of sites at once for my convenience. Links have been updated and now there's a small little search feature should you find yourself lost.

These things always take longer than you expect, now I will go back to reading my book in the sunshine!

Labels: Website

The downfall of this blog
Sunday, May 28, 2006

It seems I have somewhat neglected my blog, my last full non-image post of any real value was back in October – my lovely racism article, if you're lucky you might catch a copy of it by scrolling down this page a little. It seems my time has been spent elsewhere, primarily taken up by my degree; VLSI designs here, Analogue system designs there – an ill fated electronic nose to tout my CV with and a multitude of late nights in the computer room attempting to complete coursework to the best of my abilities. This trend continued right up until last Tuesday when I completed the last exam of my third and penultimate university year.  I don't really know what to do with myself and this crazy amount of free time, I am sure it won't last and a bit of sunshine wouldn't go amiss. You see for the last 5 or 6 weeks, following the nerve wracking project presentation to the ever superior dean of engineering and the 16,000 word report associated with it, I have spent each and every day revising—from 9am until 9pm at night, sometimes later, without break or rest. I wrote so much I had RSI before going into the exam hall. Well now those days are over and I am well trained in the arts of digital signal processing, digital and analogue systems design, robotics, finance and accounting, VLSI and digital and analogue communication systems (most of which will be defunct in a few years as the switch to digital is made); or at least I hope the results of the 7 exams will say so. They didn't go as well as I had hoped, you may argue so what, but generally I have been pretty pleased with my exam performance in the past. Maybe it was the change in exam structure that baffled me, this year there's an external examining body coming to check that everything is going well – much like Ofsted but for further education; it is for this reason many lecturers broke out of their well defined mould of predictable exam questions to present confusing and unpolished alternatives in attempts to look good in the eyes of the officials. I shouldn't complain too much, at least the engineers weren't subject to the appalling lecturer strikes that have smitten my friends degrees and graduation – refusing to set exams, mark work or do anything admin related. It's a grave injustice to the hard working student body – the university's customers if you will; months of dissertation struggles traded for an unaccredited degree and covering letter of explanation. It's disgraceful and the university and lecturers ought to settle their battles without involving, disgracing or overly stressing innocent third parties during examination periods. 

In other news I have a failed ARM interview and a couple of rejection letters under my belt and still no summer employment, hoorah. Most of my time not spent in education has been devoted to the ongoing and steadily improving indiecult.com website, also mentioned a few posts below and I am off to Venn Festival in Bristol next week in light of that; Vashti Bunyan being a particular highlight for me.

While at home over Easter I made a couple of great discoveries in the attic concerning record players, vinyl, old edition comics and some original D&D. Such beauties include a great electro-jazz 70s piece from Bob Downes and a Morrocan Maghreb at Marrakesh disc, all truly stunning. I'll write a more comprehensive list in the near future but now I must dash to measure my girlfriend's head size and watch X-men 3 at the Apollo.

Labels: Life, Website

New Site Launch: Independent Culture (Indiecult.com)
Saturday, January 14, 2006

http://www.indiecult.com

There are hundreds of review sites and for every niche musical genre there is a hated music review site to accompany it. It is our aim to create a location dedicated to great 'independent culture' without the accompanying subjectivity of reviews and ratings. There will be no 'reviews' as such on this site, nor will there be ratings - placing a piece of original art on a numerical scale alongside everything else is insulting and entirely opinionated. To remove the subjectivity of a medium weighted so entirely by opinions will be difficult but we can try. For this reason all articles are open to public opinion, an article that is an assortment of multiple views will provide you with a rounded and informative resource.

Today sees the official opening of Independent Culture, already we have a dedicated team of writers and editors and there are a huge number of features we still wish to implement on the site. We hope you enjoy your stay.

"Sweeping generalizations from a position of partial ignorance."

Labels: Website

New Website: Halo Movie
Monday, December 05, 2005

I have released a fantastic new website for your delectations, a site dedicated to the live action adaptation of the Halo franchise.

halomovie.trivialbeing.net

Labels: Gaming, Website

Inside BBC
Tuesday, August 02, 2005

Say hello to the latest member of the trivial being network.

Inside BBC: http://bbc.trivialbeing.net

The aim of this site is to document and inform you of the latest innovations, changes, articles and improvements made at the british broadcasting company's (BBC) website and elsewhere. Such as their interactive media player and open source plans.

Labels: Website

Invision Power Board and SDK
Monday, July 04, 2005

The trivial being forums that I and my co-web host run use the "Invision Power Board". It has served us well and now accommodates over 50,000 posts and 1200 members. An aim for all of my websites is to make them community orientated. This has been fairly difficult with the minimal IPB-site integration I was capable of. However, now I have discovered IPB SDK.

IPB SDK is a library of PHP functions, which will help you develop advanced applications on your site. Integration between your forum and site is essential in the websites of today. IPB already has a great member system, why re-write another one if you can use one member database for both?

Labels: Technical, Website

Site updates
Tuesday, June 21, 2005

Now that I have some free time I have been tinkering with the site a little bit. The most obvious addition is the post below, fully integrated 2003-2004 archives with blogger. This allows ease of browsing, searching and reading of these old old posts without having to resort to an out of date v4.0 or v5.0 template. All old templates and since been removed. I have also removed the horizontal dividers between posts and left out the header.jpg lightning image, as although it looked nice, it didn't suit the theme of the site. Similarly, the bulky welcome text has been demoted to a simple click to view link. The previous posts and archives links have been moved to the top of the page and also made as "click to view". Link colours have changed from blue to orange also.

Labels: Website

Old Archives (August 2003 - December 2004)
Tuesday, June 21, 2005

The FofR portion of the server was a little messy with all the old v4.0 and v5.0 files lying around. So I decided to import all the old cutenews entries into blogger. It took a good long while adding 211 new posts to a blog, especially when blogger likes to render various html characters wrong and needs to upload each invididual entry. But I got there in the end and here is the old posts list, consisting of journal entires, images and articles dating back to August 2003.

Old Archived Entries:

2004:
Veronica Mars & Kristen Bell
Scarlett Johansson - A stylish alternative
Gershwin and Zatoichi
Fear and Trembling
My Anniversary
Sam...
Sony vs Nikon camera comparisons
Leon (The Professional) cut to buggery
My own student house
An update, university year 2
My storm image
Macro of a spider
Sony Cybershot D93 5M
Current movie vote list
A theory of perfection and religion
Look Harry!
Portugal Holiday
Time to get writing
Saul sells his business
New Desktop
School of Rock
Water fountain spray
Bowling with the Sun
Fell down the stairs, went into shock
Serial Killer Movies
Water soaked imagery
Networking joys
Desktop for 2004, a snow capped peak
IE PNG transparency fix
A late night summary of my day
FofR Version 5.0
Why do people think Finding Nemo was good?
2am here tonight
Satan prepares to attack a small church
Time to make ground
Evangelion Statistics through the roof
Watching TV from above
John Tavolta's House
Shaun of the Dead preview
First Week back at Uni
My cat, Cleo
My army of female walkers
Macworld Keynote '04
Copyright Infringement Story
Puppet Master Record Company of Avril Lavigne
New Year's over and into 2004

2003:
According to Erdos
Christmas is Near
What happened to this Mercedes?
Anathema Album art
Home Sweet Home
New Desktop
DVDs, Kill Bill watching, Posters, LOTR Marathon
Kurt Vonnegut's Slaughter House 5
Look Around You DVD
Look Around You
Amsterdam Holiday Image
A Matrix Revolution and Steak
Thundercat Animation
Confusion Realm
Pile on the work
Works sucks like a lolly would in an act of revenge
Lack of updates and uni life
Pikah Pika Chu Pikachuchu! Pikachu!
University Adventures Commence
Leaving Time
Fast and the furious rice
Angel Feature from FofR v3.0
Today a package came
Integrated a simple javascript action
Kate Beckinsale (again)
Dead like me and a hot bank clerk
An image leeching bug
Kate Beckinsale
Underworld Review
Eva Redesigned
Let's go deep sea
Eastenders
Dead Like Me
HDD arrived finally
The Hollywood Analogy and Silent Hill
Courier Lameness Thrice
Amber Tamblyn
XP randomly fixes
Shutup Listen Boy Sleep
Scarlett Johansson
Dream of a google
Agent Smith Photochop
Bookcase Scenario
Shovel That
Missy!
The filesharing argument
Desktop: Crow Lady
Sitcom Phucks
RIAA
Louise Nurding / Redknapp
Elephant
Metal Night
Shopping for Pineapples
A guy I don't know
Willow & Tara Fun
Asylum Browsing
Foxy Alyson Hannigan
Solve this, a logic problem
When I was a young boy growing up in the ghetto
Hannibal the 4th
Bill Paxton is Jeff Tracy
Enter the Underworld!
Ukitakumuki
The new links!
Dance my dear!
The web host and Voltaire
Doulbe Photoshop of mine
More Monica Keena
Last Samurai
Miike looks for fur-nature
Trivial Being (.com)
More Hotty with Monica Keena
Blade 3 Trinity
Webhost update and one2host suck
Keira Knightly
Japanese Water Slide
JVF et SA account et HA3
To See: To Do: To Remember the movie
Punch-Drunk Love
Equilibrium
Why Brazil was not as good as I hoped
MMC problems continue
Movie Flops at Box Office
Cook a nice meal
4pm defragathon
This site needs more...
The Computer Problem
Evil story damned for life
Heights
Goethe was a good man
File swapper fights RIAA subpoena
Promenade Projection
Uni, Site, Day, ONE2HOST
Zombie Simulator
Sonic is cool
Talented young fellow
Anne Hathaway is hot!
Darkness and Miss Sparky
Computer Stats
Ego Es5 takes on MPAA
Console Wars
Bush Beats the Junkies!
Heidi Klum Makeover
One Hour Photo Review
That Bus Woman
Drunkard Reasoning?
Evangelion Live Action Movie
Europe Tour 2003
My tastes, part 1
FofR Version 4.0
test

Labels: Website