Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with blog and programming

Customizing a Wordpress function

adamrice — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 06:36:19 -0800

Wordpress/PHP question. I'm working on a Wordpress theme and want to use an algorithm to alter some of the HTML it emits. I've got a general idea of how to do this, and could probably manage a brutish implementation on my own, but my PHP-fu is weak and there is probably a better way. Here's what's going on. I'm using the blueprint css approach for a gridded layout. And I've got a "bottom-bar" of widgets, laid out in three columns. With blueprint css, the div for the third column needs class="last" added to it in (in addition to class declarations that apply to all divs) order for everything to line up right.

What I want to do is get the count of widgets each time a widget is emitted, and if count mod 3 = 0, insert 'last' into the class. Barring that, if I could insert class="widget-N" (where N=count) in all divs, I could manage, although it would be less elegant. Ideally, all browsers would magically support CSS3 and obviate this problem, but I'm not holding my breath.

Obviously I don't want to touch the core code. I don't mind inserting an altered version of whatever function is necessary into my functions.php file; but if there's a callback that lets me avoid doing that, so much the better.

Code For A Random Blog Post?

Jaybo — Sun, 27 Apr 2008 08:31:13 -0800

I have a blog and would like to add a "Random Post" button. I'm hosted with a company called Blogware which, unlike Blogger and WordPress, seems to have no no way to add a "random post" button.

I'm not a programmer but suspect this should be fairly easy to do. I'd like advice on how to go about this - do I try to do it in JavaScript? PHP? Something else? Whatever's the easiest solution is best for me. (Major bonus points if someone provides the code itself that would do this, either as a text link or a button I can add.)

All posts on my blog have the basic format of: http://blog.jason.hammond.net/blog/_archives/yyyy/m/dd/

...so if I can define the start date of my blog (Feb 28, 2006) and occasionally update the script with the most recent date of a post as an end point, that would be close enough for what I want. (I try to post daily but don't mind if users end up on a blank day or don't have every single recent post I've made in the range.)

I should also mention that I'm not able to get to the "guts" of the site but can add third-party widgets and other bits of code.

To do this, I think I need to:
- define the start date of the range (2006/2/26)
- define the end date (for now, say 2008/4/26) and be able to easily change this monthly or whenever I get a chance
- generate a random date in the format yyyy/m/dd
- append that to the URL: "http://blog.jason.hammond.net/blog/_archives/"
- go to that URL

Thanks very much in advance for your help!

dub-dub-dub-dot-yourNameHere-dot-com

tdreyer1 — Tue, 19 Sep 2006 20:05:55 -0800

I'm starting a new website & need advice... and you know, like always, there's Ok. I want to start my own website, and I want to do everything myself, but I don't really know everything (though my friends will disagree...) that I need to know. I would like advice or websites/blogs/articles on starting a website/blog & website security. Thanks!!!

P.S. Also anything you think would be helpful in this situation...

PHP class for externally posting to blogs?

frenetic — Tue, 25 Jul 2006 13:38:48 -0800

Anyone know of a decent PHP class or function library out there for externally posting to various weblog packages (Wordpress, Blogger, Movable Type) via XML-RPC? I want to add "post to your blog" functionality to a website but I haven't had much success tracking something like this down. Pointers to anything helpful would be appreciated.

What programming/IT blogs do you frequent?

chime — Wed, 30 Mar 2005 09:07:06 -0800

I love TheDailyWTF and read /. every day. Without signing up for some members' only site, are there any IT-related blogs/sites you check out daily? Personally I'd love to read about programming (PHP/Python/Ruby/hell even VB script), databases (MySQL/PostgreSQL/MSSQL), and network administration. For general science news, I already check out Google Sci-Tech News and Technocrat on a regular basis. I'm not looking for l33t XHTML/CSS-hacks but rather blogs that discuss emerging programming trends with meaningful discussion. Maybe something that is a mix of Ask, Developers, and IT on Slashdot. If there's a demand for such a site maybe I'll start one. But I'm too lazy to create something if it's already out there.

Flash MX

drezdn — Thu, 25 Nov 2004 13:00:33 -0800

Flash MX question, is there a way to load a page from blogger (or an xml page) into a dynamic text block with a scroll bar?

MoveableType

adamkempa — Wed, 08 Sep 2004 19:54:39 -0800

As a self-imposed php refresher, I've recently been toying around with writing custom movable type submission frontends for a few less web-literate family members (Basically just simplified forms that throw the user input into the MT mysql database). I've got everything ticking along nicely, but none of the submitted entries will show up until I log in and rebuild the site from within movable type. My question: Is there some way to either force a rebuild from a custom form, or automate a rebuild? I've searched the MT forums with no success. I'm using MT 2.64 with minimal knowledge of its inner workings. Any suggestions / pointers / links are appreciated!

Started My Own Blog: Need Advice on CSS, Non-FTP Updating & Automated Archiving

anastasiav — Mon, 08 Dec 2003 14:22:50 -0800

I'm in the process of starting my own weblog (it launched on Thursday). I can write pretty decent basic HTML by hand (in notepad), but CSS wrestled me to the ground and stepped on my head and a lot of tech jargon passes me right by (I'm a designer and a writer, not a programer, I guess). What advice does Metafilter have for me? I should also mention, I guess, that I've looked at Blogger, but (I know this sounds stupid) I can't quite figure out how to make it work in any way that doesn't look like I'm using Blogger. My big problem at the moment is that I need a way to update from work without using an FTP client, and I know I'm going to need an automated way to archive things eventually.