Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with weblog

How to send phone pics to a spartan web site via Flickr?

ehamiter — Sun, 20 Dec 2009 12:16:59 -0800

What's a minimal self-hosted "blog" that hooks into Flickr's API so I can send photos from my camera directly to my web site? Ideally, I want a blog that is not a blog. I don't want tags, or articles, or categories, or spam filters, or any of that stuff. A perfect solution workflow would be this:

I take a picture with my phone
I send it to Flickr via e-mail
Flickr then posts it to my website with no interaction

The ideal layout would be a main site title, and each time I send a photo it appears as the newest one, using the title I typed. There would be maybe 10 photos on the main page. You could access earlier photos by clicking "older" or something like that which would serve as the archives.

I can do this with wordpress, movable type, typepad, etc., but they are all way too huge feature-wise and not what I want. I can also do this with blogger or tumblr, but they are not self-hosted. I tried this recently with textpattern, but the templates and general admin are much too complicated for my needs.

It should be very simple, aesthetics-wise. You could maybe change the color scheme / typography via CSS, but that's about it.

Does something like this exist? For the Flickr hook-in it needs to be a MetaWeblogAPI Enabled Blog or other Flickr-approved application.

Thanks for any suggestions.

"Just add RSS"-type instablog needed

ignignokt — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 14:47:40 -0800

Recommend a free blog provider that can use an RSS feed as a source for content, but also has a decent comment system. I know Tumblr can create blogs that translate RSS feeds into Tumblr blogs, but - by design - they don't have a robust comment system. You can try to drop in something like Disqus, but I've tried that before, and the results are ugly.

Why I'm looking for this: A friend of mine would like to take his Google Reader shared items feed and present it as a blog that strangers can comment on without too much trouble.

Which web publishing provider?

jouke — Sun, 27 Sep 2009 02:03:27 -0800

What blog/community/wiki provider do I need? I'm looking for a way to publish stuff and I'm not very knowledgeable about the differences between wordpress, blogger.com, google/yahoo groups, ning.com etc.

What I'm looking for is:
- time sequential publishing. A log.
- topical publishing. Either hierarchical like mini-books with chapters or wiki-like as a network of related topics.
- possibility to share some content only with chosen people
- collaboration features where other people can add content
- content remains owned by the people who contributed and can be exported
- personalisation of the look and feel
- free is nice. Very cheap is also a possibility
- I'd rather not have to host this myself.
- Of course with an online provider it's important that it will be around for a while.

There's probably not something that has it all but I'm looking for a good match.

So what are the best options for me to look into?

I want to use this as an online professional presence and as a way to hash out some topics collaboratively with some colleagues and other interested people.

Thank you for your insight.

Odd blogs, please?

qldaddy — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 10:56:19 -0800

Mefites, please show me the oddest blogs you have ever seen? I am going to be leading a discussion at work and as part of that discussion, I would like to show some examples of odd or eccentric blogs. You know, when you hit the “next blog” button and something pops up and you think “Why would anyone spend any time putting that up of the web?” Like scans of tractor catalogs from the 70s or pictures of home-made clay models of imaginary beetles (I actually saw that once and have not been able to find it again). In English would be best, but I’ll take other languages if the intent and weirdness is universal.

Thanks

Wherein Whelk Wants Wonderful Words

The Whelk — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 06:06:07 -0800

Name My Blog! After years of creating things and then casually tossing them aside, I've decided to create a blog to put them all in. Cartoons, short fiction, audio clips, short video, etc. A bit like Lore's Bad Gods. The only problem is, I've got no idea what to call it. I'm torn between something direct like "John Did That" or something that just sounds cool, "Automatic Inspiration" was a leading contender for a while. Want to avoid anything suggesting random, junk, or trash (Even though that's what it is, the whole theme is overused). Shower me with your minds, Mefites!

Am I using the right guide to set up AwStats?

Sweetdefenestration — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 12:02:02 -0800

Is this the right guide to help me set up AwStats to process log files downloaded to my local drive, even it's for Apache and I'm using IIS -- W3C Extended log files? Background: Previously, we've gotten our "official" website stats from an outside group who use WebTrends. In house, we use GA and WebLog Expert. Very different top referrers (puzzling) and raw visitor stats (natch).

I'm attempting the nearly impossible and find a log-based analyzer that will give me the closest stats to WebTrends, for continuity's sake.

I'm having a hell of a time with the install... just to test a quarter's worth of data. But, here in the Green and other places, it's so strongly recommended that I don't want to discard it as an option. I don't know how to script or have a lot of background in this area, but am happy to play and learn... as long as I'm on the right path.

The potential follow-up questions I think i should be asking are:
If this isn't the right set of instructions, can you point me to one that is?
Am I missing something fundamental in my understanding here?

Thank you!

Pinched Pelican Problem

jonathanbell — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 11:58:22 -0800

Is it acceptable for a website to reproduce around 20 images on their front page, approximately 150k each, from our website while keeping them hosted on our server? I've never really understood the etiquette or protocol in this situation, but our bandwidth suddenly doubled and it obviously wasn't hard to find out who the culprit was. There seems little point in linking to the sites in question, but what have others done in this situation? Thanks in advance.

float, padding, margins, wrappers, %0px1.2em!11!! oh my!

iamkimiam — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 11:03:55 -0800

I'm going crazy trying to adjust my blog template. It seems that when I change the browser window size, the body, sidebar, and header all move independently. If I make the window wider, the right edges of the sidebar and header do not align. If I make the window less wide, the whole sidebar crunches into body text (fine) and eventually gets kicked off the side by the body (not fine). Ideally, I'd like them all to line up, move/scale together side-to-side, and not get kicked around. I know this has to do with adjusting float, padding, margins, wrappers, percentages, and pixels. I've been tweaking with the variables, hitting preview, observing changes, for way too long. If somebody could please help me fix this, or point me towards an easy tutorial that won't take up too much of my time to decipher, I'd be forever grateful. Thanks!

Blog is in my profile, but I would be really appreciative if it were NOT linked to in this thread. Thanks!

Can WordPress and WordPress MU play nice together?

brundlefly — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 16:04:40 -0800

Can WordPress and WordPress MU share a database? I need to install WordPress MU on a site that already has the standard WordPress installed elsewhere, and the host has a one database limit. I know multiple installations of WordPress can share, but is the same true of MU?

A Question about Libel & Privacy Laws

interrobang — Sat, 08 Mar 2008 09:52:57 -0800

Does it become legal to use a person's image without their consent or knowledge, as long as you put a black bar over their eyes and don't use their real name? I cannot afford to talk to a lawyer about this. Alternately, does stop being an invasion of privacy if it's a drawing or a caricature? How about a drawing or caricature with a black bar over the eyes?

Expression Engine and Custom Next Entry tags?

SansPoint — Sun, 10 Feb 2008 13:01:50 -0800

How can I display more than the entry title in Expression Engine's {next_entry} and {prev_entry} tags? Finally starting to make headway on my long delayed site work, using Expression Engine. For more details, you can check my old questions...

I'm trying to customize the {next_entry} tag to display more than just the next entry's title. I'd like to have the entry's date in as well. Sadly, I can't figure out how to do it. The only tag that works is {title}.

Help?

Making Posting to a Blog Incredibly Easy ... How to?

WCityMike — Wed, 12 Sep 2007 21:36:45 -0800

How to go about accomplishing certain things regarding posting to a blog, but in a certain way ... would like Mefites' advice. I was surfing one day, and came across this in someone's blog entry.

I cannot find a good unobtrusive and reliable way to post to my blog. For short blurbs, I want to be able to do it from anywhere, but using my cellphone is too inconvenient (I abandoned my PDA a few years ago). I could use Google Docs, but (1) it doesn't work with Safari and (2) I wasn't able to make it post to my MovableType-based blog. I also want to be able to "reply" to other people's blog posts on my own blog, but trackbacks seem to have disappeared from all but a few blogs. Third, I had been working on a few longer articles and I realized that (1) I don't want to mix meaningless musings with longer better thought out pieces on the same blog and (2) I don't know how to tell if the article is finished, so I keep revising it over and over and over.

I thought the iteration of these problems was rather insightful, and, furthermore, I realized these problems were ones I ran into upon my own blog (aside from the "(2)" in the third question). Yet I really can't think of effective ways to address these problems. Any of your thoughts on these issues and possible solutions would be appreciated.

(No self-link, but my blog is WordPress, if that matters, and if you need the URL, click on my name below; the address is in my profile.)

Using WordPress for Multiple Same-Site Feeds

mikewas — Fri, 23 Mar 2007 13:29:11 -0800

How can I use a single WordPress install to run multiple mini-blogs on one domain? I would like to use a single WordPress install - say at example.com/blog/ to generate multiple mini-blogs to be incorporated as .php includes in otherwise static pages throughout the site. Essentially, I'm looking to create little newsfeeds for internal use only - just headline, brief text, and a link.

I imagine the result would involve using category templates to generate .php files to be included in the other pages, but I'm not really sure how to go about it.

Has anyone done something similar?

Joomla! or Wordpress Mu?

Davaal — Tue, 27 Feb 2007 18:50:08 -0800

I've started cobbling a blogging site out in WordpressMu. Today, i ran across Joomla. I think I want to switch - any ideas? i've started a blogsite using wordpress multiple user software. i currently have about 20 bloggers/users and i hope to add 50 or more. i've got a main site - though nowhere nearly as dynamiic or cool as some of the J! stuff i've seen today. thru this main page, users create or login to their own blogs and post. the problem with WPMU is that a lot of cool functionality just doesnt exist. everything i wanna do involves relentless searching thru less-than-friendly forums, heavy hacking of my core files and/or worse: an amateur attempt at hacking a Wordpress 2.0 plugin to work with WPMU.

i'm 2 weeks and nearly 100 hours into building this WPMU site. But even adding features that should be native to ANY blogsite - like global categories and tagging - requires hacking. I'm not lazy, but I've visited over 30 beautiful Joomla! sites today and every site owner claims to have done their work in a few days. if Joomla is the more powerful and effective answer than i'll switch ASAP.my question is thus: can i use Joomla in the same way? i've combed Joomla! forums and found extensions like MyHomePage and Xaneon Extensions' that seem as though they would do the same thing. i'm not looking for subdomains, subdirectories are fine: www.mysite.com/newuser. Can i create a blogsite with 50+ bloggers in Joomla!

your advice is appreciated.

Indirect Google Image hits?

bink — Sun, 14 Jan 2007 14:19:26 -0800

Why am I getting Google Image hits for an image that's not on my site? It's not the situation like in this AskMe, I don't think. I get hits from Google Image for images ON OTHER SITES that I've linked to on my weblog.

Here's one that's suddenly started generating lots of hits:

http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.swim2000.com/images/tyr/2005_suits/DMSN-610.jpg&imgrefurl=http://myblogname.blogspot.com/2005_05_01_myblogname_archive.html&h=550&w=467&sz=70&hl=en&start=73&tbnid=q9SZIwZH_-TIVM:&tbnh=133&tbnw=113&prev=/images%253

(I removed the name of my actual blog; I hope there's not actually one out there called "myblogname".) It's a picture of some bathing suits, and the link on my site just says "bathing suit".

This has happened once before with a different image. It hasn't resulted in an expensive amount of traffic yet, but I would like to know why it's happening and if I can avoid it in the future.

Best WordPress setup to publish a NaNo novel on the web?

pzarquon — Thu, 26 Oct 2006 17:29:07 -0800

So, with NaNoWriMo coming next week, I've been looking up past questions on music to write to, novel writing and organizing applications, and ways to write anywhere. But... what would be the best way to publish your NaNo novel on the web as you go? I'm thinking WordPress. Yes, I know, there are 'first rights' and other concerns if you're hoping to do something with your NaNo novel after November, but most of my writer friends do this for fun, and we like to read along as stories come together (or fall apart).

In the past, I set up Movable Type blogs, and tweaked the template so that entries were posted to the main index in chronological order (rather than reverse chronological). Of course, that was just a kludge, and now everyone's in love with WordPress. It's adaptable, and there are a wide variety of templates are out there... so I'm thinking that's the way to go this year.

Is anyone familiar with any "novel-ly" WordPress templates or widgets? Some easy theme to turn a basic blog into a way to elegantly present serialized fiction? On look and feel, something using fonts that look very... book-like (lots of white space, larger than average serif type, etc.)? On function, something less chronology or date based, and thinking more in terms of chapters.

Or is there a better way? If you wanted to post your NaNo novel online as you churned out your daily quota, how would you do it?

2006 weblog tool market share

will — Fri, 22 Sep 2006 16:18:45 -0800

Looking for 2006 stats or reports on weblog tool market share. Ideally include installed systems like MovableType and hosted platforms like TypePad.

Help me stop referral log spam

KevinSkomsvold — Fri, 18 Aug 2006 08:10:41 -0800

Referral log spam. I've been noticing some strange things.. I know there is a wealth of info on this phenomena on the internets but I'd like your perspective/advice. My host uses AWStats to track referring sites to my weblog and lately I've noticed a huge uptick in the number of other web logs linking to me. This is weird because I offer no compelling content nor do I have any porn or mp3s posted. Its just plain ol' text with some Flickr pics. When I visit the sites that have apparently linked to me, they look like legit weblogs but I'll be damned if I can find a link to me. I'm going on the assumption that they are doing something funky to boost their own site or something else nefarious is happening. How do they do this? Is there any way to prevent it? Any ideas would be appreciated.

How to post large/fullsize Flickr photos to a weblog?

redshifter — Wed, 02 Aug 2006 10:18:43 -0800

Calling all Flickr ninjas: I would like to have Flickr send a large (750px+) version of my most recent photo to my weblog so I can use it as the banner. Is this possible? I hope to be able to steadily freshen the look of my site by simply snapping a photo with my cellphone and emailing it up to Flickr. The idea is that I'll have a big banner DIV at the top of my weblog. The DIV's background (so it will crop nicely, if a bit randomly) will be my most recent Flickr upload.

Theoretically, I have a possible solution in mind (having Flickr automatically post to a separate Movable Type blog set up for the header image, and including that blog into my main blog). The problem seems to be that Flickr doesn't allow the posting of custom-sized photos -- I would prefer to tell it what width to publish, or at least to be able to publish a size larger than 500px.

Has anyone done anything like this before? Alternately, if there is a simple non-Flickr way to email photos from a cellphone to weblog, I'm all ears.

Oh, SNAP!

Glitter Ninja — Sun, 23 Jul 2006 10:32:38 -0800

PhotoBlogFilter: Tips on starting a photo journal? Oh, snap! There's I've been in love with photography for ages, and am trying to work on honing my skills without just taking loads of meaningless photos. I've also tried to commit myself to blogging every other day- but that's never worked in the past. I thought a photo diary might be a great way to combine them both, so I though I'd ask for tips here- What do you guys thing the most interesting things to look at are? This diary wouldn't include pictures of me (since I'm obviously the ninja behind the camera) but I'd like to be able to tell a story about my day without using words if at all possible, save for a couple of place captions. Also, how can I commit myself to my every other day regime? I figured AskMeFi would know, if anyone would. Thanks in advance, guys, and please give me any other tips you can think of, or words of wisdom.

Best strategies for defeating sploggers who are lifting my content.

IndigoSkye — Tue, 23 May 2006 10:08:46 -0800

I've had a couple smaller splogs that gave up after a period of time. However, one splog has persisted and, through volume, is showing up higher in searches than my original posts. What can I do? It's not the lifting of the content that I have problem with, I publish an RSS feed that others pick up with a credit link back to my blog. It's the wholesale reprinting of articles without even so much as a link back to my blog.

Besides ignoring them and hoping they'll go away, what are some good strategies for getting them to stop republishing my posts? Also what ways of contacting RSS aggregation sites (like Technorati) and asking them to drop the splog feeds have worked for you?

HTML woes: Google/Amazon ads and IE display woes

jdroth — Tue, 25 Apr 2006 07:38:23 -0800

HTML woes: How can I make Amazon ads play nice with Google ads? Also, why is my web site's layout screwed up in Internet Explorer on Windows? I can't figure it out. #1 — Starting with this Sesame Street post in the blue, I was able to create an entry on my personal site that has enjoyed very high traffic (for me) over the past week. My Google Ads have worked nicely, but now I want to tack on an Amazon iframe ad in the middle of the entry. When I do, something goes wrong. Where the Amazon ad should appear, half of the Google ad appears, and the regular Google ad doesn't appear where it should at the bottom of the page. I haven't the faintest clue what's wrong. (I've taken the Amazon ad down for the time being, so there's no broken-ness to view; I can re-implement the broken-ness if that will help diagnose the problem.)

#2 — On a similar note, my site doesn't display properly on Internet Explorer for Windows. It's always been a source of embarrassment, but now I'm even more ashamed to have all these new visitors coming to look at Sesame Street videos only to find my broken formatting. Here's a screenshot of how things look on my Mac (and most (all?) Mozilla-based browsers). Here's a screenshot of how things look on Internet Explorer for Windows. I have no idea what is causing the problem. (Well, I suspect it's something in my sidebar, but beyond that I'm clueless.) Can anyone help me diagnose this problem? I've been ignoring it for almost two years.

Web Bam!!!

Smarson — Wed, 12 Apr 2006 07:02:32 -0800

Blogging 201: Let's kick it up a notch! Alright, I've started my blog. I've got this posting/editing/linking thing down. One of my posts even broke the 10 comment bench mark. Pretty much I'm poised to take over the blogosphere single handedly at which point, fame and/or fortune will be mine.

However, before I get really big I want to make sure I'm properly utilizing resources that are available to me. Someone mentioned Site Meter which looks pretty useful. What other kinds of tweaks are available for one such as me (a cocky upstart who thinks after a week he knows the score)? What is this Technorati thing? Show me what ya' got mefites!

Where can I find a weblog designer for Typepad?

IndigoSkye — Wed, 25 Jan 2006 11:55:46 -0800

Where can I find someone who can design an advanced typepad template for my blog for a reasonable price? I've been doing the 'blog' thing since 1999 using various platforms and hosts. But I've never quite mastered the vagrancies of CSS and MovableTyple MarkUp Language and now I don't have the time to. I have a moderately successful blog, in such that I have a lot of regular readers and am considered something of an expert in my subject, but I fear its design is holding it back. In fact, I've been getting lots of reports that it doesn't work well in Safari or Mozilla. I need someone who can take the design to the next level while still being usable across many platforms. I'm willing to pay for this service, but my budget is small. So I'd like to see examples of design work before making up my mind.

Does anyone have a designer with experience working with advanced typepad templates who they would like to recommend?

What weblog software would you recommend?

TorontoSandy — Sat, 26 Nov 2005 18:18:54 -0800

Web Blog filter - I'm thinking of posting a blog that will have lots of useful links and information to attract readers. Eventually - I'm thinking Google Ads to pull in some money (very little, I expect). There may be a database so users can run a search query. I'd like my own domain name instead of www.JoeSmith.typepad.com. I'd also like to do everything I can so that I'm googlable. Now for the question, what software or service would you recommend?