It's like a forum, but it's a blog

Finally, I've mostly integrated the old blogrum code with InnerVisions .... I've even started a tutorial on how to add a blogrum to your own b₂evolution blog .... don't get excited though, it's nowhere near finished and I'm not in any great rush . There's still a fair amount of work to do with it before it's anywhere near the end result I have in mind, and the skins a tad shagged in IE6, but I'll be re-skinning it as soon as I've got all the code working and testing, so either put up with it or switch to a browser that it does work in

I've decided that I can't be arsed importing all the current blogrums posts/comments/users, it's more hassle than it's worth so I'll just leave the current version where it is and shut down the ability to post/comment there. I also haven't redone the ability to create a new post from the frontend, I'll work on that when I get more free time. For the moment it's only linked in my drop down menus as I'd need to redo the header graphic to add it to the menu buttons, and I'm liable to go for a whole new skin if I have to go to that effort anyway

Anyway, feel free to have a play, and let me know if you find any bugs/quirks

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External links are a pane

I decided to have a play around with my skins external links code, which uses javascript to add an onclick event to any links with class="ext", and a plugin I've had lying around for a fair smidge which does something similar for all/any external links by looking at the href for the link in question. The end result is a shiny new plugin which will add a graphic to every external link on your blog, clicking the graphic opens the link in a fancy little overlay which I stole from our photozoom plugin. I also threw in a few settings so that you can change the text that's added and add any domains that you class as internal links, although the plugin will auto generate an entry for each unique blog url on your system so you probably won't need to add any.

If you fancy having a play with this then you'll need to download 2 plugins as I've decided to separate the fancy javascript screen stuff into it's own plugin as I'm starting to use it in a couple of plugins and it's easier to have a dependency and maintain one codebase. You can download the external links plugin here ( am_externallinks.zip ) and the javascript helper plugin which it needs here ( am_jshelper.zip ), upload them both, install the js helper plugin and then install the external links plugin. That's pretty much it, now all your external links will have a crap looking arrow graphic which, when clicked, will open your link in a cool overlay. Your links will also have the class amExternalLink added to them so that you can style them as you wish. The arrow <img> tag will also have the same classname applied so you can change the graphic to suit your skin.

As always if you find any bugs or it melts your blog then just let me know

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Does your admin look bloated?

A totally minimalistic admin area

NOTE : The chances are that none of this works in IE, so if you use IE you may as well skip the rest of this post ..... or read it and then go get a better browser ... whichever rocks your boat

So, I was playing around with the admin area to see what could be done using js, as it's required for the admin area to function anyway, and css. The main idea was to hide all of the clutter that's not used for the majority of posts, or only used briefly during the whole posting process, whilst also leaving it accessible for the moments that you do need it. When I say "clutter" I pretty much mean everything except the textarea that you type in and the post title. Toolbars - gone, advanced properties - gone, categories - gone, post status - gone, you get the picture

Hovering over the toolbars makes them visible. You can also pin them open by clicking

All of this is done from a plugin which hooks into a couple of the admin events and then unleashes a bit of javascript to play around with classnames and id's and onclick events and stuff. The rest is handled by a simple bit of css ...... so simple in fact that IE can't understand it ...... nothing new there then huh? ..... anyway, the end result is that pretty much everything in admin is collapsed or hidden until you hover over or click stuff. The toolbars will show on hover, or you can click the text to pin them open if you're going to be using them a lot for a particular post.

The whole of the right column is hidden until you need it, which allows for a much bigger posting screen

The whole of the right column is reduced to a lil tab handily marked "OPTIONS". Hovering over the tab brings the right column back so you can play with your categories, visibility and renderers and things. This allows the post textarea et el to be expanded to fill the width of the screen which, for me, makes posting far far easier ...... combine that with Afwas's plugin ( [2.4] Resize Admin Textarea plugin ) and you can pretty much fill your screen with just the post area ...... cool huh?

Finally a thanks to John for his constructive criticism and suggestions about the plugin ..... and for allowing me to scare the shit out of him when most of his admin area disappeared ..... I suppose I should have warned him first

Don't worry, it's all still there

Anyway, if you fancy having a play with this plugin, and you're using a decent browser, then you can download it here ( am_tidyadmin.zip ). If you find any bugs or flaws or stuff ( apart from "it doesn't work in IE", and variations of the same tune ) then just let me know.

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Auto-complete your tags

I decided to have another play with tags as I tend to use them quite a bit on my posts and I'm always forgetting which ones I've used before and which ones I haven't. So I threw together a plugin that will auto-suggest tags based on ones that you've used in the past. It'll also show you a list of all other similar tags in case you have more than one tag with the same starting letter(s) although they're not clickable at the moment because I haven't got that far.

Installation is pretty simple, just download the zip ( AM AutoTags ), upload it, install it, then meander into the plugin settings and set the tag separator for whatever your version uses. That's it. Now when you enter tags you it should try and auto complete them for you and show you a list of other tags.

NOTE : I've only tested this in FireFox as my IE is having a crisis of confidence when it comes to running javascript, so if you use IE and it doesn't work then tough shit. Also, this is a pre-release version so it's bound to have a few quirks, if you find any then just let me know and I'll see what I can do to eradicate them.

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*edit* 24^th April
I think I've finally managed to convince IE that it can actually understand javascript so this should now work in IE as well, zip file updated

Cooler than a cool thing on a cold day

Introducing the PZ3IceCold plugin

We haven't really named it that, it just kinda fit with the flow of the rest of the post ... just like all the images do ... So, you want it, you desire it, you love the feel of it in your hands, you want to do all sorts of cool and sexy things with it ...... you need a shrink ...... but where the hell do you get it? The short answer is here, the long answer is way longer and also involves big words .... but you've already downloaded the plugin and forgotten all about my tacky lil pad, whilst you paw over the coolness of the interface .... I understand .... sniff .....

for the minority that are still reading, here's the rest of the post ( including all the big words ):

waiting for the file manager

We rock

Millions of people email us on a daily basis begging us to code a photozoom plugin that works with every version of b₂evolution that we've tested it with ........ which is .... urm, whatever version I'm running, and another one, and scott may have tested it by the time I post this, in whatever version he's running, so that's three versions it may or may not run in ...... Today their dreams have become a reality ..... so stop emailing us already, just download the bloody plugin ...... from now on, adding a photozoomed image to your posts is as simple as clicking a button, emailing us to tell us how frickin' cool the interface looks, clicking a few more buttons here, type the odd caption there and ... just for you IE users out there ..... clicking on a radio button, and voila, or boom or blammo or whatever, instant PZ3 image in your post complete with caption, alt text, title text and some other bits of your choice ....... how cool is that!

Choose an image from the file manager

So, how come we're cooler than a canadian snowstorm?

The short answer is "install the plugin".The long answer is much longer and includes those big words I promised : On the grounds that the b2evo admin pretty much requires javascript just to function, we decided to have a play with improving the work-flow by manipulating the DOM with some pretty persuasive code .... which is ironic really, since photozoom was specifically created to be a pure CSS solution .... without all the ie specific html shit that other solutions employ ... anyway, I digress .... so, we started to play with an interface .... ohhh, and we bent the core a tad, sorry FG .... and then we spent a fair smidge of time, courtesy of Mr Gates, with a slightly higher than normal blood preassure ... and then, finally, we stepped back and looked in awe at the wondrous mess we'd created ....... at least it proved the concept was viable

Real html added to your post

So, we wandered off into a dark and lonely place and spent a few days coding up the new work-flow ... and then we spent several hours beating IE over the head with a copy of HTML for Dummies ... and finally it was done. The end result is a plugin that makes it a doddle to add photozoom images to your post, without you having to worry about all the HTML/CSS required to make all the magic work. As an added bonus the plugin actually puts the HTML into your post so even if you uninstall the plugin, as long as you include the pz3 css in your skin, your images will still work.

Is that it?

Realising that not everybody likes the black look, weirdos, we added loads of classnames and id's and stuff to all the various bits that make up the interface, so if you prefer your screen to be red just hit the relevant stylesheet and play with hex. Just don't forget to take IE to one side and slap it around until it understands your changes. Please note : this is a pre-release version, so there's still a few style glitches to work out with the interface. The actual photozoom part of it is fully finished though and won't be changed between now and the public release, so it's safe to play with it.

As always any feedback would be appreciated, even if all you want to say is "your interface sucks", of course we'd just refer you to a good shrink, but that's by the by.

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