Joomsayer and Hyphenation for Movable Type are now both released in version 1.0. Sociotags and Curvaceous are both released in version 1.01.
The previous version of Joomsayer contained a bug that appears to break functionality of either Joomsayer or (worse) other plug-ins in MT 4.2 RC2. There is no formal bug fix; however, the bug is believed to be caused by a dependency that has been completely removed in version 1.0, and the defect is currently not reproducible.
Perhaps the most important new feature in Joomsayer is that you no longer need to rely on a hardcoded HTML block; it is now completely configurable in your plug-in preferences.
Also, the screendump showing the customized Joomsayer quotation box with white background, dropshadow, rounded corners, and blue quotation characters is available as a download.
To upgrade Joomsayer from version 0.2, unfortunately you may have to revisit the plug-in preferences for each of your blogs and set the quote box alignment and the quote source positions anew. The reason for this inconvenience is that the automatic upgrader is not able to migrate your settings due to an obscure bug in Movable Type that has survived for quite some time.
The release 1.0 version of Hyphenation adds the option to explicitly remove all hyphenation tags from output regardless of whether the Hyphenation plug-in is enabled or not; this is useful for your blog feeds.
Two other Movable Type plug-ins have received minor updates: Sociotags and Curvaceous are both available in version 1.01. Both of the releases include a minor bug fix that could potentially cause problems in future upgrades. Neither of the updates are critical, but they could save you some trouble in the future. In addition, Sociotags includes the Danish service Anyhed.dk.
The previous version of Joomsayer contained a bug that appears to break functionality of either Joomsayer or (worse) other plug-ins in MT 4.2 RC2. There is no formal bug fix; however, the bug is believed to be caused by a dependency that has been completely removed in version 1.0, and the defect is currently not reproducible.
Perhaps the most important new feature in Joomsayer is that you no longer need to rely on a hardcoded HTML block; it is now completely configurable in your plug-in preferences.
Also, the screendump showing the customized Joomsayer quotation box with white background, dropshadow, rounded corners, and blue quotation characters is available as a download.
To upgrade Joomsayer from version 0.2, unfortunately you may have to revisit the plug-in preferences for each of your blogs and set the quote box alignment and the quote source positions anew. The reason for this inconvenience is that the automatic upgrader is not able to migrate your settings due to an obscure bug in Movable Type that has survived for quite some time.
The release 1.0 version of Hyphenation adds the option to explicitly remove all hyphenation tags from output regardless of whether the Hyphenation plug-in is enabled or not; this is useful for your blog feeds.
Two other Movable Type plug-ins have received minor updates: Sociotags and Curvaceous are both available in version 1.01. Both of the releases include a minor bug fix that could potentially cause problems in future upgrades. Neither of the updates are critical, but they could save you some trouble in the future. In addition, Sociotags includes the Danish service Anyhed.dk.
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Hyphenation for Movable Type was barely released before all but one of the planned features had been added to the alpha code.
The new beta, which is out today, now features a dictionary installer that enables you to simply upload your OpenOffice dictonaries without doing anything to them, and you have the option to specify different dictionaries throughout your entries.
The new beta, which is out today, now features a dictionary installer that enables you to simply upload your OpenOffice dictonaries without doing anything to them, and you have the option to specify different dictionaries throughout your entries.
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Hyphenation for Movable Type is a plug-in for Movable Type 4 that provides automatic hyphenation of your text based on OpenOffice hyphenation dictionaries.
Automatic hyphenation is very useful if you often use left-aligned or right-aligned images with text flowing along the side of the image in a narrow column. With Firefox 3, hyphenation is now displayed on all major browsers.
The screenshot below is an actual example of Hyphenation for Movable Type in action:
Once installed and properly configured, the plug-in provides automatic hyphenation of your entry text.
Requirements
Hyphenation for Movable Type has two modes of operation: it either hyphenates all text in your entries, or only the text you've marked for hyphenation. Since automatic hyphenation of all text will significantly increase the size of your HTML pages, you should consider manual selection of the text that should be automatically hyphenated.
To indicate that a text section should be automatically hyphenated, enclose the text between the tags [hyphenate] and [/hyphenate] in your entry.
You may specify an alternative dictionary for a particular text section by adding the attribute dict="xx_YY" in the [hyphenate] tag, where xx_YY is the name of the alternative directory. For example, if your default hyphenation dictionary is en_US, you might specify a German dictonary by enclosing the German text within the tags [hyphenate dict="de_DE"] and [/hyphenate].
The tags will be stripped from your entries if Hyphenation for Movable Type is disabled, or if hyphenation for your template has been explicitly turned off with the tag modifier hyphenate="0".
(Please note that if you installed version 0.1 of Hyphenation for Movable Type, you'll have to install your dictionaries and select your default dictionary.)
To report bugs or request features, please use the issues tracker. Please use the comments for general questions or discussions.
Automatic hyphenation is very useful if you often use left-aligned or right-aligned images with text flowing along the side of the image in a narrow column. With Firefox 3, hyphenation is now displayed on all major browsers.
The screenshot below is an actual example of Hyphenation for Movable Type in action:
Once installed and properly configured, the plug-in provides automatic hyphenation of your entry text.Requirements
- Movable Type 4
- Downloaded OpenOffice hyphenation dictionary files.
- Download Hyphenation for Movable Type, and extract the archive file.
- Upload the contents of the archive to the "plugins" folder in your Movable Type installation. (There should now be a directory called "Hyphenation" in the plugins directory.)
- Download your preferred OpenOffice hyphenation dictionary from the OpenOffice localization web site.
- Go to the system administration and select the plug-ins settings. Use the Hyphenation's "Install New Dictionary" button to install the downloaded hyphenation dictionaries (you don't need to unzip them).
- Go to Preferences -> Plugins for each of the blogs where you want to enable Hyphenation for Movable Type.
- Check the "Enable" box.
- Select your preferred default hyphenation dictionary from the drop-down box. The list should contain the dictionaries that you installed earlier.
- Save your changes.
- Edit the templates that display entries (in the MT4 default templates, these would be the "Entry Detail" and the "Entry Summary" template modules), adding the tag modifier (i.e., global filter) hyphenate="1" to the <$MTEntryBody$>, <$MTEntryMore$>, and <$MTEntryExcerpt$> tags; for example:
Usage<$MTEntryBody hyphenate="1"$>
As of version 1.0 (out soon!) you should also add the tag modifier hyphenate="0" in your feed templates (the RSS and the Atom feeds) to explicitly disable hyphenation in your feeds.
Hyphenation for Movable Type has two modes of operation: it either hyphenates all text in your entries, or only the text you've marked for hyphenation. Since automatic hyphenation of all text will significantly increase the size of your HTML pages, you should consider manual selection of the text that should be automatically hyphenated.
To indicate that a text section should be automatically hyphenated, enclose the text between the tags [hyphenate] and [/hyphenate] in your entry.
You may specify an alternative dictionary for a particular text section by adding the attribute dict="xx_YY" in the [hyphenate] tag, where xx_YY is the name of the alternative directory. For example, if your default hyphenation dictionary is en_US, you might specify a German dictonary by enclosing the German text within the tags [hyphenate dict="de_DE"] and [/hyphenate].
The tags will be stripped from your entries if Hyphenation for Movable Type is disabled, or if hyphenation for your template has been explicitly turned off with the tag modifier hyphenate="0".
(Please note that if you installed version 0.1 of Hyphenation for Movable Type, you'll have to install your dictionaries and select your default dictionary.)
To report bugs or request features, please use the issues tracker. Please use the comments for general questions or discussions.
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Curvaceous is a plug-in for Movable Type 4 that causes text to flow smoothly around the edges of irregularly shaped images, as shown in the actual screenshot below:
Once installed, the plug-in works in the background, converting any images that are either left-aligned or right-aligned.
Requirements
Enable Curvaceous in the plug-in settings, and then simply insert the images using the "insert image" button in your entry editor the way you're used to.
If you prefer to code in raw HTML, insert the images manually using the <img> tag and specify whether it should be left-aligned or right-aligned by entering "float: left;" or "float: right;" in the style attribute.
Please note that this plug-in may significantly increase build time for your blog. To minimize your build time, there are three options available for the build method: firstly, you may choose to convert all images via the Curvaceous plug-in. This will be the most time-consuming method. Secondly, you may choose to convert either just the images you specify, or all images but the ones you specify.
To specify an image for inclusion or exclusion (depending on your choice of build method), simply include the class type, "curvaceous" in the image's "class" attribute in the raw HTML. For example, if you insert an image and click the <A> button, add the word "curvaceous" as follows:
Known Issues
To report bugs or request features, please use the issue tracker. Please use the comments for general questions or discussions.
Once installed, the plug-in works in the background, converting any images that are either left-aligned or right-aligned.Requirements
- Movable Type 4
- Image::Magick (you probably have it, but please consult your web hosting service)
- Download Curvaceous for Movable Type, and extract the archive file.
- Upload the contents of the archive to the "plugins" folder in your Movable Type installation. (There should now be a directory called "Curvaceous" in the plugins directory.)
- Go to Preferences -> Plugins for each of the blogs where you want to enable Curvaceous.
- Check the "Enable" box, and click "Save Changes." (You should seriously consider not selecting "all" as the build method.)
- For each template for which you plan to use Curvaceous, add the following line between the <head> and </head> tags (if you are using the MT4 default templates, go to the Template Modules and edit the "Header" template):
<$MTCurvaceous$>
- Edit the templates that display entries (in the MT4 default templates, those would be the "Entry Detail" and the "Entry Summary" template modules), adding the tag modifier curvaceous="1" to the <$MTEntryBody$> and <$MTEntryMore$> tags; for example:
<$MTEntryBody curvaceous="1"$>
- Add a link to the Curvaceous for Movable Type page on your own blog on all pages where Curvaceous converts your images. The software is free of charge, but you must add a link.
Enable Curvaceous in the plug-in settings, and then simply insert the images using the "insert image" button in your entry editor the way you're used to.
If you prefer to code in raw HTML, insert the images manually using the <img> tag and specify whether it should be left-aligned or right-aligned by entering "float: left;" or "float: right;" in the style attribute.
Please note that this plug-in may significantly increase build time for your blog. To minimize your build time, there are three options available for the build method: firstly, you may choose to convert all images via the Curvaceous plug-in. This will be the most time-consuming method. Secondly, you may choose to convert either just the images you specify, or all images but the ones you specify.
To specify an image for inclusion or exclusion (depending on your choice of build method), simply include the class type, "curvaceous" in the image's "class" attribute in the raw HTML. For example, if you insert an image and click the <A> button, add the word "curvaceous" as follows:
Known Issues
- PNG images must be in RGB mode; Image::Magick does not seem to recognize the transparency information in grayscale images.
- Animated images are not supported.
To report bugs or request features, please use the issue tracker. Please use the comments for general questions or discussions.
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The Joomsayer Movable Type plug-in has (finally!) been updated to version 0.2, which should work with Movable Type v. 4.1. The new version no longer relies on modifying the entry while editing, and instead makes the necessary modifications at the time the entries are published.
The style sheets and Javascript are unchanged, but you'll need to add a tag modifier. Please refer to the installation and upgrade instructions.
The style sheets and Javascript are unchanged, but you'll need to add a tag modifier. Please refer to the installation and upgrade instructions.
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I'll confess that I haven't found much use for an OPML feed yet for a blog, but some geeks might insist that if it can be done, then it should be done.
The following template is an example of how to create an OPML feed for your Movable Type 4.1 blog that traverses through the categories and subcategories, listing the entries within each:
Name the feed file something sensible, say, "index.opml" and select to have it published automatically.
To also enable autodiscovery of the feed, add the following line to the Header template, between the <head> and </head> tags:
I have no idea how it will render in any OPML reader, because I haven't been able to locate one. However, the feed appears to validate correctly.
The following template is an example of how to create an OPML feed for your Movable Type 4.1 blog that traverses through the categories and subcategories, listing the entries within each:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="<$MTPublishCharset$>"?> <opml version="1.1"> <head> <title><$MTBlogName remove_html="1" encode_xml="1"$></title> <MTEntries lastn="1"> <ownerName><$MTEntryAuthorDisplayName encode_xml="1"$></ownerName> <MTIfNonEmpty tag="MTEntryAuthorEmail">
<ownerEmail><$MTEntryAuthorEmail encode_xml="1"$></ownerEmail>
</MTIfNonEmpty> <dateModified><$MTEntryModifiedDate format_name="rfc822"$></dateModified> </MTEntries></head> <body> <MTTopLevelCategories> <MTIfNonZero tag="MTCategoryCount"> <outline text="<$MTCategoryLabel remove_html="1" encode_xml="1"$>"
type="link" url="<$MTCategoryArchiveLink encode_xml="1"$>"
created="<$MTDate format_name="rfc822"$>"> <MTEntries>
<outline text="<$MTEntryTitle remove_html="1" encode_xml="1"$>"
type="link" url="<$MTEntryPermalink encode_xml="1"$>"
created="<$MTEntryDate format_name="rfc822"$>" /> </MTEntries></MTIfNonZero><MTSubcatsRecurse></outline> </MTTopLevelCategories></body> </opml>
Name the feed file something sensible, say, "index.opml" and select to have it published automatically.
To also enable autodiscovery of the feed, add the following line to the Header template, between the <head> and </head> tags:
<link rel="subscriptions" type="text/x-opml" title="<$MTBlogName encode_html="1"$>"
ref="<$MTBlogURL$>index.opml" />
I have no idea how it will render in any OPML reader, because I haven't been able to locate one. However, the feed appears to validate correctly.
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Science has a reasonable understanding of matter and how the strong, the weak, and the electromagnetic forces and (at least for practical purposes) gravity affect it. We also have a firm grasp on an large array of other natural laws and principles.
But none of the forces or laws indicate that, from a human point of view, there is a constant evolution and change in our universe. They only describe change within so limited scopes that one cannot express connections between cause on the microscopic level and effect on the macroscopic level, or vice versa.
The laws of nature do not state anything about the development of life; although we do understand how DNA replicates, how organisms reproduce and mutate, how organisms adapt and survive according to changing environments, and how they in turn change their environments, we cannot explain which direction life will take. Neither do the laws of nature explain our emotions or reactions in spite of a good understanding of biochemistry, some neurological insight, etc.
But none of the forces or laws indicate that, from a human point of view, there is a constant evolution and change in our universe. They only describe change within so limited scopes that one cannot express connections between cause on the microscopic level and effect on the macroscopic level, or vice versa.
The laws of nature do not state anything about the development of life; although we do understand how DNA replicates, how organisms reproduce and mutate, how organisms adapt and survive according to changing environments, and how they in turn change their environments, we cannot explain which direction life will take. Neither do the laws of nature explain our emotions or reactions in spite of a good understanding of biochemistry, some neurological insight, etc.
Continue reading A Tribute to the Devil.