Demented Kitty Misc

This version of the Accidental Hedonist, the popular food blog, was mostly a new header. The absinthe lady returns in a transparency with a border fade near the bottom third of the picture. A new font with three-layer drop shadow was used for the name of the web site. Also, new, themed, colorized RSS buttons form a menu across the top.

AH retains the recently created static, four-column layout in whites, browns, and reds. The site is largely run by a modified b2evolution engine with advertisements from blogads, Google AdSense, and others.

Several spam prevention techniques are used. E-mail spam is blocked by using a secure mail form for web site members and also a clever trap set for bots that collect e-mail addresses. Referrer spam is turned away via b2evolution's built-in blacklist. Comment spam is filtered by both b2evolution's built-in blacklist and a turing test plugin.

Other features include:

• polls (Democracy plugin)
• written works status bar (custom code)
• 1-click RSS subscriptions (to web-based services such as bloglines)
• user food journals (b2evolution, autoblog plugin, and custom code)
• list of most recent user food journal posts (custom code)
• simple print pages (custom code)

This version of the Accidental Hedonist, the popular food blog, has a static, four-column layout in whites, browns, and reds. The site is largely run by a modified b2evolution engine with advertisements from blogads, Google AdSense, and others.

Several spam prevention techniques are used. E-mail spam is blocked by using a secure mail form for web site members and also a clever trap set for bots that collect e-mail addresses. Referrer spam is turned away via b2evolution's built-in blacklist. Comment spam is filtered by both b2evolution's built-in blacklist and a turing test plugin.

Other features include:

• polls (Democracy plugin)
• written works status bar (custom code)
• 1-click RSS subscriptions (to web-based services such as bloglines)
• user food journals (b2evolution, autoblog plugin, and custom code)
• list of most recent user food journal posts (custom code)
• simple print pages (custom code)

I found myself installing several new fonts on my desktop for a recent project but it wasn't so simple as dropping the .ttf files into my ./fonts folder. That confused me for a moment. Logging out didn't refresh the font cache and neither did rebooting. So I did a bit of digging and found the proper command. I used the terminal to copy the fonts and run the command, but the how-to below is for those of us who may be new to Linux or not very familiar with the terminal.

If you wish to install a new font on Ubuntu Linux:

1. Find the font you like and download the .ttf file. Select the .tff files and copy (ctrl+c) them to the clipboard.


2. Save anything you are working on and close all open applications.


3. Open your home folder with Nautilus (default file manager on default Ubuntu installations)


4. Click the View menu option and select Show Hidden Files.


5. Look for a folder named .fonts. Open that folder and paste (ctrl+v) the previously copied .ttf files into the .fonts folder.


6. Open your terminal of choice. On default Ubuntu installations the gnome-terminal is available under the main Applications > Accessories menu. Type of copy+paste the following and then enter your superuser password:
   
   sudo fc-cache -f


7. Allow your computer a few minutes to rebuild the fonts cache. A new terminal line with your username prompt will appear when the fonts cache is rebuilt.

That is it. You should be able to select the new fonts from within all variable font applications on your linux box.

Food Journals for registered users of Accidental Hedonist are now active. All new users will be asked if they wish to create a blog on Accidental Hedonist during registration. This makes Accidental Hedonist into a sort of food blog network. If you are not a registered user on Accidental Hedonist and wish to sign up, please go here.

If you opt to create a new blog, your username will be used in the blog's address. Please choose your username accordingly. Food journal addresses will look something like:

accidentalhedonist.com/username

Many thanks to Francesco Castronovo for the b2evolution autoblog plugin. I had to (and likely will continue to) hack it quite a bit for use as Kate wished on this site. However, it provided a very useful starting point.

I am still working out the bugs, but basic blog creation, posting, editing, and all that good stuff works reasonably well. I'm documenting changes to the live software (but not the changes I'm testing) here.

My National Novel Writing Month project just passed the 40k mark, and I find that I'm in need of a little structure. I know basically what I want for my final two 5k chapters. I have to line a few ducks first, though.

I slowly started putting everything into a wiki last week. Then, yesterday, when I crossed the 40k word barrier, I sped up the process so I could finish. At first I went with Wikka Wiki. It has a cute, handy, and easy to implement word count action. Copy the code. Paste it into a new document. Name the document and upload it to the right directory. Done. Wikka Wikki has ease of plugins down to a science.

However, my first love is MediaWiki. So I did a fair bit of digging and came across a reasonable little word count hack for MediaWiki page content. Thanks to Kishore Asokan.

MediaWiki Article Word Count

<?
// Getting the total words count
global $wgUser, $wgArticle, $db;
//check if its an article
if($wgArticle && !$_GET['action']) {
$c=$wgArticle->getContent();
$stripped= strip_tags($c);
$exploded=explode(" ", $stripped);
//you can print this variable anywhere you want on the page
$totalwords=count($exploded);
}

?>


I played with the code a bit, but eventually left it as it was. The code is not perfect. It doesn't give an exact word count, but neither do most word processors. What I get is a very reasonable estimate.

I stuck it on a tab in the MonoBook skin and love it.

Here's how:

1. Download and install MediaWiki, if you haven't already.


2. Assuming you use the MonoBook skin for MediaWiki, open: skins/MonoBook.php


3. Around line 124, find:

   <?php
echo htmlspecialchars($tab['text']) ?></a></li>
    <?php         } ?>
        </ul>
    </div>



4. Insert two line breaks immediately after <?php } ?> but before <ul>.


5. At the first new line break, copy and paste the MediaWiki Article Word Count code above.


6. At the second new line break, add a little formatting and a label to fit the word count into a cute, little tab:

   <li><font color="blue">&nbsp; <?php echo $totalwords ;?> words &nbsp;</font></li>



7. Save the skins/MonoBook.php file and upload it to your server.

When you finish, there should be a word count tab at the top of every article page. Some special pages will show the word count tab as well.