[wp-hackers] New Approach to Asides

[Mathias Bynens]

I guess this is pretty much the same as a hardcoded meta erm... thing, right?


On Wed, 22 Dec 2004 14:44:47 -0500, Mark Jaquith
<mark.wordpress at txfx.net> wrote:
> Another good way, and a way that doesn't abuse something, the way using
> the category to designate size is an abuse, is to use the post meta to
> store a size=short value.
> 
> What I would really REALLY like is the ability to hardcode meta choices
> in, so that you could make post size a dropdown list instead of having
> to type it in, like Expression Engine has.
> 
> On Wed, 22 Dec 2004 2:36pm, Mathias Bynens wrote:
> > Asides is a great feature, of which I think it should be included in
> > the default WordPress installation.
> >
> > However I don't completely agree with the way Matt started (and now
> > everybody is) handling his short posts --- by filing them under a
> > special category. I'm convinced categories should reflect the subject,
> > the content of a post --- not its size. I mean, an Aside can be a post
> > about everything. Of course, you can tag a post with multiple
> > categories, but still it's not the same.
> >
> > Nick [ http://mtdewvirus.com/ ], for example, created his Link It
> > category lightyears ago. Check his site now; it's full of these short
> > posts without even a link in them. "Link It"? Right.
> >
> > The problem is that Asides categories are used as tags, not as
> > categories.
> >
> > Maybe that's even one of the reasons why there aren't any plans of
> > implementing something like this in WP, I don't know.
> >
> > Anyway, I wrote my own Asides script. First, I ran this MySQL query
> > (mind the table prefix):
> >
> > ALTER TABLE `wp_posts` ADD `post_type` ENUM('normal', 'short') DEFAULT
> > 'normal' NOT NULL AFTER `post_category`;
> >
> > Basically, this created a post_type field in the posts table, which is
> > set to NORMAL on all posts.
> >
> > Next, I made some PHP-wise changes to the Write/Edit Posts page, in
> > order to add "[checkbox] This post is a Shorty(tm)". The code I used
> > for that isn't clean enough to post here. I'm sure you guys can do
> > this way better.
> > Anyway, you could manually edit the data in the posts table through
> > phpMyAdmin.
> >
> > Then, it was just a matter of tagging my short posts, and editing my
> > index.php template. That part was real easy, as the code is similar to
> > Matt's [ http://photomatt.net/2004/05/19/asides/ ].
> >
> > <?php if (('short' == ($post->post_type)) && !$single) { ?>
> > <ul class="asides">
> > <li><?php echo wptexturize($post->post_content) . ' '; ?><span><a
> > href="<?php comments_link(); ?>" title="View the comments on this
> > post"><?php comments_number('(0)', '(1)', '(%)'); ?></a> <a
> > href="<?php echo get_permalink(); ?>" title="Permanent Link: <?php
> > the_title(); ?>">&#182;</a><?php edit_post_link(' (e)');
> > ?></span></li>
> > </ul>
> > <?php } else { ?>
> >
> > Then, of course, throw in Mr Mullenweg's Stupid Hack:
> >
> > function stupid_hack($str) {
> > return preg_replace('|</ul>\s*<ul class="asides">|', '', $str);
> > }
> > ob_start('stupid_hack');
> >
> > And we're all set. (By the way, I don't think that hack is stupid ---
> > it would surprise me if there was a better way to achieve something
> > like this.)
> >
> > The reasons I'm posting this on here, and not on my blog, are:
> > a) the wp-hackers mailing list actually has a readership;
> > b) I'd love to see Asides get implemented into WP somehow.
> >
> > You can see all of the above in action on my blog, though there's not
> > much too see; it looks exactly the same as category-based Asides,
> > except for a special category to appear in div.meta of course.
> >
> > P.S.: I am fully aware of the fact that a lightyear measures distance,
> > not time.
> 
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-- 
Mathias Bynens aka MaThIbUs
http://mathibus.com/