Category Archive: News
For a long time, Thripp.com has had an error in its JavaScript file. This goes back to when I condensed all the JavaScript used on the site to one compressed file four months ago, which was tough to do because the JavaScript was from separate plugins.
Everything worked fine, but you’d get a yellow triangle in the status bar in Internet Explorer only, with a cryptic error message. I could never get it to go away because there were actually two problems at work:
1. Prototype.js has to go at the end of the conglomerated JavaScript file because it ends with the document.write function which always has to be at the end of a JavaScript file because it inserts HTML or other code into the HTML (or something like that).
2. The code for WP Grins, the plugin I use for clickable smilies on the comment forms, must go AFTER Prototype, because it requires functions from the Prototype library.
Sounds impossible, right? The solution is to split them into two JavaScript files. I’d become so driven in optimizing the site for the fewest HTTP requests that I didn’t even think of that. I took WP Grins out of the merged thripp.js file and …
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A while ago, I noticed that loading up my blog in Internet Explorer, the posts were out of date. I had to hit F5 to see the new material. I never had this problem in Firefox, so I didn’t know the issue.
Another thing I’ve noticed is that I have to press F5 after logging into my Thripp.com account in either browser, else I’ll get the same page with no admin bar or anything.
I figured it out today. Months ago when I installed WP Super Cache, I couldn’t get it to put the .htaccess file in /wp-content/cache/. I just guessed at it and made a file that says this:
AddEncoding gzip .gz
AddType text/html .gz
It turns out, WordPress ordinary generates HTTP expires headers and such for each pageload, but with the full HTML caching, you have to rely on Apache to do that, so the .htaccess file is essential. It should look like this:
# BEGIN supercache
<IfModule mod_mime.c>
AddEncoding gzip .gz
AddType text/html .gz
</IfModule>
<IfModule mod_deflate.c>
SetEnvIfNoCase Request_URI \.gz$ no-gzip
</IfModule>
<IfModule mod_headers.c>
Header set Cache-Control ‘max-age=300, must-revalidate’
</IfModule>
<IfModule mod_expires.c>
ExpiresActive On
ExpiresByType text/html A300
</IfModule>
# END supercache
I had to set up a new WordPress installation to get that, because I can’t get WP Super Cache to create the .htaccess file on this WordPress …
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At the end of the line under each post’s title, I’ve added the word count, thanks to a simple WordPress plugin called Post Word Count. On the post I wrote today, Transcending Limiting Beliefs, it says “4,604 words,” for example. (Quite lengthy, I know. 
)
The word counts also appear on printable views, at the end of the info line. Interesting statistics for your readers, I think. This is especially useful on category and archive pages, which only show excerpts.
I’ve put into place the final list of reserved names for Thripp.com. These are the names you cannot register as the part before “.thripp.com”. All these names are also reserved at DaytonaState.org.
beta browse chat email example f forum forums help join lib library mail my news photos photos-g2 proxy richardx rx rxthripp s search shop thripp tiny tn today u www x you z
beta.thripp.com: Reserved for beta testing.
browse.thripp.com, news.thripp.com, today.thripp.com: Reserved for a community zeitgeist.
chat.thripp.com: Reserved for possible chatrooms.
email.thripp.com, mail.thripp.com: In use for Thripp.com email accounts (let me know if you want one).
example.thripp.com: Reserved for demonstrations.
f.thripp.com, forum.thripp.com, forums.thripp.com: f.thripp.com is in use for the community forums, and in the future, forum and forums.thripp.com may redirect there.
help.thripp.com: Reserved for possible help pages.
join.thripp.com: Reserved as a possible registration point.
lib.thripp.com, library.thripp.com: In use / reserved for The Thripp Public Library.
my.thripp.com, u.thripp.com, you.thripp.com: Reserved for user homepages.
photos.thripp.com, photos-g2.thripp.com: In use for my photo archive + Gallery2 backend.
proxy.thripp.com: In use for a simple web proxy with PHProxy. May be developed in the future.
richardx.thripp.com, rx.thripp.com, rxthripp.thripp.com, thripp.thripp.com: Reserved for …
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2008-10-08 Update: I removed this feature because it doesn’t work right as the comment count increases… I’ll have to change the math behind it some time.
I’ve added a value metric in the sidebar of every blog! Also, there are stats on the average number of words per post, number of tags and categories, and the number of threaded comments and pingbacks.
My blog is worth $829,191. This development blog is worth $7189. Daytona State College News is valued at $2440. VicAndHelen.com is a measly $15. My mom’s blog is worth $1270, while my cousin’s is just $73. A new blog is worth $1.
What’s your blog worth? Check your sidebar now. If you haven’t posted in a couple months, you’ll have to make a new post or re-save an old one for the stats to be right.
How are these stats calculated? By multiplying the blog’s word count by the tangent of the number of comments in degrees plus 0.1 times the number of spam comments, all divided by the cosine of the number of threaded comments in degrees, then flipped to positive if negative, of course!
Enjoy, and keep blogging away.
Tag, date, and category archives have a new format: they show the first 100 words of each post, including HTML and images. To read more you have to click “CONTINUE READING.”
Before, they were full-text just like regular pages, basically becoming a holding pen for posts. Most people browsing archive pages don’t want to read everything; they’re skimming for information. But the reason I refused to use WordPress’ the_excerpt tag is because it strips images or HTML. Since my Thripp.com blog is a photo-blog with the photos at the top of each post, that is unacceptable.
After much searching, I’ve found a better way: a plugin called The Excerpt Reloaded. It lets you customize the excerpts by using a new function, the_excerpt_reloaded, instead of the_excerpt. I’ve customized and activated it for all blogs on Thripp.com and DaytonaState.org.
I dropped the file in the mu-plugins folder, after removing the changelog to possibly save resources. Since the Thripp.com network only has one theme, I just edited index.php to use the_excerpt_reloaded on archives and category/tag pages. I don’t use separate templates for those pages; I just use conditional tags in one index.php file.
if ( is_category() || is_archive() )
the_excerpt_reloaded(100, ‘<a><abbr><acryonym><b><blockquote><code><em><i><strike><strong><u><img><p><ul><li><script><h1><h2><h3><h4><h5><h6>’, ‘content’, true, ‘… CONTINUE …
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