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Rambling about websites past

This page contains "templates" for PmWiki's (:pagelist:) directive. The Site.LocalTemplates page can be created and used to store pagelist templates that are local to a site.

Page list template documentation

fmt=#default

The default template for pagelists when fmt= isn't specified (and note that on the PmWiki.org wiki, this template is over-ridden by the one on the Site.LocalTemplates page). 

(:if false:)
[[#default]]
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:[[{=$Group}/]] /:
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: :[[{=$Group}/{=$Name}]]
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(:pagelist group=Blog fmt=#default count=6:)
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fmt=#include

This format includes whole pages, with titles as links to the pages, separated by a horizontal rule underneath each page's content. An edit link appears if authorised as editor. 

(:if false:)
[[#include]]
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%rfloat%[[{=$FullName}?action=edit|[-edit-]]](:if:)
!!![[{=$FullName}|[+{=$Title}+]]]
(:include {=$FullName}:)
----
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(:title {$Title}:)(:if:)
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(:pagelist group=Blog fmt=#include count=2 :)

{=$Title}?

Rambling about websites past

This is probably the 6th or 7th time I have rebooted my website. Or at least the 6th or 7th time I have gone down to empty directories and started from scratch.

I long since lost count of how many iterations this site has gone through and how many variations I have experimented with. I have had hand made HTML pages (in the beginning, that was all we had!), fairly complex database driven platforms, external hosting (multiple times), and more than one attempt at some kind of forum/wiki.

I remember a version c1998-99 with fancy pop-out javascript effects (including a really nifty trick where the links seemed to fly like cards out until they replaced the page with the new link). In that version, I had a stoopid little boat thing that followed the cursor around. The javascript was driven by a hand edited text page with my random entries.
Note: much of this was before "blogging" became a real concept... I was cutting edge!!
I wish I still had that code somewhere...

At one point, I wrote a spiffy database powered simple blogging platform. I killed it off because it was more trouble than it was worth to implement new features like commenting.

I used LiveJournal for awhile. This was a good era for the site since I was a bit more regular about updating my site during that period.
I may get around to re-hosting those old entries someday.

It seems like each new iteration of the site causes me to reminisce about "the way things were".

Things were not particularly "better" in the old days, just different.

So now I am firing up a simple wiki based platform to help capture my babblings. With any luck I may even keep this regular!! We will see.

blog reminisce

The Tyranny of Ideas

This also seems like a repeating theme when I reboot my sites.

After I make notes about how many times I have rebooted, or talk about what kinds of changes I have made over the years, or just talk about interesting variations in a theme I have used over the years, I will inevitably make a post about coming up with ideas.

I seem to have two main problems with ideas at the moment:

1) Just coming up with interesting things is hard sometimes.
I know everyone has problems with ideas, but I really can not get in gear sometimes.
Some of it is just age, as I get older, I am slowing down.
Some of it is likely a byproduct of the various meds or medical conditions I have, these things do mess with your brain chemistry after all.
Of course, there is always the point that I was never all that creative anyway. I never claimed to be a font of unending ideas, but I did used to write a pithy thing or two every day in my 20s, and I do have an archive of short stories around here somewhere.
So I am blaming it on age and drugs...

2) When I do come up with ideas, I tend to work them over too much in my head.
This is the big killer for my posts. I will come up with some idea and mull it over in my head without writing it down anywhere. By the time I get to writing it down, I have worked it over so much that it no longer interests me or vexes me or pushes me, so I just do not have the juice to push it.

A prefect example of Point 2 is a short story idea I have been booting around about the creation of the universe. Every now and again I will think about it and work it in my head, so by the time I get a chance to write it out, I have burned it out again and the words just do not flow.

The worst part is that I kind of know what I need to do to help.

I need to immediately jot down ideas (I carry a notebook just for such work). And I need to practice writing every day. Writing every day helps even bad ideas get out of my head and exercises the part of my brain that needs to spit these things out. It also reinforces habits that will lead to me putting more ideas into words.

Maybe the idea of this wiki/blog thing will give me something to work with so I can work on good habits.

Unfortunately to anyone reading this, that means there is going to be lots of crap before anything gets decent. Not sure if that is a good thing or not. Time may tell.

blog reminisce writing

fmt=#blogtitles

Pagelist of spaced blog titles with date stripped for sidebar. 

(:if false:)
[[#blogtitles]](:if equal {<$Group}:)
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fmt=#headerinclude

First paragraph 

(:if false:)
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!!!!Full article [[{=$FullName}|[+{=$Title}+]]]
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(:if equal {>$Group}:)
(:title {$Title}:)(:if:)
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(:ifend:)

(:pagelist group=Blog fmt=#headerinclude count=6:)

This is probably the 6th or 7th time I have rebooted my website. Or at least the 6th or 7th time I have gone down to empty directories and started from scratch.

Full article Rambling about websites past

Full article The Tyranny of Ideas

Attach:TeachTheControversy.jpg

Full article Teach the Controversy

Decided to integrate Disqus into my blogs. I do not expect much activity, but at least now people can comment if they want to.

Full article Integrating Disqus

Not sure how useful it is, but I added my Twitter feed to the home page...

Full article Twitter integration

This one caught many atheist bloggers somewhat off-guard.

Full article Friendly Neighborhood Atheists

fmt=#bygroup

Display pages by group/name. 

(:if false:)
[[#bygroup]]
(:template first {=$Group}:)

:[[{=$Group}/]] /:
(:template each:)
: :[[{=$Group}/{=$Name}]]
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(:pagelist group=Blog fmt=#bygroup count=6:)
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fmt=#simple

A simple bullet list of page names. 

(:if false:)
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* [[{=$FullName}]]
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(:pagelist group=Blog fmt=#simple count=5:)

fmt=#title

A simple bullet list of page titles. 

(:if false:)
[[#title]]
(:template defaults order=title:)
* [[{=$FullName}|+]]
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fmt=#titlename

A simple bullet list of page titles and names 

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* [[{=$FullName}|{=$Title} [--({=$Name})--]]]
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fmt=#titlespaced

Outputs wiki page titles with spaces between the words in the title. 

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fmt=#group

A bullet list of groups. 

[[#group]]
(:template first {=$Group}:)
* [[{=$Group}/]]
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fmt=#include

Concatenate the text of pages in the list. (Note, this can be an expensive operation!) 

[[#include]]
(:include {=$FullName} self=0:)
[[#includeend]]

fmt=#includefaq

Include just the #faq sections from pages in the list. (This can also be expensive, especially if the list includes pages that don't have the [[#faq]] anchor!) 

[[#includefaq]]
!![[{=$FullName}|+]]
>>faq<<
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>><<
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fmt=#description

List pages and append the page's description if it exists. Creates dash by all names, but adding a nested loop to get rid of it causes markup problems (nested loops are not allowed). 

(:if false:)
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* [[{=$FullName}|+]]
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(:pagelist group=Blog fmt=#description count=7:)

fmt=#simplename

Simple bullet list of page names, without the Group name. 

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Simple bullet list of spaced page names, without the Group name. 

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fmt=#titlesummary

A simple bullet list of page title and summary. 

>>comment<<
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fmt=#count

Number of pages in pagelist 

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Number of pages in the {$Group} group: (:pagelist group={$Group} fmt=#count :).

Number of pages in the {$Group} group: (:pagelist group={$Group} fmt=count :).

There are (:pagelist group=PmWiki fmt=#count wrap=html :) pages in the PmWiki group.

Number of pages in the Site group: 15 .

Number of pages in the Site group: 0.

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