Publish your weblog outline style
activeRenderer tutorial - part 6
Use activeRenderer to give an 'outline look' to your weblog pages.
Step 1: display activeRenderer's preferences page in your browser.
There is a link to activeRenderer's preferences from aR's browser page.
And 2 links to aR's browser page from Radio's desktop website page:
There is usually one in the top menu, click the 'Browser' option between 'Home" and 'News'.
You may also click the activeRenderer link in the status center section on the right.
Alternatively, you can bring the Radio application to the front of your desktop, then select the Tools / activeRenderer / Preferences... menu option.
Step 2: enable one of the two outlining modes.
Checking 'Outline publication dates', then clicking 'Save' will add wedges to each date title on your weblog's pages.
This is activeRenderer's basic outline style.
Posts published on the same date are grouped into one outline node. The most recent date node is expanded. All the other nodes are collapsed.
This way, the latest and freshest information stands out.
Checking 'Outline individual posts', then clicking 'Save' will add wedges to each post title on your weblog's pages.
This is activeRenderer's 'extreme' outline style.
All date paragraphs are expanded. Post paragraphs matching the most recent publication date are expanded. Earlier posts are collapsed, only the post titles are listed.
If you post without providing titles (you shouldn't :-), activeRenderer will try to make up one by taking the first sentence (as delimited by a 'dot') of your post. Since you may be using dots besides their role as periods, this sometimes leads to queer results.
Step 3: add the 'Latest' widget to your home page.
Checking 'Display Latest widget' and clicking 'Save' will add a 'calendar' like feature which expands and collapses posts in your weblog's home page according to which date you click.
This widget makes browsing through your collapsed posts easier.
Step 4: re-publish your home page.
You may either submit a new post from your Desktop home page, or bring Radio to the front and select the Radio / Publish / Weblog Home Page menu option.
If you are satisfied with the result, you may have to re-publish some category or archive pages as well, check Radio's Radio / Publish menu option.
Step 5: customize, customize !
Customize your weblog's presentation.
activeRenderer performs the outline style trick by backing up the current #dayTemplate.txt and #itemTemplate.txt files from Radio's www folder, and replacing them with activeRendered versions.
The backups are located in www/activeRenderer/local/backup. They are restored to www when you turn the outline style off in the preferences, or uninstal activeRenderer.
If the activeRendered templates do not fit your weblog's theme perfectly, you're welcome to customize them further using any text editor.
Your modifications will be saved and safe over time, provided you raise each template's version number (in the top comment tag) by a significant offset. My customized templates start at version 100.
The 'Latest' widget is inserted into your #homeTemplate.txt file by the daySwitch Usertalk macro call.
By default, the macro is inserted just above the 'calendar' widget, you may wish to place it somewhere else in the template. You can do so with a text editor, by cutting and pasting the daySwitch line.
Customize your CSS as well.
activeRenderer's default templates links to the /activeRenderer/activerenderer.css file.
This file has the definitions of all the styles used to render paragraphs, indentations, and links.
There's nothing preventing you from modifying it to suit your needs.
First study the source code for some of your rendered pages, to locate the proper classes.
Then locate the matching definition in activerenderer.css and work on it.
Remember to update the version number on your customized version, to prevent it from being wiped out by an automatic update.
Since styles defined directly in the page overrule styles defined in a stylesheet, it is probably a better idea to redefine your customized RSS rules in the #homeTemplate.txt file, in the header section, rather than modify the default styles in the stylesheet.
Outlining your weblog's home page is a good way of packing more content on limited screen real estate while keeping the whole layout simple and easy to read. Another way of reaching the same goal is to take advantage of outlining's transclusion (aka inclusion) property: check out part 7.
