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September 14, 2004
Props
I just want to take a moment to thank those who have made this new blog possible. First, Adam over at Ennui Central for patiently responding to my every email, IM message, and howl of rage down the stairs about building this thing; next, Heidi for being such a diligent code checker (and crochet-er), and then the list of people I don't know:
For getting my random Sophiecam images working:
this site on how to convert my blog to a php site.
The MT archives for making me realize that it had to be PHP...
Totally PHP for giving me the script for the random image (please note, you can't use this script exactly as written to do what I did-- read my extended entry for details)
And last, but not least, Kung-foo.tv for the fabulous Kung-tunes, which displays whatever I'm grooving to on the iTunes...
I'm not going to do any sort of real tutorial here; all of the sites above are by accomplished programmers who can explain it way better than I can. I'm really new to all this stuff. But, I will say that to use the random image script cited above, I ended up following the MT archive advice and creating a new template, called random_image.inc, and putting a php include in the sidebar portion of my main index page. This is scripted a little bit differently than the include line in the original... it should read:
<? php include "file_name.inc"; ?>
Where file_name.inc is your php script, conveniently saved in a template that you create in your blog templates. How to set all that up is pretty well explained in the MT archives.
I really feel like I'm in 12th grade Trigonometry with this stuff... if I slavishly follow the example, I can apply those steps to a different problem, miraculously managing to not comprehend or commit to memory the actual process. I'd do fine for the first few problems, but then they'd throw in a wrinkle-- if you understood the meaning of what you had been doing, the wrinkle could be figured out. That's where I'd always get stuck.
So, as long as I have good tutorials and patient people around me, I can connect the dots and get some of these magical things to work. Because I know how much you all care about what my dog is up to or what I'm listening to at the office...
Posted by mwashburn at September 14, 2004 07:30 PMPosted to Administrative
Comments
That's a mighty fine random image displayer...
mighty fine.
Posted by: Adam at September 15, 2004 10:42 AM
I suppose it's only as good as the images it displays; I need to do a little more work in that department.
Posted by: flygrrl at September 15, 2004 11:20 AM
Woohoo! Sophie's cute...perhaps I will, um, borrow that idea for a Captain Keys cam. :)
Posted by: Heidi at September 15, 2004 03:06 PM
Hey, Melissa! I didn't know that you [and Adam] had blogs until I saw the link on Carol's site today. :) Hope you don't mind me linking to you. This is Lisanne ... I'm a friend of Carol and Drew's, and I had Adam as an assistant instructor at IU for stellar astronomy ... we met at Carol and Drew's wedding. :)
Posted by: Lisanne at September 16, 2004 09:47 AM
Lisanne,
Of course I don't mind! Welcome to the virtual neighborhood!
Posted by: flygrrl at September 16, 2004 12:03 PM
Hey, Melissa. I like the new look!
Posted by: jamie R. at September 20, 2004 01:54 PM