Thursday, July 12, 2007

Blog Posting - Update

Since my original post I have updated and improved my post writing technique; the mechanical part — not the prose and composition. Gone is the single cell table used as my template — replaced with a local xhtml/css template.

Now when I write, I paste into a local template, which is very-very close to my actual blog template. That means I get a real good idea of how the post will look and when I go on-line I just need to paste my text and upload pictures if necessary.

I made the local template by saving my blog source code and chopping it up, leaving only the essentials for a title and post body. I moved the stylesheet external, but that was only to unclutter the area above the post body. I also included some of my commonly-used tags to the bottom in a commented section, so they are always ready for employment.

I saved the background images used in the template to my computer so I could call then to make the page look real. I did have to manipulate the locations a little to get what I was after. And, I didn't use everything — just enough to give an idea. The overall browser window has to be wide enough to accommodate the full blog width, but that isn't a real problem, since the actual text-column stays the right size.

Once I had the idea of what I was going to do, it took less than a half-hour to get it set. It's not perfect, but for my purposes it works real well. And it leaves a possible future tweaking project.

You can view the template by visiting my web page.


Tom

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