Normal America

Well it's Saturday and what does that mean???? Nothing. Today I am not gonna post any kind of tutorials, mainly cause it's a weekend and I am already tired. Hope everybody else's weekend goes groovy. Hasta

Ok so lately the updates on this site have been few and far between. Next week I will start posting about a tutorial a day. These next tutorials I will be posting, will be focused on changing the design of your Moveable Type BLOG. Now what do I mean by design exactly. Specifically, what I am talking about, is the page layout/colors used/backgrounds/etc. The default design of Moveable Type looks nice but, I am gonna try and write out some tutorials that'll make your MT BLOG look better. I'll try to keep the tech jargon to a minimum if possible but, hey let's be honest, if you were able to install Moveable Type at all, you have some technical knowledge, either that or you are just really stubborn, lol. So why do I need a week before I start posting this stuff ? Well the reasons are:

A.) I first have to figure out design-wise where I am wanting to go with this BLOG
B.) After I figure out the design, I have to actually learn how to implement the changes well enough to the point that the tutorials I write will be somewhat clear.
C.) I kinda just wanna take a week, lol.

So that's what's gonna be going on with the site for the next week or so. I'll post more random stuff on here between now and then though if you wanna just come back here for the heck of it. Anyway, hope everybody's week is going good. Hasta.

Just found an app that does image overlays, it's very cool. Oh I can't wait till I start posting this stuff next week.

I would have created another module for this but, thought, why? I mean if I am gonna do a site of the month type thing I should at least explain the site a little. For the month of April, the site of the month is:

My Pet Skeleton

Ok so what's so great about this site you ask? In short the use of flash and web design on this site, I have ALWAYS found to be refreshing. Essentially this site is what you get when you blend a web coder and artist. In general the site is just selling artwork and promoting one or two other things but, the design is what will get you. The effects and the way in which they are implemented are fantastic. If your bored or curious, or whatever, check out this site by clicking on the link above. If for whatever reason the link above isn't working for you the actual web address of the site is:

http://www.mypetskeleton.com

Ok back to figuring out the new site design.

Ok so here is what is going on.

1.) Pretty much from the first to 15th billing takes up a decent portion of my time, so free time at work isn't as available to work on stuff.

2.) I am helping to set up a political website. I am neutral in my politics but, it's family and they need it built, and it's a good way to get familar with other webhosters, though dreamhost is starting to really get on my nerves.

3.) The whole ARG thing is starting up yet AGAIN. I swear, I thought the idea and the concept for it was dead, I had pretty much 90 percent given up on it, then somebody emailed me again saying they wanted to work on it, so that's been going on in the background as well

4.) I have not even had the time to think up a new site design for this site. Seriously I have thought of NOTHING. I have not had the time nor the energy. I mean heck I wasn't this busy even in college.

So between billing, family obligation, ARG, and well being worn out I haven't had a chance to do much. I keep waiting for the next thing to hit. Thursday is pretty much the deadline on the "politcal" website, whether I'll be able to get it finished or not by then is an entirely different matter. I don't think building a good website in a matter of two days is possible, if you sleep but, I am gonna try. After Friday, most if not all of this stuff will be DONE with. Billing will be ready to be sent out on Monday, the political website one way or another will be done, and the ARG I can work on along with this site's new design mainly cause whatever I learn in redesigning this site I might be able to use on the ARG.

Little side note: There is a reason why some webhosters are cheap. Dreamhost so far is coming a distant second to EZOSHosting.

I've never had Banana Cream Pie, least not that I remember and let me tell you something IT'S GOOD. Let's be honest here though it's more Cream Pie then anything, the Banana stuff at the bottom is just a bonus. I think it's maybe second in my pie list of best pies ever. Apple will always be at the top of the pie list cause there is nothing better then a good piece of hot apple pie with a scoop of vanilla ice cream melting on top, NOTHING. So yeah, I took a small slice (which even a small slice is freaking huge with all that cream on top) and I've already finished the sucker. You can see a small remant of it on today's moblog pic (ok I ate that too). Anyway, not much has been going on really, got one or two tutorials set up for next week on this journal, one is about the photo module I added, that you see to the right. This weekend I am gonna work on this site and that site I am helping part of my family with. Well, I am off to drink craploads of water, as that piece of pie has me both wired and was well maybe a little too rich.

Ok so I was tinkering around and thought I wonder if I can use that javascript effect from before on my modules, maybe free up some space on here. After some messing around with the Main Index code I was able to use the effect on my podcast module, here's how:

Note: Make sure that you've already done the tutorial before this one as it is kinda essential for this tutorial to work. Click here to go to that tutorial

1.) Get into your Moveable Type Admin site
2.) Click on the Templates link under the options under the particular BLOG you wanna implement this effect on.
3.) Left click on Main Index
4.) Find the module you wanna try the javascript effect on.
(In this case I tried it on my podcast module)
5.) Your module code should look something like this:

6.) There are two line changes that should be made to this code. A line should be added before the code. This will call the actual javascript effect. Remember to name the div id something easily remembered in this case I just typed 'podcast'. The second change that needs to be change is in the div class line, you need to add the div id and style code, this div id is what the javascript effect refers to, so in this case it has to be "podcast", if it's not the effect will not work. The following is what the finished code looked like for my podcasts module:

If the code is a little small for you all to read, you can click on that actual image to bring up a bigger image of each piece of code.

7.) Ok so you've made the changes, now to see if they work. Remember to Save and Rebuild the code after you have made your changes. After you have Saved and Rebuilt, check out your site. If everything worked out right, you should see that neat little effect working with one of your modules now.

If you any questions, comments, etc. You can email me at webmaster@normalamerica.com

You may have noticed the addition of a new module to the right incorporating my MOBLOG into this moveable type blog.

A moblog simply put is a "moblie blog", audio/images/etc. you post on the go aka while mobile. In this situation I signed on with textamerica awhile back and used my cellphone to take pictures and upload those same photos to a site. I suggest signing up with textamerica if you wanna upload images from your cellphone with little fuss, the service is free and I think it's neat.

Ok so back to the tutorial. I wanted to have a module that had the latest uploaded image from my cellphone. The issue comes in creating the said module. Now I have gone over module creation in a previous tutorial, this is a tad different. The normal code for a module looks like so:

<h2 class="module-header">Podcasts</h2></a>
<div class="module-content">
<li><a href="http://www.thisweekintech.com" title="">TWIT</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.aboutheroes.com" title="">About Heroes</a></li>
</div>

The code for a moblog looks something like this but a little different, it should look like the code below:

<h2 class="module-header">Moblog</h2>
<div class="module-content">
<script language='javascript' type='text/javascript'
<src='http://optik.textamerica.com/iPanel/panel.aspx?target=1&
view=440528&count=1'></script>
</div>

The added javascript code can usually be found on your textamerica page, under the link "My Recent Code Image", basically it gives you numerous ways to post your moblog. You can change a couple of things, if you want multiple images, change the count number from 1 to 5 and there are other more flashy things you can do, but this is how you do a simple version of it.

Well, I've wanted to update this site more but, stupid little stuff keeps popping up on me. I am hoping to get some stuff done over the weekend but, mind you I said "hoping". In general whenever I plan on updating the site, I end up not, cause of other crap. So you'll see an update when you see it. Almost finished with Cell, almost meaning "about 150 pages", let me tell you though, if your a zombie fan you'll probably like this book. It's Stephen King so you got a 9 outta 10 shot it's gonna be worth reading anyway. I should have called in sick today but, I didn't. I am not so much sick as just feeling mesirable. Yeah I should have stayed home and turned off the cell.