I finally got around to having a day in front of the pc to do my new theme, I’ve been fiddling and playing about with the template code for ages and it’s really starting to come together!

I’ve even written a few custom plugins for it..

A latest picture from flickr relating to the title of a post on the front page

new lotto results with added links!!!

a custom script include in the header per post (using custom fields)

updated commentluv again

I am pretty sure I’ll get some sort of working theme up by the weekend if I get some more time, the biggest hurdles are done though. The rest is just prettying up.

Hope to see you soon!!

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I’m taking a break from the normal theme while I try to sort some things out with loading times and wotnot. Commentluv seems to be running ok, I’ll reconnect the database to it when I’ve got to the bottom of the mass banning mystery (my guess is there is something stopping an entry being made in one of the tables and that’s why the code doesn’t move on to finding the feed and thus declares everything to be a bannable site!)

The commentluv site is also being worked on, I thought it was going to up quicker but life has thrown me some projects that pay so they take priority!

I am due to update the plugin continue

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MYSQL - I OWN YOU!! hahahaha

Now I can really start to get to work on the CommentLuv site. I can pull just about any combination of data out of the database. Things like..

• Last 10 links to receive CommentLuv on any site
  (for version 1.97 CommentLuv upwards)
• Last 10 links from a particular URL
• Last 10 links to a particular url
• Top commented posts
  (that received CommentLuv on them)
• Top commentators
  (who received CommentLuv)
• Ban spammers!
• Use a cacheing system for speedier retreival
• Store default feed url’s for even speedier parsing
• probably tons more but that’s what I’ve been playing with all this week

Keep tuned for more exciting CommentLuv news

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It’s a rainy day outside and I’m just in the mood for coding! First I have to plough through all the comments and see if I can get a decent reply up, visit the site and hopefully make a meaningful comment.

I played with the database code for CommentLuv last night and successfully got a page up and working showing blogs that I have received comments from but not recipricated which was pretty cool, problem is that I noticed that I need to restructure the tables in the database and the code that populates it! arrrgh, just when I was about to switch it on for the whole of the commentluv userbase… luckily I got it in time so I can make the changes without too much fuss.

I think I’ll work on the commentluv site for a bit today, change some css and get the general layout the way I want it. That should take the best part of a couple of days (which in realilty means it’ll be all week!) at least I’ll remain dry throughout…

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I really enjoy coding and making new things but sometimes, when there’s a schedule to keep and posts to tidy up and I can’t get on with one thing until I have tidied up something else then it can be a bit of a bind.

You see, I can really get into some new piece of code or software and get the greatest of pleasure from being ‘in the zone’ while I keep the whole flow of the program in my head while I add or edit a function. Things seem to just fit together right.

Some of the solutions I have come up with for a particular bug or output error freak me out!. When I go back and look at the code after a few weeks, I think, “how the hell did I come up with that?” lol
It gets me inspired to try something new or make a small ‘fix’ in something I’ve been trying out.

Most of the time, my coding sessions start with a “I wonder if…” thought when I see something that looks cool on another site or plugin, then I try a little 10 or 20 line bit of code to see a new function or class work and before you know it, it’s 8 hours later and I’m dying for a pee and my ‘little test’ has turned into a mammoth program! I just love it when that happens, everything outside of my workstation didn’t happen, bodily functions, friends calling, work, play, everything! nought exists except the screen in front of me and the lines of code displayed on it.

It’s the awesomes.

Seeing the code work, that’s amazing too! even more so if it’s useful

… if the program is for me then that’s usually where the coding stops (and the coding comedown happens where I feel all superior for a few hours)

..it’s all the safeguards and data valildation I have to put in to counteract spammers or the error checks I need to put in for people that don’t know how to RTFM. It’s the constant support for people that shouldn’t be allowed a computer! although, helping people does feel really good but, not when it goes like this…

Q. your program is good, how do I use it?
A. there are instructions displayed where you downloaded it
Q. where is that?
A. <sigh>

I luv programming, it’s the other crap that pisses me off !

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Here's a little line of javascript that will work in Firefox to reveal the * characters in an auto populated password field. Just paste the following code into your browser address bar whenever you see an asterisked form field and press enter..

Useful if if you want to access your sisters email account you forget a password that gets auto filled.

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I've been too lazy to transfer my holiday photos from my camera since I cam back (because then everyone will crowd around my computer and ooh and ahh at every.single.picture - even the ones of a thumb obscuring the lens) instead though, I have bitten the bullet and finally got around to creating some Mysql tables for the remote script that does the fetching of the last blog post for commentluv plugin users.

What does this mean? ..
it means that I can create a site for people to register their blog url and with that :

• set a default cache timeout for speedier processing of their comments on blogs that use the plugin.
• define a default RSS feed url to be used for their domain
  (will also make retrieving a little quicker)
• define a default link and anchor text to be used
  (useful for pointing to a particular post in the past on comments you make on commentluv sites or if your feed has an error)
• choose to use default link and anchor text instead of your feeds last entry
  (useful for when you go on a comment campaign)
• make your last blog post links open in a new window
  (on sites you comment on)

Other things I will be able to do with the upcoming commentluv site now I'm using a database to store data..

• Show you the last 10 blogs with commentluv that you commented on
• Show you the last 10 comments with a last blog post made on your blog
• Show the top 10 blogs that comment on your blog
• Show the top 10 blogs that you comment on (that have commentluv)
• Show which blogs have commented on you that you haven't commented on
  (thanks to Bobby Revellian who requested something to keep a track of which blogs he has commented on and which blogs he needs to comment on. I know it was literally half a year ago bobby but it's taken me until now to learn enough stuff to make it possible!)
• probably a lot more...:-)

If there's more things you'd like to be able to do with commentluv on your blog or features you'd like to see for a commentluv site please leave a comment here and let me know... (btw.. I am using a new version of commentluv on this site that uses the new remote script and database, if you get any issues with comments going funny please let me know on the contact page)

..oh, one more thing... ajax commentluv is a little more improved, it can now work with almost any blog that allows you to edit the header of your theme! .. it's still a little way off from a release but it seems to be working well ... stay tuned!

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