Archival Awesomeness
I noticed that I didn't have a link to my archives. I forgot exactly why I took this down... but I did. Well, I tweaked the page a bit, got a two-columnish layout with the monthly archives on the left, and the categorial archives on the right. It looks decent and performs well. That's all I ask from it until I get a new theme up =P I fixed the OpenID server thing too, just had to move a link tag into the head that the plugin was inserting into the body. Now it works fine and I can comment on people's LJs and DJs without actually needing an LJ or a DJ account! Awesomeness. That's.. about it! I need to work on the OpenID Authentication page, but that's only visible to me, so it doesn't really matter.
OpenID
Hah. After I say I need to do something, I go browsing the wp-plugins feed and notice that there's a plugin that enables OpenID within WordPress. I installed, and so far it works. It works for LiveJournal users, so I'm sure it'll work for DeadJournal users. I can't test out the generic "OpenID" option, though, because it seems to be having a hard time authenticating with my OpenID server.. Basically, the script isn't working, as it outputs "No input file specified." I've commented on the author's site asking about this, so we'll see what happens. Hopefully there's a simple solution to this problem.
Now, to explain exactly how this works:
Below the Name, E-Mail, and URL fields that were always there, you now see an OpenID pulldown menu. You choose which authentication server you want to use (LiveJournal, DeadJournal, or generic OpenID) depending on where you're registered. For example: If Elyse wants to comment on my site, she can now do so by choosing DeadJournal from the menu and typing in her DeadJournal user name. It will bring her to the DeadJournal site for a minute to ask whether she wants to authorize my site or not. She hits "Yes, always" and is sent back to my site, where her comment will be displayed (it may still get thrust into moderation, i'm not quite sure). If Jacki wants to comment, she can choose LiveJournal, put in her LiveJournal user name, and the rest is the same! Now, this is where it gets cool. Since I despise Livejournal and DeadJournal, I can use my own site as an OpenID. So, if I wanted to comment on someone's LiveJournal, DeadJournal, OR an OpenID-enabled MovableType, WordPress, TypeKey, or even TextPattern site I could just use my URL as my OpenID! Well, I could, if I weren't getting that error.. But that should be fixed shortly.
By the way: If you're going to post using the OpenID system, DO NOT fill in the Name, E-Mail, or URL fields! That is all.
Success!
So. After who knows how long of not working on my plugin, I came to a revelation last night: Why bother replacing the spaces in the URLS with plusses?? Browsers nowadays should be able to handle that with no problem! Opera replaces the spaces with "%20"s automatically. Firefox doesn't replace them, but can handle them just fine. Same with Internet Explorer. So what was I even trying to do that? Hell, even Links behaves exactly like Firefox and IE! After realizing that and fixing the plugin as such, I now present to you... the Everything2 Pipe Linker Plugin! Download, share, use, abuse! Well, perhaps not abuse... but you get the idea! Hahaha! I'm so happy the thing is finally done! Huzzah! I even added a sink that allows one to use pipe links in comments! Go crazy! For those unacquainted with pipe links, see this node. They're really nifty things.
Check out the wp-plugins.net dowload link as well:
http://wp-plugins.net/plugin/e2pipe/
Sweet
Alright! I've got a basic example of what I want to happen!
My Poem (without the spaces) becomes My Poem!!
However! It doesn't replace the spaces in the URL with +'s yet, nor does it add the title attribute to the a tag...
But! I DO have a script that does JUST that with a fixed string (ie. NOT the random content produced whenever I post) over here. Thing is, it can only be done with one string right now. Somehow, I need to incorporate the second script into the currently functioning (albeit limited) plugin. I would need a way to search the $content for any string that starts with , and ends in . I don't want [$any_text] because that would include additions to quoted text, and even what little BBCode I use. Plus it just plain wouldn't work, as there would be no $result[2] to call for the link text.
All in all, I've still got a lot work ahead of me. I've managed to come this far, though, and I'm quite proud of myself. For several hours I was confused as all hell trying to figure out regular expressions, but I think I've got them pegged now.
Time to sleep.
Alright, plugin turned off for now, due to some major errors that it's causing with the wp-header. I'll try to figure that out in due time.
I lied! Plugin back up and running! No errors!
So Here I Am
writing up something in WordPress, when I find myself using Everything2's linking system. I thought to myself, wouldn't it be cool if there was a plugin that would search for these E2 links and appropriately deal with them? So that I think you are insane would appear as I think you are insane (hover mouse over link). I searched the WordPress Support Forums and the WordPress Plugins Database, but to no avail. I thought I was lost. There would be nothing I could do. Then I realized, hey, if someone hasn't written the plugin yet, I could!
So my mission is to write a plugin for WordPress. It will be my very first plugin and I will have to learn quite a bit of PHP as well as how plugins work in WordPress, but I think it will be worth it. Not only will it expand my knowledge of PHP, but it'll perform a function I think I would use a LOT. And who's to say that someone else won't take advantage of it as well?
Oh, and it wouldn't have to be limited to E2 either.