October 25, 2008
Trouble with Comments
It seems that our upgrade to MTOS 4.21 caused some trouble with comments. Many users were seeing the following error:
Invalid request: corrupt character data for character set UTF-8
when trying to post comments. I believe that we have resolved the issue. Comments should be functional again. Let us know if you see any more problems.
Our apologies for the comments you may have missed.
Posted by Admin at 8:45 AM | Comments (2)
August 29, 2005
Want to to Change Your Colors?
Changing the colors of stuff on your TerraBlog is simple, provided you know a little basic CSS, which is easy as pie. When you look at your stylesheet (probably labeled styles-site.css in your template editing menu), you'll see a bunch of code that looks something like:
body { margin: 16px 0px 16px 0px; background-color: #E9E9E9; text-align: center; font-family: Verdana, Tahoma, MS Sans Serif, Arial; font-size:small; }a {text-decoration: underline;}
a:link {color: #0052C2;}
a:visited {color: #0052C2;}
a:active {color: #999999;}
a:hover {color: #999999;}
It's important to keep in mind that this stuff is your friend! DO NOT BE AFRAID OF IT. No, really. No whining.
OK, check out the bits in the code that look like:
color: #999999;
That's the color. If you replace this color value (also called a "hex value" or "color name") you'll change the color.
Here a handy chart with a few color values that you can rip off. If you want more complicated color values, try the Firefox ColorZilla extension, or find the hex values for colors in something like Photoshop.
Also, while you're at it, go here and read up on CSS.
Play around. Experiment. Have fun. But save copies of whatever you're editing by copying and pasting your templates into a simple text editor first. That way, if you screw up you'll have some older code to fall back on. Trust me, wiping out the look of your whole blog because you killed something is not fun (I've done that a several times in the past). So be careful, but go play!
Posted by Hugo Fitch at 11:38 AM | Comments (5)
June 20, 2005
A Very Basic Introduction to TerraBlogging with MovableType
Start editing your TerraBlog with this handy beginner's reference.
By Josiah Q. Roe, Edited and Updated By Ron
Current Sections:
2. Adding Links and Fun Stuff to Your Mainpage
Continue reading "A Very Basic Introduction to TerraBlogging with MovableType"
Posted by Josiah at 2:38 PM
June 7, 2005
Trackback Pings
Recently, Chattablogger eclose of I Can Remember When asked, "What is pinging?"
Ryan of Ranting to /dev/null had a great response:
In the general sense, a "ping" is a bit of data that your computer sends out to another computer with a request for a response. It verifies network connectivity and integrity, and the time elapsed between the transmission is first sent and the response is received is an accurate measure of how fast the network is.
In blogging terms, a "ping" notifies some service of your choosing that you've updated. Chattablogs has built-in pinging of its own site, but MT is flexible enough to allow you to ping other sites should you so choose.
Oh, and a "trackback" is a list of other sites that ping servers in common with your site that have linked to a particular post.
So, how does one use the trackback functionality of their TerraBlog? It's easy, and there's no need for me to elaborate further because there's already a great resource that explains it in depth. Check it out!
Posted by Hugo Fitch at 1:40 PM
June 6, 2005
How To Use The MT-Blacklist to Fight TerraBlog Spam
What is the MT-Blacklist?
In a nutshell, the "MT-Blacklist" is a list that you can add spammers to. It blocks future comments from these spammers by extracting and blocking the URLs that the spammers are advertising. It’s a spam blacklist clearinghouse.
How can I use the MT-Blacklist?
Here's how de-spamming your TerraBlog using the MT-Blacklist works:
First, you’ll need to receive email notifications when you have new comments on your TerraBlog. Take these easy steps:
1. Log in to Movable Type.
2. Click "Manage Weblog."
3. On the left you'll see a button that says "Weblog Config." Click it.
4. You should now see some stuff at the top of the page that reads "Core Setup | Preferences | Archiving | IP Banning"
Click the "Preferences" link. This takes you to the page where you can edit your blog's description and stuff.
5. If you scroll down, you'll see an option that reads, "Would you liked to be notified via email when someone posts comments to your site?" Select this option. You will now be notified via email when someone posts a comment on your blog.
6. When you get a spam comment on your blog, you can check your email and look at the emailed copy of the comment. Near the bottom of the email you will see a blurb that reads "De-spam using MT Blacklist"
There is a link right below this that will look something like “http://chattablogs.com/mt/mt-blacklist.cgi?__mode=despam&_type=comment&id=000000”
Clicking this link* will open up a new window that will take you to a MT-Blacklist page. This page lets you add to the list of banned URLs.
7. If it's spam, you'll generally want to just click** the button on this page that reads "Go forth now and do my bidding!" A careful read of this page makes the rest of the the interface’s options pretty self-explanatory.
*NOTE: Make sure you're already signed in to your blog account before you click the MT-Blacklist link in your email or it will take you to the wrong page — trust me.
** REALLY IMPORTANT NOTE: Make sure that the URLs to be added to the MT-Blacklist are really junk. Sometimes spammers stick normal URLs into their spam, so that when they're added to the Blacklist something like Google (for instance) gets added, too. Spammers are really tricky and evil that way, and should thusly be destroyed. ALSO, you'll want to make sure you trim away any unnecessary junk in the spammer's URL. For example: sometimes spammers will have addresses that look something like "poker.texas-holdem.com" or "blackjack.texas-holdem.com" and you can cut out the first part so that the URL will just read "texas-holdem.com" -- this saves a lot of bloat in the list.
Do your part in the anti-spam war effort! Use the MT-Blacklist! Onward!
Posted by Hugo Fitch at 4:59 PM
June 3, 2005
How TerraBloggers Can Use "Blog This" on Flickr
Are you a TerraBlogger fond of Flickr? (Say that 5 times fast.)
mrscrumley asks, "do you know how to configure "blog this" to work on Flickr? It is asking for MT cgi-bin, which I don't know."
http://chattablogs.com/mt/mt-xmlrpc.cgi is the URL you need there, plus your username and password. If your blog is on another TerraBlogs domain (like SeattleBlog.org, for example) just swap out the domain name in the address (like http://seattleblogs.org/mt/mt-xmlrpc.cgi).
Josiah has used this before and he says that despite Flickr showing an error everytime he uses it, it still works.
Posted by Hugo Fitch at 3:05 PM
How to Change Your Blog's Description
1. Click the WEBLOG CONFIG button in your editing menu (on the left).
2. Then click the tab marked "Preferences" at the top of the page.
3. The first box on the page is labeled "Description."
4. Change your description and then save it by scrolling to the bottom and clicking the SAVE button.
5. Rebuild your blog by clicking the REBUILD SITE button in your editing menu (on the left).
6. Turn around three times and clap your hands.
Posted by Hugo Fitch at 10:01 AM
June 1, 2005
Your Blog's Font Sizes
Font size issues got you down? Before attempting to modify your blog's fonts, you'll want to know a little bit about CSS (Cascading Style Sheets).
What is CSS? If you don't know, you should read up on it. Among other things, CSS is what makes your blog's fonts look the way they do. If you're a TerraBlogger, the file where your blog's CSS stuff is located is probably named styles-site.css. You'll want to familiarize yourself with the way the info in this file looks before you get started. Try to figure out what does what. And before you change ANYTHING, save a backup copy by copying and pasting it to a simple text document. This will save you a lot of headaches and help you keep your New Year's resolution to stop swearing. Trust me.
Jeremy wants to know: "How to do a relative font-size change so that the font will adjust to the individual user's browser."
Continue reading "Your Blog's Font Sizes"
Posted by Hugo Fitch at 4:45 PM
How to Post Images on Your Blog
Posting pics on your blog is actually easy. Once you're logged in to your editing menu, click the UPLOAD FILE button on the left. a window will pop up. You'll need to:
1. Choose a file. Select the photo you want to upload.
2. Choose a destination. You'll want to make sure < Local Archive Path > is selected, and then type the word "images" (without the quote marks) into the box next to it. Then, click the UPLOAD button.
After the file has been uploaded, you'll see a new page that says "Your file has been uploaded. Size: (a number) bytes."
You have a couple of options here. You can either "Create a new entry using this uploaded file" or you can select "Show me the HTML."
If you're in a hurry and you'll only need one image in your blog entry, you may want to choose the option "create a new entry using your uploaded file." This will insert the necessary code into a new blog entry automatically.
If you choose the "Show me the HTML" option, you can copy and paste the HTML once it's displayed.
If you'd like for your image to be a pop-up image, you'll want to create a thumbnail for the image (a smaller image) by selecting the checkbox beneath "Image Thumbnail." Make sure that "Constrain proportions" is checked and type in either the width or height of the image. Constraining the proportions keeps your image from being disproportionate.
At the bottom of the page, you'll see two buttons. One of them is labeled "POPUP IMAGE," and the other is labeled "EMBEDDED IMAGE." Choose the appropriate one for your purposes.
NOTE: There is a 2MB maximum upload limit. (added 6/2/05)
Posted by Hugo Fitch at 9:36 AM
May 31, 2005
Do Not Turn Off Your Individual Entry Archives!
ATTENTION ALL TERRABLOGGERS
Do not turn off your Individual Entry Archives! This will break your blog. You will not be able to see any new individual entries or extended entries accessed from your main page. You will also be unable to view comments. So, if you're tempted to turn them off, don't. Just say no. Thank you.
Posted by Hugo Fitch at 3:10 PM