Top Navigation Containing Links to Posts

[JohnT]

Hi. I really like the simplicity of this. I'm sure it's harder on the
backend.

I like the way posts are separate from pages but I would like to be
able to include in the pages navigation at the top a link to a tag...

I intend to use it as a weblog but I would like to have a link in the
top navigation that goes to playlists. Playlists would be a tag for
posts that would have the set list for a music show that I do a couple
times a month.

Is this possible? So far I can't see how it would work as it seems the
only stuff that shows up in the top nav are the "pages".

Regards,

JohnT

[Jaromir Hradilek]

Hi John,

thank you for your response and interest in my software!

> I like the way posts are separate from pages but I would like to be
> able to include in the pages navigation at the top a link to a tag...

The most straightforward way to achieve this is to edit the template
file you are using and add link to the desired tag to the navigation
bar. For example, assuming you are using the default theme and you
want to point to the tag called ``playlists'', open ``.blaze/theme/
default.html'' in your favourite text editor and change following
section near the beginning of the file to look like this:

<div id="menu">
<ul>
<li><a href="%home%">Home</a></li>
<!-- pages -->
<li><a href="%root%tags/playlists">Playlists</a></li>
</ul>
</div>

Same approach will apply to whatever theme you are using.

> So far I can't see how it would work as it seems the
> only stuff that shows up in the top nav are the "pages".

The exact placement of various things depends on the template file,
which is just a single HTML file with several placeholders in it (like
<!-- pages --> in the example above; see blazetheme(7) for their
complete list). Feel free to change it according to your taste!

Yours sincerely,
Jaromir Hradilek

[Jaromir Hradilek]

For the sake of consistency and to make things more transparent for
the user, in the latest development version I have decided to
introduce another placeholder, %tag[name]%, so that you can reference
to whatever tag you want without the knowledge of the directory
current structure. For example, to link tag called ``free time'' from
your post, you can now simply type something like this:

See what I do in my <a href="%tag[free time]%">free time</a>.

Using the new placeholder, the relevant section of the template file
can be rewritten this way:

<div id="menu">
<ul>
<li><a href="%home%">Home</a></li>
<!-- pages -->

<li><a href="%tag[playlists]%">Playlists</a></li>
</ul>
</div>

If you are interested, you can get the latest development version via
Git. If you do so, please, let me know if this works the way you
desired.

Yours sincerely,
Jaromir Hradilek

[john tocher]

One problem I see with it is that it limits the presentation of the menu bar.

They can't be in alphabetical order for example.

I can only have like :

home  playlists  about  books  contact  films  etc

Whether the items which come after home and playlists are grouped alphabetically or by function or some other means it looks cumbersome. And reflects the underlying software rather than any concept the web site author is trying to convey. Usually the home button is furthest to the left even though this doesn't maintain an alphabetical grouping.

My suggestion is related to a question of design really.

I think though that if I had thought this through I would not have mentioned it in the first place.

The point of your software and it's attraction to me is the simplicity and elegance of it.

I mean that's how it always starts. You add a feature that someone thinks is needed and next thing you know you have Microsoft Office. lol. I'm serious.

It's not that big a deal.

I can call make from a script which [after the site is built] runs through the pages editing them with sed. I already do this when using blosxom and pyblosxom.

To me that approach makes more sense than adding cruft to an elegant design.

One question though. I want to give you credit (and a link back) for writing the software and making it available for me to use.

But I want to do it on the "about" page. Is that ok as opposed to at the bottom of each page?

Thanks for the great software!

Regards,

JohnT

[Jaromir Hradilek]

Hi, John.

> The point of your software and it's attraction to me is the simplicity and
> elegance of it.

I am glad to here that, since simplicity and elegance are one of my
main goals.

> I mean that's how it always starts. You add a feature that someone thinks is
> needed and next thing you know you have Microsoft Office. lol. I'm serious.

I understand your concern, but I assure you, this is not the case. I
too don't like adding things simply because they can be added, and
before implementing every single feature, I try to think hard whether
it fits to the overall concept and whether it is really worth it. I
think that this particular feature does and is: along with %post[#]%
and %page[#]% placehloders, %tag[#]% represents a transparent, safe
way to reference to the post, page or tag respectively, making sure
that the link will be always valid and will respect --full-paths
option.

> One question though. I want to give you credit (and a link back) for writing
> the software and making it available for me to use.
>
> But I want to do it on the "about" page. Is that ok as opposed to at the
> bottom of each page?

It is absolutely OK and thank you for that! I don't like the idea of
telling people what thay can and cannot have on their websites, so it
is completely up to you where (and if) you give me a credit.

Yours sincerely,
Jaromir Hradilek