At The Temple Of Templates

Made some changes to the templates governing this blog last night.

With the addition of new guest bloggers, folks had pointed out a problem that was first reported back when SDG began guest blogging some: Difficulty in telling at the start of a post who was blogging.

I contacted TypePad to see if there was a way that I could include the blogger’s name at the top of a post. (They don’t have all the features I think they need, but they do have excellent customer service. Plug, plug!). I asked them:

The blog visitors are finding it confusing figuring out who is talking in a blog post. They find it frustrating that they have to look down to the end of the post (which may run off their screen) to figure out who is speaking in a post and are requesting that the notification of who posted be placed at the top of the post instead of the bottom. I looked for a way to do this and couldn’t find one. Is there a way to do something along these lines?

They responded:

If you’re using an Advanced Template Set, you could modify your templates to display the author name above the post as well as (or instead of) below the post.

Let us know if you’re using an Advanced Template Set and would like further help in doing this.

To which I replied:

Yes! I am using an advanced template set! And I would love help with this, along with general info about the eldritch nether-tongue in which the advanced templates need to be written.

I’ve only made the tiniest changes for fear of upsetting the cosmic balance of the universe by uttering the wrong syllable in an incantation and having to start over.

Much obliged!

Now, up to now it has be a HUGE ORDEAL to make any modifications to my templates, compounded by the fact that I haven’t had an understanding of the language in which the templates are written. (It ain’t ordinary HTML. It’s a propietary Dark Speech used by TypePad.) As a result, I have only been making the smallest changes to the templates, like my favicon (the picture of me you get if you link me in IE).

But thanks to their help, I got the info I needed to crack the Dark Speech and begin making more neat-o cool, user-friendly changes, such as how to add the blogger’s to the top of each post. I’ve played with that and don’t have it quite where I want–BUT–at least it’s there and I can continue trying to tweak it.

Kudos to the folks at TypePad!

Author: Jimmy Akin

Jimmy was born in Texas, grew up nominally Protestant, but at age 20 experienced a profound conversion to Christ. Planning on becoming a Protestant seminary professor, he started an intensive study of the Bible. But the more he immersed himself in Scripture the more he found to support the Catholic faith, and in 1992 he entered the Catholic Church. His conversion story, "A Triumph and a Tragedy," is published in Surprised by Truth. Besides being an author, Jimmy is the Senior Apologist at Catholic Answers, a contributing editor to Catholic Answers Magazine, and a weekly guest on "Catholic Answers Live."

2 thoughts on “At The Temple Of Templates”

  1. Unfortunately, I *can* see your icon 😉
    I often wonder whether there will be any long-term effect with us/me reading blogs the “wrong time round” so-to-speak. I often cannot remember where (at what date/time) I stopped reading a particular blog so I start at the top and read towards the bottom (as one does who has been educated in this time-honoured tradition). However, I therefore often get the updates to stories *before* the original stories so it’s sort of like researching everything or sort of reading everything kinda backwards rather than following the logical chronological progression (whew). I have mind-programmed a new type of blog software that would memorize where you were up to when you exited and then when you returned would auto-magically return you to the last read position. Or, better yet, would allow bloggers to blog (wait for it) *below* the last entry. Radical eh! Anyone out there who thinks that there might be something in this? If it ever gets to market – I hereby copypatent it; it’s MY idea and I might need to subpoena this comment when I sue whomever for millions. Oh, and BTW a great blog. Had me going with the Easter Bunny thing. I gotta be more careful who I trust.

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