[ANN] Rassmalog 3.0.0

[Suraj Kurapati]

Rassmalog is a static blog engine based on RSS 2.0, YAML,
and Textile. It features an extensible blog formatting
mechanism, easy configuration, and automatic tagging,
archiving, syntax coloring, and table of contents.

Web site: http://rassmalog.rubyforge.org


Version 3.0.0

This release adds the ability to use ERB directives in the
text of blog entries, adds translations for various
languages, refines the automatic table of contents, and
improves the obfuscation of email addresses.

Notice

If your blog entries contain the text "<%" (which marks the
beginning of an ERB directive), then you must escape those
markers by adding an extra percentage sign (%), like
this: "<%%". Otherwise, you will get errors from ERB when
you generate your blog.

Details

* Added translation files for various languages.
These translations were made using online services
such as Babel Fish and Systran.

* Wrote better instructions for enabling
translation files.

* Removed numbering of links in table of
contents.

* Made the number of each heading into a link
back to the table of contents. This is very useful
for text-mode browsers.

* The entire URL for sending email comments is
now obfuscated.

* Added Rassmalog version number to generated
output.

* The text fields of blog entries are now treated
as ERB templates (see config/entry.erb for details).

* Moved some logic from ERB templates into
Rassmalog’s core.

 

[Suraj Kurapati]

Hello,

There was a small bug in the 3.0.0 release. I've fixed it and uploaded a
new release here:

http://rubyforge.org/frs/?group_id=2737

Version 3.0.1

This release ensures that the generated RSS feed correctly evaluates ERB
directives in the text of blog entries.

Thanks for your attention.

 

[Suraj Kurapati]

Hello,

Since nobody had yet obtained the 3.0.1 release, I secretly took
the opportunity to roll in a few additional fixes and enhancements.
In this manner, 3.0.1 silently mutated into 3.1.0 as follows.

Version 3.1.0

This release fixes the ability to use ERB directives in
the text of blog entries, makes ERB directives behave like
those of PHP, makes auto-generated HTML anchors more human
readable, and corrects the German translation file.

Acknowledgments

Thanks to Josef ‘Jupp’ Schugt for correcting the German
translation file.

Details

* Fixed RSS feed generation so that entry body is
evaluated as an ERB template.

* Incorporated my PHP-like ERB hack to prevent <% ... %>
ERB directives from injecting extraneous newlines into
the generated output.

* Auto-generated HTML anchors (for the table of
contents) now make use of the text of the heading they
refer to. This makes them more human readable than,
say, “anchor153â€.

Sorry for the confusion and traffic.

 

[Robert Wagner]

oh i like offline generated pages. seems nice. regarding the search
problem: consider integrating a javascript based solution. i googled
that:

http://www.tipue.com/products/tipueJS/

it's GPL.
regards,
robert

 

[Josef 'Jupp' Schugt]

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* Robert Wagner, 09.03.2007 20:47:

oh i like offline generated pages. seems nice. regarding the
search problem: consider integrating a javascript based solution.

I do not know about you but when *I* browse the Web I either use a
browser that has no Javascript capability at all or with Javascript
deactivated unless I explicitly switch it on. It is annoying enough
that Web dysdesigners are so sure that using a flash-enabled
webbrowser means that Javascript is activated that they not even
inform the user that a Javascript script is used to detect if one has
a flash-enabled browser.

That the created pages are usable with any browser was an important
reason for my choice to use rassmalog. I do not oppose to include a
Javascript engine but the integration than should be done in a clever
way. My suggestion is as follows:

1. Keep the current search
2. Add a search using javascript
3. Make use of <noscript> in this manner:
a) If Javascript is enabled display
"Search (Javascript enhanced)"
b) If Javascript is disabled display
"Search (no Javascript, deprecate)"
4. Add a small paragraph about why to enable Javascript to the latter
search.
5. On the same page add a piece of Javascript that replaces the page
by the Javascript version of the search.

A site using Javascript is good if and only if the necessities still
work with disabled Javascript. Bells, whistles and eyecandy can rely
on Javascript.

Josef 'Jupp' Schugt
--=20
Blog available at http://www.mynetcologne.de/~nc-schugtjo/blog/
PGP key with id 6CC6574F available at http://wwwkeys.de.pgp.net/


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[John Joyce]

JavaScript's return as Ajax is often little more than Flash without
Flash.
Both are often little more than annoying and useless.

 

[Robert Wagner]

* Robert Wagner, 09.03.2007 20:47:

I do not know about you but when *I* browse the Web I either use a
browser that has no Javascript capability at all or with Javascript
deactivated unless I explicitly switch it on.

so, you're no fun

 

[Robert Wagner]

JavaScript's return as Ajax is often little more than Flash without
Flash.
Both are often little more than annoying and useless.

me hates animations. js or flash. skipskipskip.

 

[Suraj Kurapati]

Hi,

* Robert Wagner, 09.03.2007 20:47:

the integration than should be done in a clever
way. My suggestion is as follows:

1. Keep the current search
2. Add a search using javascript
3. Make use of <noscript> in this manner:
a) If Javascript is enabled display
"Search (Javascript enhanced)"
b) If Javascript is disabled display
"Search (no Javascript, deprecate)"
4. Add a small paragraph about why to enable Javascript to the latter
search.
5. On the same page add a piece of Javascript that replaces the page
by the Javascript version of the search.

I like this idea and will try to implement something along these lines.
I will also remind (although it may be considered offensive to be
reminded of such basic operations -- like someone telling you how
shoelaces are tied) the reader gently about using their browser's search
mechanism, be it <control><f> or <forward-slash>. I will also state
clearly that the "search" page is really just an exhaustive listing of
the content of all entries available on the blog.

Thank you all for your suggestions.

P.S. It may be a few weeks before I get around to implementing these
things (final exams are approaching), so feel free to submit a patch if
you're able.

 

[Suraj Kurapati]

I evaulated Tipue and several other JavaScript search engines, and Tipue
seems to be the best choice because it does not require prior
preprocessing (indexing) of the data to be searched.

However, when I integrated Tipue, it did not seem to offer a huge
advantage over the browser's internal search mechanism. For instance, it
doesn't implement any query relaxation -- I'm thinking of edit-distance
and Soundex algorithms -- so it's hard to find something unless you know
exactly how it is spelled beforehand.

With the browser's search mechanism, you get to see a much larger
context of a match whilst searching. In contrast, search engines strip
away much of the context, which is useful in situations like this --
where you're manually scanning for something that resembles what you're
actually looking for.

I will also remind (although it may be considered offensive to be
reminded of such basic operations -- like someone telling you how
shoelaces are tied) the reader gently about using their browser's search
mechanism, be it <control><f> or <forward-slash>.

I decided to omit such a reminder, simply because it might seem
offensive.

I will also state
clearly that the "search" page is really just an exhaustive listing of
the content of all entries available on the blog.

I have done this with great reluctance, because it caused the addition
of yet another template file (config/index.erb), in the new 3.2.0
release.