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Category: Blogging – Technical

Administrivia: Toot Toot!

Putting some new life into the old blog.

I am trying a new experiment, as my normal posting here (for things other than movie reviews) has been a bit, um, lacking.

Since I have been more active posting over on Mastodon, I will start pulling my posts from there over here. As some of the metadata (like post title) stuff is missing, and wanting a chance to clean up some of the formatting bits, I’ll be importing in draft mode, and then manually publishing it.

That creates a bit of a lag but with diligence and discipline (ha!) I’m sure I’ll stay caught up.

My goal here is not necessarily to garner a huge audience (the days of blog-centric Internet are long past), but to re-establish this site as my “extended memory,” my journal, keeping track of stuff I’ve done, thought, written, etc.

If it works out, I’ll eventually post about how I did it, technically.

(And, yes, I could use the blog as the source and use various tools to post to Mastodon — or, heck, ActivityHub to making things here visible over there … and maybe I’ll eventually go that course. But using a Masto client to write things remains a lot easier, which is the key to sustainable blogging, even of a micro sort.)

We shall see.

All Secure

HTTPS ahoy!

Finally got around to fully implementing HTTPS on the blog. It was mostly in place, but various bits and bobs had to be cleaned up. Now visitors should get a neat little padlock up in the URL bar, rather than a scary warning of some sort.

If any of my legions of readers do run across something amiss, please do let me know.

Aloha, Google+

Google turns out the light at its social site. Sigh.

I resented the platform when it first came out in 2011, as Google shut down its (RSS) Reader application to do so. But as an early adopter I came to love Plus for its ease of use, and for the great communities and individuals I found there to discuss everything from politics to geeky pop culture, from things going on in my life to photos of my neighborhood.

It was a great space, even if Google became increasingly dysfunctional in how it supported it. Still, it had a run of 7+ years, which is not at all bad, and I met a lot of interesting folk that I’m still following around on Twitter and Pluspora and Feedly.

Thanks to all the folk at Google (or wherever they’ve moved on to) who worked so hard to give us a fine place to gather and chat. It made my life a bit better while it was around — and that’s not for nothing.

The Old Blogging Order Changeth

Boring blogging stuff coming up. You have been warned.

Warning: Dull stuff about how I blog follows …

So with the impending demise of Google+ (the first major piece of which — disabling the Notification Bell — went into place this week), I have bid that platform a sad, frustrated, irked, whatcha-gonna-do farewell, and shifted wholly into my new mode of posting:

    1. Write it in WordPress.
    2. Cross-post automagically to Twitter (with the “WP to Twitter” plugin)
    3. Cross-post automagically to Pluspora (with the “WP to diaspora*” plugin)
    4. Watch comments in all three places.

I also have the alternative of posting in Twitter; I have a Zapier routine to cross-post that into WP as a draft, whence I can clean it up a bit and post it in WP, cross-posted to Pluspora.

That basically means my readers can read me in three places (woo woo!) with minimal effort on my part, and I can keep my content (if not comments) canonical on my blog for when one of those other platforms vanishes into the ether.

(No, I’m not bitter.)

As part of that effort, I decided it was time to do some cleaning up on my blog. I’ve been running an obsolete version of Thesis as my theme for a while, and that’s cause me some technical grief now and again. And if I’m going to catch up to the current version of WordPress (5.1), I’ll need something compatible with that and that’s got all the modern bits and bobs and responsive design and all that.

I eventually decided to go with WP’s own Twenty Sixteen theme, with a few mods to the CSS to make it look closer to how I like it. It seems to be performing well, and while I have some under-the-hood things to tweak on it, and will probably continue to modify the styling, and while I’m sure there’s some early-days blog stuff that now is kind of fugly in it, it seems ready for me to use.

(If anyone spots anything that looks broken, please do let me know.)

Anyhow, that’s how I spent my Sunday afternoon. How about you?

What to do after Google+ shuts down

Or, maybe, I'll feel differently tomorrow.

 

Original Post

Blogaversary!

Today in 2001 (fergoshsakes), I started the whole blogging thing — on Blogger, then Movable Type, then WordPress and now melange of WP and Google+ (rebroadcast to Twitter and Facebook).

I’m not sure if I’ve done anything particularly profound over the last sixteen years with my blather, but it’s been a chance to record a goodly chunk of my life and my thinking over that time, so that someone, someday, can scratch their head over what the hell I was thinking.

 

Problematic Posting

So I just had the tool I’ve been using for a number of years to pull the content I post from Google+ out to my WordPress blog (thence to Twitter, thence to Facebook) stop working — and, given signs from the plugin owner in the past, I’m going to assume that it’s kaput.

Which leaves me scrambling about for a solution, which I found and tested a partial one without first turning off the downstream feed to Twitter and FB, so apologies for some kind of broken content I sent out.

That solution I found (using a Githubbed version of the WPMU Google+ plugin) maybe-kinda works, but it’s messy (pictures aren’t properly sized coming across, and it’s not pulling the first line for the title, which is an even bigger problem). I have a few more ideas to try, so fair warning that some duplicate things might show up here (I’m going to turn off the tweeting for the moment after I post this, until I get things fixed).

 

We Are Experiencing Technical Difficulties (obviously)

Technical Difficulties - Please Stand ByMy WordPress installation has decided that it doesn’t have nearly enough memory to perform some key operations without abending, with one result being that the function that pulls posts in from Google+ is not successfully completing, leading to many, many, many duplicates. Apologies for those with feeds full of those dupes (which the same problem is keeping me from deleting more than one or two at a time).

I’m going to try to solve the underlying problem, but it make take a few days as my schedule for non-blogging stuff is pretty impacted at the moment. In the meantime, I’ll be running the import process manually, since that seems to work (for some reason) just fine.

Battling link rot with Amber

I have no idea how many of the links on this 15-year-old blog are no longer good — but I know when I've tracked down articles in the past here I've far too often run into broken ones.

I'm going to give Amber a look-see to determine if this might be at least a partial answer to the problem.

(I also need to do some more deep digging to see if the name for this creating nigh-identical copies of the original content was derived from Roger Zelazny's Amber series … it seems like almost too good a fit for it not to be.)

Originally shared by +Kee Hinckley:




Berkman Center releases tool to combat ‘link rot’ – Harvard Law TodayHarvard Law Today
This week, the Berkman Center for Internet and Society at Harvard University announced the release of Amber, a free software tool for websites and blo

View on Google+

Looking at the revamped Google+

Web version, at least. A few thoughts after a very brief spin:

1. The look resembles the Android client. A lot. Rounded plus / comment / share controls. Opening up the post as the full window(ish) to do reading and comments. Rotating comment blurbs. I don't know that I care for it, but I'm sure I'll get used to it.

2. "Events" is missing. This is almost certainly a feature that has to be rolled in to the new interface. Hopefully soon. (Meanwhile, still accessible form the old interface.)

3. On my laptop, things have gone from three-column to two-column; albeit slightly wider columns / larger photos, it's still more white space creep.

4. Harkening back to the first point, to fully read a post, or to read the comments, or to comment, you have to click on the post and have it pull up a full window. That makes visually glancing at other posts not possible, it's slower, and I'm not sure it's actually more functional or efficient.

(Also, when creating a post, the underlying window cannot be scrolled, again making cross-references to other posts that much more difficult.)

5. The share button now is … well, a share button, not just for G+ but also for FB and Twitter. Looks to be using the same code as shows up in Google Photos.

Overall, it appears to be mostly an interface / design tweak, not something that adds actual functionality. The goal is to emphasize use of Communities and Collections; it's not clear how this does that, but I'm sure there's more to it than I've seen in 15 minutes of playing around. (I haven't even scratched into the Collections and Communities interface, just the home stream, but that's where I spend 99% of my time.)

I will say that it's a positive thing that such a significant change has been done, in terms of how it reflects on Google's continued commitment to the product.

Originally shared by +Luke Wroblewski:

Dive into the new Google+
As +Eddie Kessler shared this afternoon (http://goo.gl/2QjBGx), we’ve spent lots of time talking to people who are passionate about Google+. We visited them in their homes, we invited them into early testing communities and we learned more about how and why they use Google+. The predominant answer? Having a great place to keep up with and talk about their interests. From Astrophotography (goo.gl/HRQmIh) to Wild Hummingbirds (https://goo.gl/6FscI6), people are not only discovering amazing things, but meeting others who share their passions as well.

Today we’re taking a big step toward making Google+ an even better place for your interests. To do so, we’ve drastically simplified nearly every aspect of the product. You’ll see this clearly in our new navigation centered around Collections and Communities. Collections let you immerse yourself in content about topics like surfing (https://goo.gl/vvv5QD) or tiny tilt-shift photography scenes (goo.gl/nWyicL) . Communities enable groups of people with the same interests to join up and geek out on anything from Game of Thrones (goo.gl/aaqtgq) to Painting (goo.gl/kmlM7m). With Collections and Communities, discovering amazing things is simple: just follow or join whatever happens to pique your interests.

But we didn’t stop with Collections and Communities; the new Google+ also makes it easier to post, search, connect, and keep up with great content in a fully redesigned home stream. And we’ve worked hard to make our new web experience load fast and work beautifully on devices of all sizes.

You can preview the new Google+ on the web today by signing in and clicking “Let’s go” when you see the prompt. (And since not every feature of Google+ has made its way into this new design, for now, you can toggle back to the classic Google+ with one click in the bottom left-hand corner.) In the coming days, we’ll roll out updated apps for Android and iOS.

While this is an exciting new beginning for us, we’re definitely not done yet. We got here by listening and learning, and will continue doing so. Please visit our Help Center (https://goo.gl/gWsFeh) or drop us a line in our support community (https://goo.gl/eMFVj) to share your thoughts, questions, and more.

 

View on Google+

Of Twitter, Stars, Hearts (Moons, Green Clover, Purple Diamonds …)

Apparently the change in Twitter from a "star" for "favorite" to a "heart" for "like" is either the cleverest thing ever done in the history of social media, or the stupidest thing ever done in the history of social media. At least to judge from my reading this morning.

(Frankly, I blame it on low Democratic turn-out, which seems to be the root of all sorts of shenanigans. But I digress.)

Anyway, if you are really cheesed at now having to click on a heart, the post below lets you change it back to a star, or choose a beer mug, or a donut, or any other emoji. I haven't quite mustered the will to care this morning, but I will say that clicking on a slice of pizza or a martini glass does have a certain charm.




How To Replace Twitter’s Dumb Heart With the Emoji of Your Choice
Twitter did a silly thing today. It took away its neutral star icon and turned it into a smarmy heart. Turns out, it’s extremely easy to replace that heart. Let me help you.

View on Google+

No, I haven’t died

No, I haven’t died Yes, my blog’s auto-share to Twitter is broken. Yes, you might have to read the actual blog. https://hill-kleerup.org/blog/

View on Twitter

WordPress blog link problem

Okay, that's weird. On entries on my WordPress blog that have comments, the permalinks aren't working. If there are no comments on an entry, the permalink works just fine.

And that's the "Comments" link, the permalink for the post in the title, and even the "View" links from the Admin dashboards.

I get (on Chrome):

NO DATA RECEIVED
Unable to load the webpage because the server sent no data.
Error code: ERR_EMPTY_RESPONSE

(IE gives me "This page can’t be displayed".)

E.g.:

Works: https://hill-kleerup.org/blog/2014/11/07/vader-un-voiceovered.html
FUBAR: https://hill-kleerup.org/blog/2014/11/07/farewell-to-the-mentalist-soon.html

This seems to have come up since I updated (last night) to WP 4.0. But all of my other 4.0 sites are working just fine.

A quick check on Google doesn't reveal anything obvious. Anyone ever see something like that?

 

View on Google+

The Very Busy Google+ Graveyard

I actually tend to think of social networks a bit like religions — you find the one (or ones) you want to associate, and pooh-pooh the others as silly (except for the folk who steadfastly consider the whole category as a waste of time, if not a dangerous distraction from reality).

I use Google+ as my primary network. Some of that is based on "passions" — I belong to some groups and follow them along — but most, like blogging in general, has been a matter of my finding folk whose writing and shares I enjoy or appreciate, and other folk finding me the same way. There's a certain degree of interest based passion there, but it's more than that.

Plus, it's just a terribly convenient way to short-to-mid-length bloviate, as I am wont to do.

I also spend a fair amount of time on Twitter. I think I tend to follow (and be followed) in much the same way. The difference, of course, is that 140-byte limit. I find Twitter a lot faster and easier to use for micro-blogging — a quick comment or update I can easily fit in that limitation. When writing a tweet, it tends to be personal.

I also have a WordPress blog, which is my social medium of choice — but I pull all my G+ and Twitter stuff down to it, and anything that goes there gets sent out to Twitter as well, so my Twitter stream is, in aggregate, not much different from my G+ output.

Facebook … I honestly don't get over too that often. I have a lot of contacts over there with people, friends, family, acquaintances, classmates. I will occasionally swing by to see what's going on, but I miss a lot that passes through there — which makes me sad in some ways, but there are only so many hours in the day. I do get some feedback from there, though, since my Twitter stream (thus my blog and my G+ writings) get routed there as well (albeit with some drug interactions from all the hand-offs).

Bottom line for me, I have found what "works" — and I find plenty of interesting non-celebrity stuff on Twitter, and a fire hose of content on Google+, to belie the common perception of both those platforms.




Why Google+ is the place for passions
The single biggest controversy about social media is whetherGoogle+ is a dying wasteland of non-activity or a hive of conversation and engagement. Mike Elgan is here to explain why it’s the latter.

View on Google+

This is still only a test (to see if I can cause my blog and/or Twitter recursively implode).

This is still only a test (to see if I can cause my blog and/or Twitter recursively implode).

View on Twitter

This is a test. This is only a test.

2012 DisasterI’m testing some new WordPress stuff which may, inadvertently, cause Twitter and/or the Internet to shut down. Or a whole bunch of stuff being recursively posted to my blog and my Twitter account. If either of those happen … um … my bad.

Heavens to Bit.ly

Well, one mostly-sussed-out mystery solved. Bit.ly links weren't working from my company's network, and it turns out that the company has blocked it because the service was so widely used in phishing attacks.

Of course goo.gl and t.co and other shorterner services all seem to be functioning fine, but presumably phishers will be moving on to those sooner or later.

It's a bit annoying, since bit.ly is used in a lot of Twitter links, including my own and some other folk I follow regularly. This is why we can't have nice (or convenient) things.

 

View on Google+

More "Social Media to WordPress" stuff

The official announcement for +Daniel Treadwell's new SM2WP system — in particular, the module to bring Google+ content into a WordPress blog, which I mentioned the other day.

I've been using it for a few weeks now, and I'm a very happy customer. I can't wait for the Twitter module in particular.

Originally shared by +Daniel Treadwell:

Google+Blog for WordPress is riding off into the sunset…
But fret not, there's a new sheriff in town

It has been almost 3 years (wow!) since the announcement of Google+Blog for WordPress and the uptake was much more than I ever expected it to be. Thousands of people explored the concept of using their Google+ content as a way to spice up their blogs, to keep their own off-site version of their posts, or to simply share content with those that aren't on G+. Given the ease of creating long form, media rich posts, who wouldn't want to use G+ as their content management platform?

But as software is updated over time it can get a little clunky and less efficient. I was never happy about the requirement of an API key and there have been many requests for more flexible templating. So with the plugin begging for a major update it has received one, as well as a rebranding. [Existing supporters receive a free upgrade, check your email or message me]

Social Media 2 WordPress for Google+ has arrived

This plugin has been rewritten from the ground up, promising to be faster and easier to use. A little feature rundown as follows:

* Import posts from multiple G+ profiles or pages
* Transfer comments from G+ into your WordPress blog (with author attribution)
* Complete customisation of how posts are presented with templates
* Support for feature images
* Filter imports by hashtag (inclusive or exclusive)
* Customisable scheduling of imports
* Updates from within WordPress
* and much more…

More details about the plugin and Free / Paid ($19.99) versions are available on the website @ sm2wp.com
Support and feature requests provided via G+ Community @ goo.gl/nAsuYy

This is just the beginning for the new suite of plugins, with support for Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Tumblr and Blogger to follow.

The plugin has been recommended by +Guy Kawasaki, +Peg Fitzpatrick, +Vic Gundotra, +Amanda Blain and +Robert Scoble. Used by photographers like +Colby Brown and +Brian Matiash. Written about by +Nancy Messieh (@ +The Next Web/+MakeUseOf), +James Brandon (@ +Digital Photography School – dPS) and many more of you on your profiles and personal blogs. Thank you again for all your support, I hope that it continues into the future.

If there is anything I can do to help you, please don't hesitate to let me know. I look forward to hearing your thoughts and feedback.

#googleplusblog #wordpress #blog #googleplus #sm2wp #minimalise #wordpressplugins




Social Media 2 WordPress
Keep your blog fresh and active by using social media to your advantage.

View on Google+

How I pull Google+ posts into WordPress is changing. Sort of

I've been using 's Google+Blog plug-in for WordPress for some time, to take my Google+ posts and shares and pull them into my WordPress blog. I'm a big believer in being able to aggregate my social media content back to my blog, where I can "own" and it's not subject to the whims of services going out of business or changing their policies.

He's now fully rewritten the plug-in as part of Social Media to WordPress — an effort that will be extending not just to Google+ but also to Facebook and Twitter. I've been assisting in the beta testing, and it's operating solidly. It's also a heck of a lot easier to install and update, and has built-in templating so you can control (in layout and with CSS) how the content will look on your page.

Good stuff, highly recommended. The free version is available at the WordPress site (http://wordpress.org/plugins/sm2wp-google-minimal/), and you can check out more at the SM2WP site (http://sm2wp.com/). There's also a G+ support community (https://plus.google.com/communities/112259832283760505227).




Social Media 2 WordPress
Keep your blog fresh and active by using social media to your advantage.

View on Google+

WordPress 4.0 is out

So, per normal practice, waiting on WordPress 4.0.1 (at least) before actually upgrading …

Nothing earthshattering, but the UI improvements look nice.



WordPress 4.0 “Benny”

Version 4.0 of WordPress, named “Benny” in honor of jazz clarinetist and bandleader Benny Goodman, is available for download or update in your WordPress dashboard. While 4.0 is just another number for us after 3.9 and before 4.1, we feel we’ve put a little extra polish into it. This release brings you a smoother writing and management experience we think you’ll enjoy. Manage your media with style Explore your uploads in a beautiful, endless grid…

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