Using frames to move out of unidimensional blogging
There is a number of things that S2 permits, that not so many people are actually using. But some of those things, used together, can boost the whole journal experience up few levels. What I am refering to are:
The possibility to install frames, and open the journal inside a frame.
The possibility to redirect from one page to another.
The possibility to pass values in the args.
Generally those elements are used only once, and nearly never in conjunction one with the other. In particular the frames are often used to have a small space on the side from which you can open the calendar or the recent and so on. But it does not have to be that way... not at all.
Let's start with the frame, and let's suppose to split our journal in two sides, "body" (where we pass the information we want to pass) and "left" (where we place the context or the other helpful information). Not only we can open an entry in the "body", but we can open also an entry in the "left" frame. Or we can open two different entries, one in the body, and one in the left. Having the links from the entry in the "body" frame opening entries in the "left" one and viceversa. We could have some entries having the data that we are interested in (open in the body), and the list of all the memories who those entries belong to (its context), open in the left. An entry could be just a list of other entries, and could be used as a left entries (or a "context" entry). For example:
All the entries about a particular girl.
All the entries about skying.
All the funny ones.
...
And since those are not memories (even if they would work as such), the same data entry could be linked from as many as you many as you like.
This is, in simple terms, what I did with my journal. I resisted for a long time to speak about it here, mainly because it was slow, and full of bugs. Now there are less bugs, and I took off the background images so it is fast enough that anybody should be able to open it.
After more than 3 years I have about 1000 entries in my journal. Before my main problem was that anything, apart for the last 20 entries was practically unreachable. No one would actually go and pick something from the calendar.
Now my problem is the opposite. Everything is so reachable that I am not sure if I am happy with that. For example that rant I made 2 years ago, it was ok at the time. But do I still subscibe to it.
So, what I am really doing here, is presenting the idea that we are allowed to use frames, and that different entries can be opened in different frames, at the same time. If you got this from this long post, you got the main message. The rest is an example.
I got a bit carried away in applying the idea, and instead of two frames I placed three. The third was an upper ("up") frame to keep a list of the main left frames (the meta-context). In each "left" frame I have about 20 links, and in each "up" frame about 7 left frame. So from one up frame you can reach topic wise 120 entries. I have about 10 of those upper frame (politics, livejournal, brighton [here,now], Dortmund, and of course, sexuality, girls... and so on). This just using the frame system and the $args. The $args was needed to inform the S2 compiler if the entry had to be open in the left mode (no title, no date, no comment) or in the data mode (all of the above) or in the "up" mode (all newline transformed into a space).
If no $args is there at all the compiler concludes that the call is coming from outside, and REDIRECT the whole to a new version of my site, splitting the window 3 times. And placing the requested entry in the body.
Positive things:
The journal is not linear anymore. I can't stress this too much. If before was like a river, now it is like an explosion. With the same facility with which you write an entry, I write a list of side entries, and define a new direction in which the journal will grow.
I now use this journal also for my work, and for my exploration of the web. I store the links that I am interested in in some entries (left links entry). Entries just don't grow old, are continuously renovated. It is a bit like, if you play chess or go, and you want all the pieces/stones to actually do something. All the pieces to share the weight. Example, that one entry, with a joke, that you made 2 years ago, delete it, or link it (maybe in the list of jokes). Now it is really not doing anything useful.
All the entries are reachable for you, too. Anything you wrote is there. You don't have to re-explain anything. Just link to it. Make it available. When a person have a full life, with many interests, it is often confusing for people from outside. You might speak about someone, and they don't know who are you refering to. You jump from concept to concept, expecting people to know what you are talking about...as if the only thing they did in their life was reading your blog. This is irrealistic. But if you can provide them with some way to get all the context to understand a certain entry, they might actually take a pick in how your life actually is.
Take a look at this entry, for example. I am trying to tell what happened in my life from when I had a livejournal. Look how each link opens up a list of entries in the left or upper frame.
Negative things:
There is really little space for privacy. If before you could consider that yes everything was on internet, but no one would actually read it, now everybody can read exactly the entries they are interested in. A girlfriend might read all the entries about a past flame. Before the entries were there too. But spread around, difficult to find, and she would just not bother (or not link). And so your boss. Hmm. Of course you can make some of those lists friends only or private, but still you might have to explain or to lie.
It takes ages to reorder the whole journal. It took me 3 months, working on weekends. And even though I now have indexed everything, some of those index are not so nice, not so ordered, and so on. I would pick a month and start indexing all the entries only to stop after one hour.
It also takes a bit more time to write new entries. Not much, but since all the entries you write about can be easily found, you will want to link. You don't just say, I pass an evening with him. You add a link to the whole list of entries where you speak about "him". So the reader can rapidly understand your relationship. You say, I worked on this... again link.
Future possibilities
I am thinking about various ways to improve this in the future. I would like to have an rss fee for each of the context entries. I have many different passions, and nearly no one in my friend list share them all. So I often bore them for 9/10 of my writing, before finding that one topic they have added me for. If I could just give them an rss for what they are interested in they would probably take me off their friend list, but they would read exactly and only what they are interested in. It would also spare me from some embarassment. If one day I am very crossed, and I pass 30 minuts ranting about "what-a-bitch-the-last-girl-who-dumped-me-was", they don't need to read it. They might be just interested in my taoist practices, or my ideas about how the internet is growing.
I finish with a list of links of places from where you might want to start looking at my journal.
Each opens all three frames in 3 different pages.
MY BIO
The index (from where all the left lists can be read)
The project PACE that should be my next official employer
The media I read.
The recent page.
The friends page (note all the filters above).
If you are interested in the frame style, you should definitly read the little manual I put together. (where you also learn how to move entries from one frame to another, etc...)
So, I hope I gave some ideas, be my guest, and take a peek. And maybe fill out the poll.
Thanks for your attention,
bye bye
Pietro
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The entry was sponsored by Our Answer: A wiki to comment on the documents that shape our world.
Generally those elements are used only once, and nearly never in conjunction one with the other. In particular the frames are often used to have a small space on the side from which you can open the calendar or the recent and so on. But it does not have to be that way... not at all.
Let's start with the frame, and let's suppose to split our journal in two sides, "body" (where we pass the information we want to pass) and "left" (where we place the context or the other helpful information). Not only we can open an entry in the "body", but we can open also an entry in the "left" frame. Or we can open two different entries, one in the body, and one in the left. Having the links from the entry in the "body" frame opening entries in the "left" one and viceversa. We could have some entries having the data that we are interested in (open in the body), and the list of all the memories who those entries belong to (its context), open in the left. An entry could be just a list of other entries, and could be used as a left entries (or a "context" entry). For example:
And since those are not memories (even if they would work as such), the same data entry could be linked from as many as you many as you like.
This is, in simple terms, what I did with my journal. I resisted for a long time to speak about it here, mainly because it was slow, and full of bugs. Now there are less bugs, and I took off the background images so it is fast enough that anybody should be able to open it.
After more than 3 years I have about 1000 entries in my journal. Before my main problem was that anything, apart for the last 20 entries was practically unreachable. No one would actually go and pick something from the calendar.
Now my problem is the opposite. Everything is so reachable that I am not sure if I am happy with that. For example that rant I made 2 years ago, it was ok at the time. But do I still subscibe to it.
So, what I am really doing here, is presenting the idea that we are allowed to use frames, and that different entries can be opened in different frames, at the same time. If you got this from this long post, you got the main message. The rest is an example.
I got a bit carried away in applying the idea, and instead of two frames I placed three. The third was an upper ("up") frame to keep a list of the main left frames (the meta-context). In each "left" frame I have about 20 links, and in each "up" frame about 7 left frame. So from one up frame you can reach topic wise 120 entries. I have about 10 of those upper frame (politics, livejournal, brighton [here,now], Dortmund, and of course, sexuality, girls... and so on). This just using the frame system and the $args. The $args was needed to inform the S2 compiler if the entry had to be open in the left mode (no title, no date, no comment) or in the data mode (all of the above) or in the "up" mode (all newline transformed into a space).
If no $args is there at all the compiler concludes that the call is coming from outside, and REDIRECT the whole to a new version of my site, splitting the window 3 times. And placing the requested entry in the body.
Positive things:
The journal is not linear anymore. I can't stress this too much. If before was like a river, now it is like an explosion. With the same facility with which you write an entry, I write a list of side entries, and define a new direction in which the journal will grow.
I now use this journal also for my work, and for my exploration of the web. I store the links that I am interested in in some entries (left links entry). Entries just don't grow old, are continuously renovated. It is a bit like, if you play chess or go, and you want all the pieces/stones to actually do something. All the pieces to share the weight. Example, that one entry, with a joke, that you made 2 years ago, delete it, or link it (maybe in the list of jokes). Now it is really not doing anything useful.
All the entries are reachable for you, too. Anything you wrote is there. You don't have to re-explain anything. Just link to it. Make it available. When a person have a full life, with many interests, it is often confusing for people from outside. You might speak about someone, and they don't know who are you refering to. You jump from concept to concept, expecting people to know what you are talking about...as if the only thing they did in their life was reading your blog. This is irrealistic. But if you can provide them with some way to get all the context to understand a certain entry, they might actually take a pick in how your life actually is.
Take a look at this entry, for example. I am trying to tell what happened in my life from when I had a livejournal. Look how each link opens up a list of entries in the left or upper frame.
Negative things:
There is really little space for privacy. If before you could consider that yes everything was on internet, but no one would actually read it, now everybody can read exactly the entries they are interested in. A girlfriend might read all the entries about a past flame. Before the entries were there too. But spread around, difficult to find, and she would just not bother (or not link). And so your boss. Hmm. Of course you can make some of those lists friends only or private, but still you might have to explain or to lie.
It takes ages to reorder the whole journal. It took me 3 months, working on weekends. And even though I now have indexed everything, some of those index are not so nice, not so ordered, and so on. I would pick a month and start indexing all the entries only to stop after one hour.
It also takes a bit more time to write new entries. Not much, but since all the entries you write about can be easily found, you will want to link. You don't just say, I pass an evening with him. You add a link to the whole list of entries where you speak about "him". So the reader can rapidly understand your relationship. You say, I worked on this... again link.
Future possibilities
I am thinking about various ways to improve this in the future. I would like to have an rss fee for each of the context entries. I have many different passions, and nearly no one in my friend list share them all. So I often bore them for 9/10 of my writing, before finding that one topic they have added me for. If I could just give them an rss for what they are interested in they would probably take me off their friend list, but they would read exactly and only what they are interested in. It would also spare me from some embarassment. If one day I am very crossed, and I pass 30 minuts ranting about "what-a-bitch-the-last-girl-who-dumped-me-was", they don't need to read it. They might be just interested in my taoist practices, or my ideas about how the internet is growing.
I finish with a list of links of places from where you might want to start looking at my journal.
Each opens all three frames in 3 different pages.
MY BIO
The index (from where all the left lists can be read)
The project PACE that should be my next official employer
The media I read.
The recent page.
The friends page (note all the filters above).
If you are interested in the frame style, you should definitly read the little manual I put together. (where you also learn how to move entries from one frame to another, etc...)
So, I hope I gave some ideas, be my guest, and take a peek. And maybe fill out the poll.
Thanks for your attention,
bye bye
Pietro
Advertisment.
The entry was sponsored by Our Answer: A wiki to comment on the documents that shape our world.