Sorry about post title, could not resist :) You probably saw these "new" and "hot" links next to list items all over the place. Something was added or updated and it makes sense to put an indicator that clearly shows this. I wanted to do it for list of extensions on BlogEngine site, so that when something new added anyone could see it right away, because list is pretty large. And I don’t want to maintain it afterwards, that image should go away when it is not “hot” anymore, all by itself. How hard is this with BlogEngine and .NET? Walk in the park: More...
My previous post was about awesome code syntax highlighter JS library I have converted into extension for BlogEngine and no so awesome button I’ve added to TinyMCE to insert code snippets. Let’s make it better by building custom plugin that will let us select language and enter actual code in the pop-up window eliminating messing up with TinyMCE editor itself. More...
There are several implementations of this extension for BlogEngine, but I wanted it to work with latest JS library and be more configurable. And also I wanted it play well with TinyMCE - yes, it might come as a shock but some people don't use Windows Live Writer. I don't know why... So, if you go through usual routine downloading and moving files to corresponding location (you’ll need to overwrite couple) this is what you’ll get. More...
I've got email from user having issues with embedding HTML snippet into BlogEngine's page. Not really sure what was wrong with that tag, because I have never get to test it. Why? Because it is sometimes easier to add simple extension or widget than to deal with row HTML when it comes to BlogEngine. Seriously, it took me way under half an hour following steps in my own simple widget tutorial to put this together, and this is including time spent opening Disby account. More...
If you are using Picasa extension I published while back you might want to take a look at another choice and try to use HighSlide JavaScript library instead of the LightBox. Just take a look at this post by Radim Boušek and get it there along with instructions. I’ve never herd about HighSlide before, but it seems like a nice thumbnail viewer with Ajax support and more options, so give it a try.
Attached to this post is a small extension which is really just a proof of concept. To install it, do the regular routine: unzip and install files into corresponding locations. This is what we always do to install extension in BlogEngine. It is not hard, but requires you to have FTP client, opened port for FTP connection and, most importantly, you must have some basic administration skills. As I said nothing extra ordinary here, but still – we should not assume casual blogger comfortable doing all this little tricks. It’s a good thing most of BE users are also .NET developers ;) More...
With BE.NET 1.5 release candidate out of the door, it is a good time to look at some of the new features. Most of them are small and incremental, but nevertheless are interesting. One such feature is support for compiled extensions. There are several reasons you want to compile extension rather than provide source code, such as security, protecting intellectual property, simplifying deployment (for large extensions) etc. If you find a reason to choose this route, this guide is for you. More...
After using Commentor for almost three month now, I’m refreshing it with new version based on users feedback and my own experience. It saved me a lot of time so far catching almost 200 spam comments that I would have to remove manually otherwise. Even though I’m very satisfied with how it works, I hope new and improved version will be much better. Here is some of the key features that has been added or changed. More...
There is new extension in town. It is built on Picasa SlideShow, but it adds web album functionality to it, this is why I decided to package it as separate extension. After all, it is not a slide-show any more, not just SlideShow at least, so I did not want name to cause a confusion. I also bundled it with LightBox – it uses it to transform thumbnails into larger pictures. It is optional, and if you opt to, you can ignore LightBox files when coping extension to your blog. Installation process is basically the same, you just copy files to corresponding locations and then go to Extensions/Edit section. More...
Sometimes you have an extension that you want to respond to events before all the others. Or may be you have two extensions that depend on each other and one should always fire before the other. It is not a common scenario, but I did run into it more then once and had to come up with less than perfect workarounds to resolve this. It would be nice to know in advance in what order extensions will respond to events, and now you can. More...
