Hypercubed

DocPad and Grunt

2013-10-05T00:00:00.000Z

I really like DocPad static site generator but sometimes I think DocPad tries to do a little too much of everything. It generates static sites like a boss but it also scaffolds, downloads, serves, and watches. With great tools like yeoman, bower, and grunt I think docpad should focus on what it is good at... static site generating.

Without additional comments I'll share a grunt task that uses docpad to generate a static site and grunt-contrib-connect and grunt-contrib-watch instead of docpad's server and watcher.

https://gist.github.com/Hypercubed/6841482

So much has changed

2013-09-18T00:00:00.000Z

While refreshing my blog (or should I say placing it in cold storage) I did a quick run through of all my past posts. I have to say there is a lot of crap there. I mean I'm kind of embarrassed of some of the stupid content and general sloppiness. I'm tempted to trash the whole thing... but... here I am. At least by exporting all my posts I now have some archive of my blogging years.

When I started blogging in 2005 I was married, living with my wife and son, and working as an aerospace engineer in sunny southern California. Now I'm divorced, living alone, and working in bioinformatics in typhoon prone Tokyo. Many of the tools I once blogged about I no longer use and many of the resource I reviewed are now dead. He is a brief run down for the fun of it:

Wordpress - Finally replaced with a static site, docpad
Firefox - Now using Chrome
Xinha Here - This was my WYSIWYG HTML editor in Firefox (see above)
ING Savings Account - The APR when to near zero long ago
BlogJet - Markdown!!
RoboForm - LastPass
Haloscan Trackback - What was that?
Visual Studio - No need
MapPoint - Google maps
Active Server Pages - Killed by PHP, which I wish were dead to me as well.
MediaMan - Huh?
Outlook 2003 - Gmail
Norton SystemWorks - Windows Defender
SecondLife - They stole my virtual life
Context Menu editor - What?
RocketPost - Never heard of it?
GameznFlix - Dead since 2008
ReviewMe - Surprised to see this still around
Neverwinter Nights - I don't know if I ever got to the second level
Joost - Dead
JellyFish.com - Dead
MySpace - Die already
Mozy - Now using crashplan
Del.icio.us - Ok, I still use it but I'm trying to break away

Killing three sites with one docpad

2013-09-16T00:00:00.000Z

I haven't written a blog post in over two years. So, it is somewhat ironic that my first post after so long is to announce that I now have a new design. "Why design a new site for a dead blog?" Well, the new site combines three dormant sites into one semi-dormant site. While combining my vanity url jharshbarger.com and my project site hypercubed.com I also rolled in my blog archives for good measure. I designed this new site using docpad static site generator. The source code for the entire site can be found here: Hypercubed/blog.hypercubed.com. The process of designing a site using DocPad was pleasant enough. However, the process of extracting the wordpress posts ~~and converting to markdown~~ (Edit: actually I only converted a few to markdown) was not (requiring some sloppy node-fu). There is sill some hiccups to be ironed out, and potentially more to come, but I wanted to stop screwing with wordpress and move on to other (bigger and better) things.

Installing DISQUS in MODx

2011-07-03T14:29:33.000Z

A few days ago I mentioned upgrading my (very neglected) main site (hypercubed.com) to MODx revolution. I didn’t bother migrating the commenting system from the old site because it was rarely used. I didn't plan on implementing a commenting system at all on revolution. Then I had the simple idea of using DISQUS (pronounced discuss). DISQUS is that cross site commenting system you've undoubtedly seen on numerous blogs. For visitors it allows posting of comments using any one of several log-ins (twitter, facebook, etc) and, if they are using a DISQUS account, track comments across multiple websites.

As a site manager or blog owner you need to create an account at disqus.com then follow the simple instructions for installing the commenting system on your website or blog. Unfortunately, you will not find instructions for MODx. I'm sure most people running MODx are skilled enough to figure this out but here is my solution.

The code below is what DISQUS calls the universal code (with a slight modification). This is a short JavaScript chunk that adds the DISQUS system to your website. On the fifth line you need to replace "example" with the forum shortname you get when you registered your site with DISQUS. Line seven is an identifiers used to keep comments across your site separate. Here I am using the MODx page id as a unique identifier. You can also key off the [[*alias]] but I what the ability to move pages (changing the alias) without orphaning the comments.

<div id="disqus_thread"></div>
<script type="text/javascript">
    /* * * CONFIGURATION VARIABLES: EDIT BEFORE PASTING INTO YOUR WEBPAGE * * */
    var disqus_shortname = 'example'; // required: replace example with your forum shortname

    // The following are highly recommended additional parameters. Remove the slashes in front to use.
    var disqus_identifier = 'post_[[*id]]';

    /* * * DON'T EDIT BELOW THIS LINE * * */
    (function() {
        var dsq = document.createElement('script'); dsq.type = 'text/javascript'; dsq.async = true;
        dsq.src = 'http://' + disqus_shortname + '.disqus.com/embed.js';
        (document.getElementsByTagName('head')[0] || document.getElementsByTagName('body')[0]).appendChild(dsq);
    })();
</script>
<noscript>Please enable JavaScript to view the <a href="http://disqus.com/?ref_noscript">comments powered by Disqus.</a></noscript>
<a href="http://disqus.com" class="dsq-brlink">blog comments powered by <span class="logo-disqus">Disqus</span></a>

Now, simply adding this text to the template (working with templates) will enable comments on my site. However, I don't want to have comments on every page. So I placed the above HTML into a chunk (working with chunks) called [[$comments?]]. Then I created a template variable (working with template variables) called [[*Comments]]. The [[*Comments]] template variable has an input type of Check Box, an input options values of Enabled==1, and a default value of 0.

Then in my template, where I wish to have the DISQUS comments appear, I added the following code:

[[If? &subject=`[[*Comments]]` &operand=`1` &then=`[[$comments?]]`]]

This tag uses the If snippet to check if the [[*Comments]] template variable is enabled. If it is the DISQUS comments are shown. With this I can selectively turn comments on and off on individual pages.

This is just another example of the flexibility in MODx.

Migration to MODx Revolution (and HTML5)

2011-06-25T06:15:03.000Z

My main site (hypercubed.com) has run on MODx classic (aka modx evolution) for several years. I felt it was time to enter the 2010s and move up to MODx revolution. Here is a brief summary of my experience.

Probably the only real draw back to running MODx vs. Wordpress is the upgrades. One click is all it takes with Wordpress. MODx... not so much. I didn't even bother trying to upgrade. Instead I decided to go the manual route. I installed MODx revolution and manually copied content to the new site. Well, I actually used a little mysql magic. I won't delve into this as it basically amounts to a manual copy of the content and chunks (html snippets) from the old site to the new. Luckily my site is pretty small... your results may very. I didn't even bother with the comments on my old site which I would categorize as more abused than used.

The MODx tags (part of the templating system) have changed significantly between evolution and revolution (see here). It would have been pretty simple to just replace the tags and be up and running. However, since I was already in working on the site I decided to make the jump to HTML5. This was made very simple thanks to HTML5 Boilerplate. HTML Boilerplate template is simple and easily customizable. It comes with jquery and Modernizr to ensure backwards compatibility with old browsers (and IE9).

One great thing with MODx is contexts. Using contexts I was able host multiple top level domains using use one MODx installation (and manager login). This might have been possible using MODx evolution but I never tried. Have a look at this tutorial on how to set this up. This is also a great way to have a "hidden" beta site to test changes before going live.

So while the upgrading process has a lot to be desired; MODx more than makes up for it in flexibility. If you are running a non-blog site I still recommend MODx. If you are looking into jumping into HTML5 I suggest you check out HTML5 Boilerplate.

Japan April/May 2011

2011-05-22T02:43:29.000Z

I travel to Japan a few times a year. I usually bring along a point and shoot camera to snap a few pictures of friends and family. Inspired by TokyoForm and Shoot Tokyo I decided it was time to get a real camera and attempt to capture some of the great stuff I see. I returned with 16 GBs of photos. Here are a few shots that I enjoyed. You can find the full photostream over on flickr.

Ueno Station

Oyama Street

Oyama

Sakura

Sakuragawa

Oyama

Tokyo Sky Tree

Mangan-ji Temple

Tochigi

One foot in the grave

2010-12-09T12:01:40.000Z

Blogging is an interesting thing. When you first start blogging you're writing for yourself. You know nobody is listening. You don't really worry about the magnitude of what you're saying. You're writing because you like to write. It's not necessary that every post be about something important. What matters is that you enjoy writing it. But slowly you realize that people are listening. You've gain an audience. Maybe small but enough that you begin to feel a sort of... duty. Your posts need to be meaningful. Important. Each one has to carry your voice and share something useful with the world. Invariably the weight of this obligation begins to settle in on you. Your posting slows down. You just can't come up with a topic that speaks to you and your audience. The time between posts gets longer and longer. Most topics seams too mundane. Too unimportant to post. The longer the time since the last post the more important your "return" needs to be. Until one day you realize you're not posting at all. It's been months, a year, longer. Your blog has joined crowded ranks of the dead blog graveyard. But wait, there is hope. Yes, the light at the end of the tunnel. It is the ever famous... sorry-I-haven't-posted-in-so-long-post. Yes, one little apology to your readers. That should buy you another month or two... right... right? Hello! Am I right? Alas, it is a trick. You see, while you sat silently suffering "the midnight disease" it was not your blog that died.... but your readers.

Hypercubed Live Wallpaper

2010-05-26T11:20:04.000Z

I've done it. I've released my first Android app. Nothing huge... just a simple rotating hypercube (did I ever mention I have a thing for hypercubes). Anyway, if you have a Android phone check it out. Comments are appreciated.

Live Hypercube, an Android Live Wallpaper

2010-03-28T13:34:11.000Z

I recently purchased an Android phone (Nexus One). One reasons for my choice was the openness of the platform (no walled gardens). I've been playing around with the live wallpaper feature and have managed to cobble together a Hypercube Live Wallpaper. The app itself is not quite ready to share but below is a screen capture. The code for drawing the hypercube comes from the pov-ray code I shared years ago (the same code use to generate all the fine hypercube gifs you see scattered around my site) combined with the Cube Live Wallpaper example in the android SDK. While a lot of the code was already written this has been my first experience with Java. Just a few more tweaks and I may submit it to the Android marketplace.

Xinha Here! v0.16 delay

2010-03-16T14:18:51.000Z

Well, it appears after years of hosting Xinha Here! the editors at addons.mozilla.com have decided my extension has problems. Many of the issues they point out have to do with the Xinha code base. I designed the Xinha Here! extension to use the Xinha code unmodified. Where needed I overrode the Xinha code but left the core files intact. I expect modifying and maintaining changes to the Xinha code will be tedious and time consuming. Basically it is something I do not want to do. Until I figure out a way around this feel free to download the Xinha Here extension from my website and wish me luck.