Response to the Arguments

Javascript makes page load slow

Well, okay, it can, but I use jQuery.ready, which doesn’t. I don’t really care if the TOC is visible the second the page renders, so I’m willing to wait.

DOM manipulation is browser specific

Well, okay, it can, but the DOM is an open W3C standard, and modern browsers do a good enough job that I don’t expect there to be problems. Besides, jQuery sorts out most of the difference that matter.

Javascript doesn’t know about the database

Here I agree. But the objection only applies if you want TOC navigation across pages of a multi-page post. If you need that functionality, I highly recommend the Hackadelic plugin because it will do what you want. But I don’t make multi-page posts, and if I do, I only really need intra-page navigation.

The Freedom Software Model

In the Freedom Software model, most unpaid programmers are just out to scratch an itch – and to share in case someone else has the same kind of itch. There is significant overlap between the Hackadelic plugin and my own, but I’ve got a different itch to scratch, and I designed an elegant little tool to do it. Yes, I could probably scratch my itch well enough with the Hackadelic plugin, but I personally think lightweight and elegant and in-browser are features. The beauty of Freedom Software is that an entire ecosystem of tools can grow up, coexist, borrow ideas, and maybe eventually die off. This is the “bazaar” model.

Conclusion

I was certainly flattered to have the engagement over this, my first Wordpress plugin. Thanks for the constructive engagement and for bring to light that everything we build starts from a set of assumptions and requirements. That kind of critical conversation is what will continue to make Freedom Software great.

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Download

Download from Wordpress Extend

Is this plugin helping you make money? Buy me a cup of coffee!

Installation

1. Upload `jquery-toc.php`, `jquery-toc.css`, and `jquery-toc.js` to the `/wp-content/plugins/jquery-toc/` directory.
2. Activate the plugin through the ‘Plugins’ menu in WordPress
3. Important! – Configure the Table of Contents to customize it for your theme.

Demo

You’re looking at it. This site has a working example of the plugin. Look at the pink box in the top-right corner of this post.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: Does this plugin work automatically for every theme?

A: Nope. The default settings provided will work out the box for the Wordpress Default (Kubric) theme. Beyond that, you may have to change settings to get it to work with your theme.

Changelog

• 1.0 – First public release

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Apparently, fewer than 40% of people stay on Twitter after they start using it – a phenomenon so prevalent that it even has a name: “Twitter Quitter.” I don’t really like the idea of abandoning a social network after I join, so maybe that’s why I haven’t jumped in before. Also, most everyone I know is on Facebook, and I really can’t stand the idea of updating multiple accounts. So I’m not sure exactly why I have decided to try it out now, either.

I installed Twitter Tools to tie this website in with Twitter, so hopefully when I post here it’ll show up there, too. This complements the functionality of WordBook for Facebook integration.

Alas, I am on Twitter, for now. So if you are too, go ahead and add me.

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In fact, it goes farther that that. Stanford University communications professor Clifford Nass argues that we are witnessing the emergence of the first culture in history which does not offer, on a grassroots level, a set of shared experiences that allow people to build relationships with their neighbors. Even if one doesn’t watch the shows, one knows enough about them to participate in conversation about them, and so they serve whether 100% of the population is engaged or not.

This leads me selfishly to the question of the necessity of television. During my ongoing preparation to become a pastor in the church, I have been repeatedly questioned over my choice not to own a television. Although usually not expressed in such sophisticated terms, my questioners argue that not participating in modern American television watching prevents you from making a connection with your parishioners because you do not participate in those cultural touchstone experiences. The failure to watch television is presented as pastoral irresponsibility.

Of course I disagree with this for several reasons. First, of course there have always been great pastors who have not participated in much TV watching – their entertainment tastes turning more to the arts or literature. When they experience, as all do, a failure in their pastoral care, no one chalks that up to a failure to make a connection through television. Moreover, we now live in a society where the most popular television show in America in 2009, American Idol, only captured 16% of American viewers on its season finale! Gone are the days when millions of Americans watched Walter Cronkite every night and discussed the same news the next day around the water cooler.

These cultural trends also have profound implications for the church. As hundreds of millions of people involve themselves in social networking, new cultural touchstones are developing that transcend neighborhood or regional boundaries. The church can engage these new touchstones, participating in them readily, expressing and confessing the truth we have in these new forums. If we fail, we will become increasingly irrelevant.

While these new cultural trends serve to unite people in very specific ways, the lack of broad, in-person contact between people is alienating. This problem will only grow as time goes on and technology encompasses more of what we do and who we are. Our approach to the problem of alienation should not be merely therapeutic, bandaging the victims, but proactive so that we seek ways to live in this new connectedness. We can be, or become, the Third Place where in-person relationships can flourish.

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How To Do It

1. Make sure that your theme uses the new body_class() template tag. If it is, the HTML should read something like this:
   1. <body class="single postid-842 logged-in">

   If it doesn’t, edit header.php to make the tag look something like this:

   1. <body <?php body_class(); ?>>

   Note: This could very well muck up your theme if it uses CSS classes (e.g. date) for other purposes. Be sure to test everything carefully after this step.

2. Copy the following JQuery script into a file in your template directory called js/toc.js:
   1. jQuery(function () {
   2.       var started = false;
   3.       jQuery("body.single .entry h2").each(function (index) {
   4.         // Create div if needed
   5.         if(!started) {
   6.           jQuery('body.single .entry').prepend('<div id="intlinks"><a name="top"></a><p><strong>On this page:</strong></p><ul></ul></div>');
   7.           started = true;
   8.         }
   9.  
   10.         // Manipulate h* tag
   11.         var header = jQuery(this);
   12.         var headerId = 'header-'+index;
   13.         header.attr('id', headerId);
   14.  
   15.         // Manipulate list
   16.         var li = jQuery('<li></li>').appendTo('#intlinks ul');
   17.         jQuery('<a></a>').text(header.text()).attr({ 'title': 'Jump to '+header.text(), 'href': '#'+headerId }).appendTo(li);
   18.       });
   19.       jQuery('body.single .entry h2').wrapInner('<a title="Back to top" href="#top"></a>');
   20.     });

   If this doesn’t work for you for some reason, you might need to change body.single .entry in the script above to be the correct CSS selector for the content div of your theme.

3. Next, edit header.php and include this line near the end (after the call to wp_head()):
   1. <?php if(is_single()) : ?><script type="text/javascript" src="<?php bloginfo('template_url') ?>/js/toc.js"></script><?php endif; ?>

Add Some Style

Now that you’ve got the Table of Contents working, it’s time to style it. Here’s a very simple example from this site:

Future Plans

If enough interest is shown in this, I’ll turn this into a Wordpress plugin so that it is even easier to install. Be sure to let me know in the comments.

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I included You Are Beautiful, My Love in this video, but I also want to make it available for download. It is licensed CC-BY-SA (see below) so you can feel free to share it with others. I hope you enjoy hearing it as much as I enjoyed making it.

Listen and Download

MP3: Ted Carnahan – You Are Beautiful, My Love.mp3
Ogg Vorbis: Ted Carnahan – You Are Beautiful, My Love.ogg

You Are Beautiful, My Love by Ted Carnahan is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 United States License.

Lyrics

When I think about you smiling sweetly, I am overcome by you.
When I think about the way you love me, oh how I know that I’m for you.

And there is nothing I won’t do
If it means that I can show the world the love I have for you.
And there is no place I won’t fly
If it means that I can look into your eyes.

You are beautiful, my love.
You are beautiful, my love.
And there is no one I would rather spend my life with than you.
You are beautiful, my love.
You are beautiful, my love.
And there is no one, there is no one I would rather dream of.

When I think about you smiling sweetly, I am overcome by you.
When I think about the way you love me, oh how I know that I’m for you.

And there is no place I won’t go
If I must go there so you can see the love I have to show.
And there is nothing I won’t say
If it means that I can take your breath away.

You are beautiful, my love.
You are beautiful, my love.
And there is no one I would rather spend my life with than you.
You are beautiful, my love.
You are beautiful, my love.
And there is no one, there is no one I would rather dream of.

When I think about you smiling sweetly, I am overcome by you.

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As we look past Christmas and into January, many people are thinking about New Year’s resolutions. Maybe you’re thinking of losing weight, eating more healthily, or exercising more. Perhaps you are going to read more books or take a night class. I even know people who are thinking about giving up late night TV in favor of more sleep. What all of these goals have in common is self-improvement. The fresh, unblemished year stands before us, and we naturally want to make the most of it – and the most of ourselves.

Self-improvement is a noble goal, and I want to suggest one more goal to add to that New Year’s Resolution List. What about your relationship with Jesus Christ? Whether you’ve been attending church for 3 months or 30 years, all of us could use some work in this area. Every member of St. John’s who is able to should be involved in regular worship, regular giving, regular education, and regular fellowship. Worship reconnects us with God and God’s word, and through worship and the sacraments we are improved by the renewing of our hearts and minds by God’s grace. Why not resolve to attend worship regularly? Giving conditions us to respond to others generously and faithfully. Why not examine your own giving to your church and other worthy causes, looking for ways that you can expand your generosity? Education opens our hearts and minds to the ways that God is working in our lives and in the world. Why not get involved in Sunday School or an evening group like Lectio Divina? Fellowship is where we strengthen each other for life’s journey. Why not make coffee hour a regular part of your Sunday mornings?

You know, the trouble with New Year’s resolutions is that we so seldom follow through on them. The busiest season for private membership gyms is January and February, because people sign up for year-long gym membership contracts and then quit going. So, rather than regard these as just more duties to be added to an already long list or just more commitments to be added to an already full calendar, instead think of them as ways to respond to God’s faithfulness in our lives. Unlike the bathroom scale, God forgives our mistakes and beckons us back into relationship a relationship with Jesus. It is my prayer for you, as we move into 2010, that you enter into a deeper and richer relationship with the One whose love always resolves to find us and keep us close.

Blessings in this New Year!

- Intern Ted Carnahan

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Now I’m not sure if I’ll actually do this or not, but it’s a pretty attractive idea, and a useful exercise in figuring out what is really important. I decided to sit down and see if I could get by with just 100 Things. I’m just dealing with my stuff, not Jennifer’s or Anneliese’s, and I’m not including shared family items or furniture. Here’s my list:

I’m probably forgetting something on this list, so if you can think of something I couldn’t live without, let me know in the comments.

1. wedding ring – it’s hard for me to imagine this as a personal possession, as I have never taken it off, ever.
2. Polo shirt, short sleeved – my daily in-class and day-off clothing
3. Polo shirt, short sleeved
4. Polo shirt, short sleeved
5. Polo shirt, long sleeved – if I have to. I’m not a big long-sleeves fan, even in the dead of winter.
6. T-shirt, short sleeved – bum around clothes
7. T-shirt, short sleeved
8. T-shirt, short sleeved
9. T-shirt, long sleeved – bum around clothes, winter
10. T-shirt, long sleeved
11. khaki shorts – they go with just about everything in the summertime
12. white undershirt (5) – trust me, quite necessary. Counted as a group because, as Dave says “My goal is to resist consumerism, not hygiene.”
13. underwear (10) – I won’t be skipping this either
14. blue jeans
15. blue jeans
16. blue jeans
17. khaki pants – for casual-er work days at church
18. khaki pants
19. khaki pants
20. black pants – for Sunday worship, etc.
21. pajama pants – handy to have
22. white socks (6) – casual use
23. black socks (2) – dress use
24. brown socks – once in a while I wear brown shoes, and it’s a good thing to do
25. black/brown reversible belt – I’d have to go buy one, as my current one broke and when my Dad and I repaired it we decided to make it brown-only
26. black dress shoes – yes, shoes count as one item
27. brown walking shoes – They’re low-key enough that they could pass in a pinch for brown dress shoes, especially with appropriate socks
28. short sleeved clerical shirt – daily church attire. I’m counting the tab collar with the shirts
29. long sleeved clerical shirt – worship, formal occasions, etc.
30. alb – gotta have it for worship. I can’t really borrow one, because most churches don’t have extras in size freakin’ large.
31. cincture – ditto
32. pectoral cross – a (wood)work in progress. I hope to post pictures on my blog when it’s done.
33. black blazer – general formalwear
34. black pinstripe suit jacket – a little dressier
35. black pinstripe suit pants – to go with the jacket
36. white button down shirt – non-church formal occasions
37. a tie – Wow – if I was actually doing this, I’d have to pick a single tie to wear to everything
38. wallet – and I’m counting all of its contents with it. I could stand to go through it and purge cards I don’t use, though.
39. cell phone – Gotta have my leash. Charger counted with it. Doubles as my watch, camera, etc.
40. key ring – A necessity, but I probably ought to drop the keys to the office I haven’t been to in 5+ years.
41. Dell Mini 9 – While this computer and the big laptop are both shared between Jennifer and I, we got it for me for school and church, so I’d better count it.
42. Messenger bag – with its relatively spare contents (papers) counted with it.
43. NRSV pocket bible
44. ELW Pastoral Care – counted separately because I carry it in my messenger bag.
45. business cards
46. pen
47. headphones
48. Kleen Kanteen – a great all-purpose water bottle
49. Toothbrush – trust me, you’ll want me to have that handy
50. Contact lens case
51. Electric shaver – skip this two days and I look like a hobo
52. Electric beard trimmer
53. Bicycle helmet
54. Bicycle – is it cheating to include the safety lights, cycle computer, etc? If so, I’m cheating.
55. Camelback – gotta drink water when riding
56. Sunglasses – for bicycling, driving, and general coolness
57. light jacket
58. heavy winter coat
59. black topcoat – a Christmas present from my parents this year, so that I’ll stay warm when I’m out doing funerals, etc.
60. knit hat – needed today – high of 18F? Are you kidding me?
61. black formal hat – maybe a fedora. I don’t actually own this, but I’d like to at some point
62. office chair – I don’t hardly use it, but I think I better claim it as “mine.”
63. box of keepsakes – I would keep one box of keepsakes, and rather than count them individually, one small box isn’t cheating too much.
64. towel – gotta stay dry
65. washcloths (2)
66. comb
67. toolbox, red – Yes, I’m counting the toolboxes individually, not the tools in them. They’re pricey and useful. This box has the car-fixing and general purpose tools.
68. toolbox, green – plumbing, electrical, carpentry
69. toolbox, metal – miscellaneous, electric stuff
70. cordless drill
71. circular saw
72. Maglite flashlight
73. DSL modem
74. wireless router
75. Sipura 3000 FXO/FXS box – for connecting computers to phone lines, just a hobby project of mine
76. home server
77. Brother HL-2070N network printer
78. scanner – the one we have isn’t much good, I want a new sheetfed one.
79. Wifi Radio – to replace our current stereo, which is much older than I am. This would get our music off the server and into our ears.
80. Theological library – I have to count it, but I really can’t count the books individually. Yes, I’m a cheater.

If our whole family were to do this, we’d probably say that each of us (Ted, Jennifer, Anneliese) gets 100 things, and then we would set a number for the things which we truly share as a family. We’d probably still have to cheat, though, because we have many pieces of china and crystal, as well as Pfaltzgraf tableware that would be very difficult to part with. Still, this makes me want to go home and start throwing things out!

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