activeRenderer #
A few years ago, I provided Radio Userland bloggers a way to publish OPML outlines as regular DHTML Web pages: activeRenderer.
One of activeRenderer's most popular features was the ability to display OPML blogrolls as activeRolls in any Radio weblog's sidebar.
activeRolls #
activeRolls are just like regular blogrolls, with a twist: active outline wedges to uncover underlying levels of information. They provide a dynamic user experience, while preserving screen real-estate and fitting smoothly into the surrounding layout.
While working on the iJot project, I ported most of the Usertalk OPML rendering code to a new Apache/PHP server.
So check-out the activeRoll wizard at http://services.activerenderer.com/demo/roll/.
It will drive you through the process of creating an activeRoll from any Web accessible OPML file, customizing the roll's style, and inserting the proper code into your weblog's template.
Any kind of weblog. No longer limited to Radio. It has been tested with WordPress, Drupal and OPML Editor.
OPML Editor #
With OPML Editor, you will need to update your version to benefit from the new easy stylesheet feature.
After restarting, you should:
1. paste the CSS rules defined in the wizard's second step into the new OPML Editor stylesheet (Community / Your OPML Weblog / Open stylesheet menu),
2. paste the links of step 3 in the OPML Editor template (Community / Your OPML Weblog / Open template menu) into the section, *before* the <%stylesheet%> macro,
3. paste the code of step 4 in the template where you want the activeRoll to be displayed.
Grazr #
If you have a little room left in your sidebars, Mike Kowalchik's Grazr provides an extremely clever ipod-like interface to your OPML outlines.
A Grazr widget has less styling options than an activeRoll, but delivers a clearer browsing experience for OPML documents that go beyond collection of links.
Dog Food #
I have been asked for an OPML weblog to document the resurrection of activeRenderer as a suite of Web services.
Well, there's nothing like eating your own...
So I've just created a new iJot weblog for this very purpose.
Thanks Guys #
Thanks to Gwenael for his pioneering work as well as suggesting improvements to the wizard's design, to Dave for enabling style declarations in the OPML Editor, to Donovan for experimenting with the wizard and motivating Dave :-) #
