wiki:qPloneBlog

Version 11 (modified by olha, 15 years ago) (diff)

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What Is qPloneBlog ?

qPloneBlog is a a SimpleBlog based product with refactorings and extendings, enhanced with the following Package's Products:

Introduction

qPloneBlog is an easy-to-use Plone based weblog application. It has a fancy blogger-api/backlink stuff, etc. and supports categories. Entries are written from inside Plone. qPloneBlog comes with three new portal types: Blog, Blog Folder and Blog Entry:

  • Blog - Folderish object that is the container for the Blog Entries and the front-page of the weblog.
  • Blog Entry - Entry object inside the weblog.
  • Blog Folder - Folder that can only exist inside the Blog container. The folder allows you to organize the Blog Entries in any way you like.

Applied Features

  • categorization
  • technorati tags support
  • trackback supporting with management and spam defense
  • pinging
  • RSS1, RSS2 syndication
  • allow working with Blogger, Weblog, MetaWeblog? APIs
  • bookmarklets
  • Google adsense providinig

Dependencies

  • Plone v.2.1+
  • Archetypes v.1.3.5 and above
  • ATContentTypes v.1.0.1-final and above

Requirements

  • Plone 2.1.x
  • qRSS2Syndication
  • qPingTool
  • XMLRPCMethod
  • Archetypes 1.3.5 and above

Categories

SimpleBlog can use categories to classify Blog Entries. When you edit and configure the Blog object, you can provide it with a list of categories that will present itself as a multi-selection list when you edit/create a Blog Entry. Next to that, Blog Folders can define additional categories.

In Blog Entries created inside the Blog Folder, a selection can be made out of the categories defined in the Blog and, additionally, out of the ones defined by the Blog Folder(s) it sits in. All the categories will add up. This feature can be useful when the Blog is maintained by several authors. You can then incorporate some policy that certain Entries must be created in specific Blog Folders because of the additional categories. Categories you can later search for but you don't want exposed to all the other authors.

Next to categories defined by the Blog object and the Blog Folders, you can also define a set of global categories. These categories are available to all the Blog Entries created in the portal. Defining these global categories can be done in ZMI in the simpleblog_tool or in the Plone setup.

Blog Entries can be searched for in the Catalog and in Topics using categories. Use the Entry Category index.

Portlets

SimpleBlog comes with 5 different portlets. The portlets behave mainly in two different ways. The portlet names ending with _local are only visible inside the Blog structure. They are hidden as soon as you are not within Blog Entry, Blog Folder or Blog. Portlets ending with _global on the other hand, are visible everywhere and will summarize among Blogs deeper in the folder structure.

There are two display modes for both the _local and _global portlets. The Full version shows the calendar, the top most recent entries and the available categories. Clicking on the entries will lead to the full Blog Entry view and clicking on the category will display a list of Blog Entries within that category. Next to the Full version there is also a Recent version. That version will not display the categories and only presents a list of the recent additions.

So, summarizing, you can use any of these values inside the left_slots or right_slots:

  1. here/portlet_simpleblog/macros/portletBlogFull_local
  2. here/portlet_simpleblog/macros/portletBlogFull_global
  3. here/portlet_simpleblog/macros/portletBlogRecent_local
  4. here/portlet_simpleblog/macros/portletBlogRecent_global

There is an additional 5th portlet: portletRecentComments_local that shows the latest comments within the blog.

Installation

  1. Download qPloneBlog package
  2. Copy all the content from qPloneBlog into Product directory
  3. Install SimpleBlog, qRSS2Syndication, qPingTool, qTrackSpam as usual Plone products (put all package's products to Plone's Product directory)
  4. Install in your Plone instance with Quick Installer (Plone Control Panel ->Add/remove Products)

Product Setup and Tuning

Here is portal wide options for blogs.

  • Pinging:
    • in ZMI in portal_pingtool input web address of your site
    • in ZMI in portal_syndication:
      • allow syndication in portal_pingtool/propertiesForm
      • allow syndication tab visibility in portal_syndication/manage_editActionsForm
    • in plone control panel go to Ping Tool setup.

Here you can add, delete, change ping info for pinging sites list.

  • go to Blog or BlogFolder?, which you wish to ping.
    • in syndication tab - allow syndication
    • in added 'ping setup' tab - enable pinging and select desired ping sites and save this settings.
      • here you can ping container's content to selected sites whenever you want.
  • Trackback management:

You have 2 configlets in plone control panel:

  • BlackList? Importer - allow you form URL's black list - both: by direct Black list editing or by file uploading.

black list records interprets as regular expressions.

  • Clean TrackBacks? - allow manage new (not published) trackbacks: mark as black and remove, publish.

Represent all trackbacks from all portal's blogs in table.

  • Adsense in blogs - allow adding google adsense block in Blog entries.
    • go to plone control panel to Adsense Properties and input your customer Id
  • Blog API - for working with blog and it's content through external application.

Description

qPloneBlog is an easy to use Plone based weblog application with fore portal types: Blog, BlogFolder?, BlogEntry? and Trackback:

  • Blog - Folderish object that is the container for the BlogEntries? and the front-page of the weblog.
  • BlogEntry? - Entry object inside the weblog.
  • BlogFolder? - Folder that can only exist inside the Blog container. The folder allows you to organize the BlogEntries? in any way you like.
  • Trackback - trackback to other blog-post (web resource possible).Can be added only to BlogEntry? type object. Contains short information about blog-post, which links to blog entry, where trackback URL, of this BlogEntry? is added. Can be in two workflow states: pending and published.

Getting started

You can go to any folder that you have permissions for and add a Blog from any of the dropdown lists. You will be given a form where you can provide the necessary information to create a new Blog:

  • Short Name, Title, Description will speak for themselves.
  • Maximum number of blog entries to display defines how many items should be visible on the Blog's front-page.
  • Available entry Categories, Tags is a list of categories and tags accordingly, that can be used inside BlogEntries? one category or tag per line).

After clicking on next button you will go to next blog's [interface] property list and provide appropriate customizations:

  • Show warning for unpublished entries - turning on/off displaying warning on the blog's frontpage if there are entries that are not yet published.
  • Show Byline footer, Show Icons - checkboxes for switching on/off appearance accordingly footer and icon for BlogEntry?.
  • Enable technorati tags and Allow Trackback - will speak for themselves.
  • Turn ... bookmarklet - turn on/off appearance appropriate bookmarklet in the Byline footer.
  • Turn top Adsence block and Turn bottom Adsence block - turn on/off top and bottom google adsense blocks for blog entries.
  • Select top adsence template and Select bottom adsence template - give you possibility to chose an adsense template.

After you have created the Blog, you can adjust its Display settings from the Display menu in Plone. Currently there are 3 different display settings. Besides these settings, there is also a stylesheet in product's skin that you can customize at will.

After you have created the Blog, you can start creating BlogEntries?. Choose BlogEntry? from the Add items list and fill in the form:

  • Short Name, Title, Teaser, Body will speak for themselves. Note when you use the Upload a file field, be aware that it will replace the current content!!
  • Always on top Controls if the Entry, when published is always shown first. This can be handy for announcements etc.
  • Categories Select one or more categories from the list to classify the BlogEntry?.
  • Tags - allow you select or add tag(s) for technorati.com
  • sendTrackBackURLs - a list of trackback URLs (one per line). On publishing this blog entry, information about it sends to URLs.
  • Digg topic - Choose the digg topic for symplify blog entry readers digging this entry.
  • Related items point to other content in your portal to indicate them as related.
  • Allow Discussion on this item control whether people can comment on this entry.

After the BlogEntry? is saved, it will be in the 'draft' workflow state and is only visible by the owner and the manager (by default). So, in order to make it appear on the Blog's front-page, it must be set in the 'published' state The Blog will search and display the BlogEntries? that have this state (this state is defined in the simpleblog_tool in ZMI and in the configlet in Plone setup). When putting the BlogEntry? in the published state, you can also choose to give it an effective date somewhere in the future. SimpleBlog? uses the standard way of publishing content.

Inside the Blog you can create BlogFolders?. These are a bit similar to the Blog itself in that it has roughly the same view but this time it only shows the Entries that are stored inside the BlogFolder? (and subfolders). BlogFolders? are there for your convenience, to organize or archive Entries in any way you want and to have additional categories (see below).

To BlogEntry? also Trackback can be added. Trackback include following fields:

  • Short Name, Title, Description will speak for themselves.
  • Url, Blog_name and excerpt point to URL, Blog's name and excerpt accordingly of trackbacked blog post, frow witch this blog entry was linked in.

Commonly trackbacks added by blog itself (trackback system). After adding Trackback presents in pending state and on defoult permissions set is visible only for Manager and Owner roles. After publishing - it's visible for all.

Technorati Tags

qPloneBlog support Technorati tags if following manner: in Tags field of BlogEntry? - you may point existent or add new tag(s). On the BlogEntry? view page - you may view pointed tags. Clicking one of the BlogEntry? tag bring you to page "Everything tagged tag", on www.technorati.com.

Other Features

  • BLOGGER APIS

qPloneBlog provide 3 blogger APIs:

You need not to perform any tuning in Blog or portal - only in Blogger apllication for use this possibility.

  • BOOKMARKLETS

As was mentioned earlier, on Blog editing page, on interface shemata settings you will see 5 checkboxes Turn ... bookmarklet, which manage bookmarklets appearance on BlogEntry? footer.

  • GOOGLE ADSENSE On Blog editing page, on interface shemata also presernt 2 checkboxes:

Turn ... Adsence block with self explanatory labels. It is important to notise, that this checkboxes switches google adsense appearance in every BlogEntry? of the blog. Other tuning google adsense block possibility is selection block type for each top and bottom blocks. This featchure also present on interface schemata of Blog edit page. And at last - you have to go to plone control panel, to Adsense Properties and enter customer Id, got from Google.

Trackbacks

qPLoneBlog support trackback system. BlogEntry? can be both trackback source (BE-source) and trackback holder (BE-holder). BE-source provide trackback URL and register short information about every BE-holder in Trackback-type objects, by adding Trackbacks to BE-source. BE-holder add trackback URL of BE-sources (to field sendTrackBackURLs). On publishing BE-holder short information about it sends to list of trackback URLs. trackback URL - present on BlogEntry? view page. Trackback object automatically creates and added in BE-source on publishing BE-holder. New created Trackback object appear in pending workflow state. Manager or Owner can publish or delete Trackback object. Trackbacks is visible only in navigation tree.

It is qTrackSpam product, which provide trackback management (​http://projects.quintagroup.com/products/wiki/qTrackSpam) For manage trackbacks it is 2 configlets in plone control panel: BlackList? importer and Clean TrackBacks?.

  • BlackList? importer - allow manage with blac list filters. Every line in BlackList? presents separate filter. Actually filter is regular expression, which apply to Url field of new added trackback.
  • Clean TrackBacks? - is form to site wide trackbacks managements, which allow you to select group of trackback(s) and publish or blacklist and remove selection.

How to edit BlogEntry??

Any BlogEntry? can be followed by a kind of a footer with lots of enabled tags and bookmarks after its content. This footer looks similar to this:

http://quintagroup.com/services/plone-development/products/plone-blog/blog-foot.png

where tags - are technorati tags, there is also a trackback URL, Google, Yahoo, Digg and Spurl bookmarklets. To hide some of them or to add some new go to Blog Edit page, choose interface tab:

http://quintagroup.com/services/plone-development/products/plone-blog/edit-blog.png

When you select any of the given boxes, corresponding icons will be displayed at the bottom of the blog. Apart from bookmarklets available, here you can also enable top or bottom adsence block and select their templates from the list suggested.