2005-08-28

Blogger: edit template button user script

Just to play around a bit with Aardvark to do something creative, I thought I'd find a nice spot in my template to drop an Atom Feed icon. Having been rather frequent on the edit template page recently, I've also started to find it somewhat inaccessible, hidden deep in the depths of probably several page clicks away from where I am when I want to do something with it.

Common blogspot page header So there was a slight delay, and I made another user script, figuring, hey, if others share my concern, why not spend a quarter on doing it nicely once and for all? Since you already have your own blogger blog (at least if you are interested in this user
script), you're not particularly likely ever use the "Get your own blog" link in the common blogger header again. So let's replace it with another one, heading straight off to the template editor.

Upgraded blogspot page header The graphics dabbling was the big part of the job, but I like the feel of the finished script - the nice blend-in graphics makes for that finishing touch that does all the difference. Platypus, for all its supposed splendour (it does seem able to do many nifty things once you grok its user interface -- in fact, I tried using it to speed up the creation of this hack), ruins most of it early on with its hideous toolbar (in the default setup) -- which you fortunately can switch off to just go with a nice little icon somewhere in your own toolbars. But user impressions is a large part of an application. One of the reasons MacOS will most likely always outshine Windows.

But I digress. I actually had another thing on my mind, too -- before putting the final userscript together I drew up a quick scriptlet which addresses the same issue. In fact, it's perhaps even more useful to some of you, since it takes you to the template editor right away, from any blogspot entry, regardless of whether you kept the blogger page header or tossed it. Feel free to bookmark that instead, or too.

And should you want to contribute graphics for the edit button in any of the other blogger provided styles; tan, silver, black and what have you, I'll willingly update the script to pick the appropriate graphics and host the images for it, as well. My original graphics is available in PNG and Photoshop formats.

...I think I'll get back to adding that Atom Feed link now. :-)
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