How I implemented my “elsewhere” links

The links on the right-hand side of my page under Elsewhere, where inspired by sites such as kokke and anil dash. I decided to implement a similar system which I think could be very useful for others. It could even be used as a replacement for the current way of bookmarking found in browsers, which I have grown to dislike. So I decided to post a short tutorial on how I created my Elsewhere links system. It will cover:

• Actual creation of links
• How they are updated on my main blog
• Making things easier with bookmarklets
• What I like about Elsewhere links
• Why they are better than regular bookmarks

Creation of Elsewhere Links

Elsewhere is simply another weblog created with Moveable Type. I decided to standardize my entries using the following fields: EntryTitle, EntryBody, EntryMore.

Example:

Entry Title: CSS Zen Garden

EntryBody: http://www.mezzoblue.com/zengarden/

Extended Entry: the beauty in CSS design

Creates link:

CSS Zen Garden

This isn’t necessary, but I liked the idea of separating the title, source and comment. I then changed my templates accordingly. I plan on using the category field in the future to help categorize my links.

Updating Links on Main Blog

• First Option

  I looked into using the OtherBlog plug-in to list the recent entries of Elsewhere on my main blog. The problem is that the main page of my main blog needs to be rebuilt whenever elsewhere updated. I found a script called pingToRebuild that is supposed to help you do this. You ping this script using the preferences in MT that let you ping other sites when you update. I got it to work, even though it gave an error message in MT. However, the problem with it was that MT only pings the other sites when you add a new entry. It doesn’t seem to ping when you modify an entry. Therefore if I modify or “unpublish” an Elsewhere entry, my main blog is not rebuilt, and the change is not made on my main blog.

• Second Option

  I didn’t like this, so I thought of a different way. It works because I generate php files instead of plain html files, although it would work with anything that allows server side includes. I simply created a new index template in Elsewhere called Elsewhere Include. It generates a file contains the ten most recent entries (with desired html code). I then include the file in the main page of my main blog. Since Elsewhere Include is rebuilt whenever the main page of Elsewhere is rebuilt (just like the RSS files) I don’t have to worry about keeping it up-to-date. This method is also more efficient than using php in my main blog to pull the recent entries from the database every time the page is loaded.

Making things easier with a Bookmarklet

To make “bookmarking” a site with this Elsewhere system, I made a bookmarklet. Now when I’m at a site I want to add the my Elsewhere links, I simple run run my bookmarklet. The link is conveniently added into my entry body for me, although since I only want the source I have to take out the html tag stuff. I then add my Title and Extended Entry, hit post, and it’s done.

What’s good about Elsewhere links

Benefits for others: Hopefully it will provide visitors links that they find interesting.

Benefits for me: It provides me with a history of links I find interesting.

Why it’s better than bookmarks

It is easily searchable. It can be public and available anywhere. The layout is customizable. Categories (multiple per post if desired) can be used to group links in a better way than folders.