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Latest Blog Posts

• Statuslog Micro.blog Plugin

  Display your omg.lol Statuslog on a micro.blog page.

  

  Set Up

  Instal the plugin from Github by clicking design, edit theme, and then add new plugin. This will be available as an official plugin, but the submit page is currently broken.

  Call the plugin anything you wish, copy in the URL from the Github page, and click Add Plugin.

  Add Shortcode

  Add the shortcode to the page you wish this to show on, for example, I have placed this on my home page but you could do this wherever you like.

  Simply add the statuslog shortcode to your page wherever you want the updates to appear. I cannot put the shortcode here, even in a code block because micro.blog renders this! For a copy and past option, head to Github.

  Configuration

  You must change the account name in the plugin configuration to your own, otherwise Adams statues, as great as they are, will appear on your page! Whilst you are there you can choose how many statuses you want to appear on the page.

  

  Styling

  There is absolutely no styling applied to the div elements placed on the page. This is to give you the most choice possible for how it looks. In my example screenshot above I have some very simple flexbox styling as shown below.

  #omg_statuslog {
      display: flex;
      flex-direction: column;
      gap: 20px;
      font-size: 80%;
  }
  
  #omg_statuslog > div:nth-child(1) {
      background: blue;
      border-radius: 11px;
      color: white; 
  }
  
  #omg_statuslog > div {
          display: flex;
          justify-content: space-between;
          padding: 10px;
          flex-direction: row;
          flex-wrap: nowrap;
          gap: 20px
  }
  
  #omg_statuslog .status_emoji {
      font-size: 50px;
  }
  
  #omg_statuslog .status_content {
      flex: 80%;
  }
  

  Considerations

  This plugin uses on page javascript so there are a few things to bear in mind.

  • it takes a few seconds to fetch the data from the API and display this on the page
  • if a browser is setup to blog javascript then nothing will appear on the page.

  Credits

  Thanks to Adam for creating such a great service in omg.lol. The statuslog is just a small part of the service, check it out here.

• New Plugin: Reply Count

  This plugin allows you to display how many replies your micro.blog posts have - it’s a vanity metric, nothing more.

  

  SetUp

  You can install the plugin from the plugins page, or feel free to get it from Github by clicking design, edit theme, and then add new plugin.

  Call the plugin anything you wish, copy in the URL from the Github page, and click Add Plugin.

  Add Partial

  Add the partial to the place you wish this to show, for example this may go in the meta information for the post. This can be used in a single post, or in a loop of posts. Each reply count is place in a unique div element so feel free to experiment.

  Simply add { partial "replycount.html" . }} to your page and the number of replies to that specific post will appear.

  Styling

  You can style the block however you like using the class replies. The count number itself sits inside an inline-block class reply_count.

  Config

  To aid styling you can add in your own emoji to appear before the number, as well as your own text to appear afterwards. If thats not your thing then either options can be toggled on/off in the plugin settings.

  

  Credits

  Thanks to Manton for creating micro.blog and for making the API so well rounded and easy to interact with.

• New Plugin: Search Partial

  In my work to recreate my 11ty blog on micro.blog I wanted a better search experience for readers, and also myself when searching for posts to link to. Manton did a great job with his search page plugin, so I adapted this to be able to appear on any page.

  

  This plugin for micro.blog will allow you to add a search bar to any page you wish.

  Set Up

  This plugin is available from the micro.blog plugin page, or feel free to install it from Github by clicking design, edit theme, and then add new plugin.

  Call the plugin anything you wish, copy in the URL from the Github page, and click Add Plugin.

  Add Partial

  Add the partial to the page you wish this to show on, for example, I have placed this on my home page but you could do this wherever you like.

  Simply add {{ partial “search.html” . }} to your page and the search bar will show as 100% width of the element it is placed in.

  When searching, an HTML element will appear and show the results, linking to pages that contain the searched for words.

  

  Customise Search

  You can customise the number of results shown on your page by heading into plugin options and changing the default from 5.

  

  Styling

  The styling of the search bar will be depend on your theme, I have added in some basic styling as follows.

  .field {
          width: 100%;
          height: 34px;
          border: 2px solid #eee;
          padding-left: 10px;
          margin-top: 20px;
          margin-bottom: 20px;
          border-radius: 11px;
      }
      
      #list_results {
          padding: 2rem;
          border-radius: 11px;
          box-shadow: rgba(60, 64, 67, 0.3) 0px 1px 2px 0px, rgba(60, 64, 67, 0.15) 0px 1px 3px 1px;
      
      }
  

  .field is the search box itself.

  #list_results is the results box that only shows when search results are found.

  Credits

  The basis of this plugin came from Manton search page plugin.

• A Short Trip To Skegness

  Oh I do like to be beside the seaside! It might have looked warm but the wind was really cold, but we went over to see some family and I wondered around with my Richo GRiiix as usual.

  

• Feeling Myself

  It was a mere few weeks ago when returning from a run that I thought I’d recovered myself. I felt renewed, full of energy and positivity, as I did before all these issues started. I couldn’t help but smile at the thought that all the stress and strain left by personal issues seemed to have gone, and the world seemed right again.

  Perhaps it is the fact I am reading The Comfort Crisis by Michael Easter, but I have begun to realise why I feel much better. I have had some stress and hardship to overcome in the form of my marathon training, and it has given me some clarity. Every Saturday for far too long, I’ve had long runs of increasing mileage to get through that have filled me with dread. I’ve put a brave face on them, but some have been seriously tough and left my questioning my ability to finish. Yet, after finishing them, and perhaps after my muscles have calmed down a bit, I feel wonderful.

  I am reminded of a Joe Rogan comment when asked about all the controversy has faced in COVID-19 (and rightly so) and if it caused him stress. When he endures ‘torture sessions’ in his workouts it makes enduring other things much easier. Reading Michael Easter’s book convinced me he’s dead right. When I’ve slogged away for more than 3 hours running, the rest of my day seems a doddle in comparison. Even beforehand, I’m focused on the upcoming stress of the run that everything else pales in comparison, and that gives me focus.

  In my life I have already endured quite a few things both personal and family related, but I also realise that going for a run or doing something hard doesn’t solve the stresses of those less fortunate. This is more an observation of the things that improve my mental health and outlook on life. It may work for you, too. There’s something about doing something taxing, and getting to the end, that fills the soul.