Creating an A-Z index with Textpattern

I got an email from Eric yesterday asking if I would share how I created the A-Z index on the Humboldt State University site with Textpattern. His email was timely, because with the new TXP 4.0 release, I was planning on re-examining how I did the A-Z index (which was done in one of the gamma releases) to see if it could be cleaned up a bit. I thought I’d publish this here as well, in case anyone else is interested. The index I inherited from the previous webmaster was just 26 static html files that needed to be maintained and alphabetized by hand. The textpattern solution is probably not the cleanest database solution that I could have set up, but it was one I could wrap my head around, and gave me several other benefits of Textpattern. These include the ability to set up an easy-to use interface for student assistants, and keep track of which author had published something to the index. There are 3 components to the index:

1. the links to the index sections which fall along the bottom of the main page, which are managed through the textpattern link functions,
2. the data, which are stored in custom fields of textpattern articles, and
3. the display of the data, which is done through a page template and forms. If these terms don’t make sense to you, you may want to check out the Textbook entry on the semantic model of textpattern.

An accessibility god calls me a Standardistatrix, and more thoughts on gender differences in web des

I was looking through my server logs yesterday (Yes, I realize I just publicly admitted this… I officially need to get over myself) and I saw a reference from the del.icio.us links of someone named Joe Clark. OK, I said to myself, there are probably hundreds of Joe Clarks online, this can’t possibly be the same guy I was afraid to talk to at SXSW. I did some more investigation, and found out that not only was the link from _that_ Joe Clark, but he gave me the title of Standardistatrix. That is my new favorite title ever. It will definitely solve my dilemma over the title Webmaster. I think I will see about getting business cards printed up this afternoon. This leads me (somehow) to put down some thoughts about a recent press release put out by the University of Glamorgan that was broght to my attention by Inguna. The press release summarizes a study done by some of the profs at the university, which found that there were differences in the kinds of web designs that males and females preferred. Sound a bit familiar? I have since seen a few discussions of the press release, and I find the comments on these discussions fascinating. It seems that everyone is quick to do everything they can to discredit the study. Granted, there was no detail and I would like to see the original paper and go over the methods and statistics with a fine-toothed comb. A press release is by definition a simplification of the issue so that everyone can understand the important points. Just because the press release is bad doesn’t mean the study is bad, however. What I found more interesting, was the “no duh” response. That is the response I had, because I have spent a lot of time thinking about this issue and examining my own biases, likes and dislikes on the web. But it seems like some of the same kinds of folks who took issue with my articles (1, 2) seem to think it is a no brainer that men and women have different aesthetics when it comes to the web. Why it doesn’t follow in their logic that it would be a good idea to have more women out there judging standards based sites so that the male influence doesn’t become a self-fulfilling prophecy is a mystery to me. I also found some of the stats, if accurate, to be extremely interesting. They found that 94% of 32 higher education web site showed a masculine design orientation, although the gender ratio of their target audience is about 1:1. This is an important point, folks. And the argument that there just aren’t as many women designing sites as men is borne out in this study as well, with an average of 74% of sites being produced my men or male teams. I just had a thought— how does the lack of connection most girls feel with the aesthetics of the web influence their desire to go into web design? Well, enough lunchtime thoughts from this Standardistatrix. I will be thinking more about all of this, and trying to get my hands on the original study.

My vacation to the red states

Why is it that lately my vacations have been more about transportation than anything else? I won’t go into detail about the pathetic flight situation on both ends of our trip. It should suffice to say that on the way there, we ended up being given $2000 worth of plane ticket vouchers on United, and on the way back we were given two free round-trip tickets on US Air. All this was basically for not being total assholes to the airport staff when we were told about the ridiculousness of the flight situation. My advice— be nice to people. You may end up with about 17 free plane tickets. But back to the whole transportation thing— I’m pretty sure that about 90% of the time we weren’t on a plane, trying to get on a plane, or asleep, we were stuck in cars. I hate being in cars. I finally had a mini-meltdown over at Glenda’s about this today. I just don’t get the fascination. We had to drive 3 hours from the Pittsburgh airport just to get to Brian’s family’s house. While there, one of the things we always do is take several drives up to the old family farm on the top of the mountain. I could live with this if we ever spent as much time out of the car at the farm as we do driving there and back. This time we took several other drives to see friends, cabins of friends, and other random stuff. Once we got to Michigan, we had to drive all over the Detroit metro area to go to my aunt’s current house, my aunt’s new house, the restaurant my mom wanted to eat at, and the wedding which we were almost horribly late for. I’m talking hours in the car. Anyway, I have had enough of deisel fumes and slight nausea from shitty roads to last me a lifetime. On a lighter note, I did finally see the black bear up on the farm, which is a first for me. I will post a photo as soon as my suitcase gets here, which has my firewire cable in it. I think it is still in San Francisco. There were also more butterflies (both in diversity and number) than I have ever seen in one place before. It was amazing, and there are photos of some of them coming too. We also had a muskrat swim right up to us, so close I could see its whole little face and its bewildered expression. Unfortunately that happened too fast for a photo. I also wrote half the article you’re all waiting for, so that should be coming soon. Well, time to unwind with a margarita in the hot tub and spend some quality time with the kids. And by kids I mean of course Solstice Sue Marie Bob and Gypsy, aka Kitty G (who won’t sit for a portriat).

Misty taste of moonshine, teardrop in my eye

Yes, I’m on the road again— not taking the country roads this time, but leaving on a jet plane to go fill up my senses with the Blue Ridge Mountains, Shenandoah river. I’ll probably be staying on grandma’s feather bed and when the sun’s comin’ up there’ll be cakes on the griddle. How may John Denver references can you fit into one paragraph? I’m off to West-by-god-Virginia for a week to visit Brian’s family, and then dropping by my old haunts in Michigan for about 36 hours or so on the way back to go to a wedding. My plans while I’m there include doing a lot of writing, so hopefully I’ll have some new material when I get back. I’ll try to post photos on Flickr while I’m there, to give you all the WV experience. Animals on the to-see list include: indigo bunting, black bear, red fox, white tailed deer (these are guaranteed, since Bri’s dad feeds them), Eastern bluebird, FIREFLIES which I’m having a hard time doing without here in the west, striped skunk, beaver, muskrat, groundhog, cardinal, blue jay, porcupine, maybe some nuthatches and flycatchers. We’ll see how we do. Have a good week!

In case you’ve been doubting my girlieness…

Ok, so I may not seem all that feminine to you, especially if you only know me from the JoshuaInk mailing list. After spending about an hour on the list this morning, and then transitioning back into meat-space, my husband informed me that I now “have the mouth of a soccer hooligan”. Heh heh. However, this post is sure to let the cat out of the bag that I am firmly trapped within the confines of my X chromosomes. I am in the throes of a genuine shoe emergency and I am officially sounding the girl siren — I need help fast! I have to fly across the country on Saturday to a wedding, which is bad enough. But this wedding is tainted by a ridiculous family feud that I refuse to be a part of, but somehow has still convinced me that I need to look good. So I did the only sensible thing, and bought kick-ass new shoes. Here is the problem: the shoes, being primarily lime green, don’t match the dress I was planning on wearing, which turns out to be forest green. (Luckily my pantone chips are at work, or I would be seriously geeking this whole thing out right now…) So I figure, no problem, I’ll just have to find another pair of shoes. (By this I mean an additional pair of shoes— there is no way I am taking those lime green babies back. I am smiling just thinking about them.) Exhibit 1: My kick-ass new shoes
So I spent today looking all over Old Town for shoes to go with this forest green dress. It turns out there are no shoes in this county that look good with it. Every single color I tried on clashes with it. Black won’t work, silver looked awful, and I’m not even going to mention the putridness that was white. After coming home and spending a very sad hour trying on every combination of dresses and shoes in my closet, I decided to switch to a grey dress, which I had seen the prefect shoes for. So I went back to Old Town, only to discover that they don’t have those shoes in my size anywhere in Humboldt County. Meanwhile, Brian is really helping out by repeatedly saying that he refuses to believe that I don’t already own any shoes that I can wear to this wedding. So it was 4:50 on Sunday before I had the brainstorm that what I really need to do is find a new dress that matches the new shoes, and all the stores were of course closing by this time. Brian is really in favor of this plan, by the way. So basically, I am going to have to be shopping on my lunch hours every day this week until I can either find a dress or shoes. Which wouldn’t be a problem, except that I had already planned on spending my lunch hours working in order to get all the shit done that I need to do before I leave. Brian is now convinced that the lime green shoes match the dress, and is insisting that I bring them in to work and get the opinion of the girls before I go shopping. This is all turning out to be much too ridiculous for me, and if there weren’t a distinct possibility that I am going to get both new shoes and a new dress out of this thing I’d say fuck it and just wear jeans. OK, there is enough estrogen in the air now that I definitely can’t think straight anymore, so I’m going to go have a fruity drink and try on those shoes again…

How to compliment me

I got a lot of comments after my last post that I should consider some fucker mistaking me for a college freshman a compliment. Um, no. In that one misguided sentence, that guy encapsulated the professional struggle I go through every day. I am female, blonde, and I look younger than I am, and it is very hard for me to be seen as a serious professional in this world. That comment was just a reminder of how far I have to go to achieve that status. So I thought I’d help this guy, and anyone else who is trying to compliment a young professional woman, and list some acceptable ways to compliment me.

1. I really like what you did with the (insert name here) web site. I will proceed to tell you the ways in which it still sucks, but I will feel complimented that someone actually recognized my work.
2. I really enjoyed that last article you wrote. I will know you are probably lying, but I will feel all warm and fuzzy.
3. We are thinking about (insert web design strategy here), and we wanted to know what you thought about it. Ask for my professional opinion, and I will instantly like you.
4. You look great, have you lost weight? I am human after all.
5. Can I buy you a drink? The answer may be no, depending on the situation, but I will be flattered. (Unless you are Patty wanting to buy me appletinis, and then I will know you are trying to kill me.)
6. I love your shoes. The old standby— works every time. Hopefully that clears things up. Notice the absence of references to age. My next post will be about web stuff, I promise.