Thingamablog and iWeb
2009
iWeb comes with a blog feature. But it is rather limited. No calender, no Categories, no Archives sorted on date.
So I decided to use Thingamablog with iWeb.
Thingamablog is a Blog application, written in Java.
From the introduction page:
“Thingamablog is a cross-platform, standalone blogging application that makes authoring and publishing your weblogs almost effortless. Unlike most blogging solutions, Thingamablog does NOT require a third-party blogging host, a cgi/php enabled web host, or a MySQL database. In fact, all you need to setup, and manage, a blog with Thingamablog is FTP, SFTP, or network access to a web server.”
It comes with a selection of templates in different styles and it will work on any webserver without any additional resources.
I use it on my website here, and as a demo with the ShallowGrunge free webtemplate.
It takes an effort to integrate Thingamablog with iWeb.
The most difficult part is to add the navigation bar. iWeb uses a feed.xml file with the links to the pages and a JavaScript to create the menus at the top of the page when the webpage is loaded in the browser.
I copied the first DIV elements that centers the page and define the width of the bodycontent. Then added the closing elements at the end op the page, just before the </body> closing element. You can compare the pages.
JavaScripts and stylesheets used by iWeb are also copied to Thingamablog.
When in iWeb, create a Site and add pages. One page will be the blog page. It should be the Modern theme.
Just add a blank empty page to the site and name it Blog. With a Capital B.
No need to add text or objects. And don’t use the Blog template.
Publish your Site. Either to a server or a folder.
Display the Blog.html page in a browser window and Choose View source. (It’s in a menu. Check your browser.)
Scroll down and find the JavaScript that begins with new NavBar(.
In the line of code you’ll see:
"current-page-GUID": "01A72827-D7CB-42B6-A864-42A4D793622A".
Copy the number and save it. You need it later.
Download the Thingamablog templates and unzip the file.
If you haven’t already done so, create a new Database and Blog in Thingamablog. Choose a blog theme. I assume you know how to use Thingamablog and know where to locate its templates.
In the Thinagamablog settings, you should publish to the Site folder iWeb created.
As Front Page, use Blog.html.
As Media folder, use BlogMedia to avoid conflicts with the Media folder iWeb creates.
Now add/publish a blog entry and publish to the Site folder iWeb created on the server. If all goes well your iWeb blog page is replaced by the Thingamablog page.
Locate the folder Thingamablog created to store your blog info.
It’s usually the same location where you created the Thingamablog database.
Open the folder with the large number.
Replace the .template files and the styles-site.css file with the unzipped files.
Do a complete publish of the weblog.
Go to your browser and load the Blog.html page. It should be the blogpage with the new theme. Navigate through your blog.
Check the menu at the top of the page to see that it works properly.
From now on, you should not edit the dummy blogpage in iWeb. Otherwise it will overwrite the Thingamablog page upon publishing. In the event that it does happen, simply make changes to the current blog entry in Thingamablog and publish. It will create a new blogpage.
Good luck.
