More geekery about archives

I have decided I don’t like efiction after all.

It takes forever to load– my slightly-more-educated-now self figures that there are waaay more php queries than a one-person site needs. This means that your browser keeps having to wait for my site to give it bits of information, a little bit at a time. I surely do not have the skills to remove the extra stuff…

WORDPRESS, on the other hand, just re-wrote the blogging framework and it feels very different than it did when I first tried it and gave up in disgust. It is now minimal, and fast, and strong. The idea is to start with the framework and add the bits that one needs, out of a library of thousands of plugins.

I can create a static front page, and the sidebars are infinitely flexible due to plugins called “widgets”

Unfortunately, the marvellous ‘inseries’ plugin that I was counting on– doesn’t work with wordpress 2.5.

On the other hand, the search now returns pages as well as posts, just in case I write hundreds of fic on my site hahaha (she laughed hollowly). So, I’ve used the built-in Pages function, and uploaded all of my extant fic as pages. A plugin called “flexi pages widget” keeps dynamic table-of-content going– it allows me to break my stories into groups, and then post chapters under the story title.

I am also using Brian’s threaded comments” plugin, which I don’t have working yet– I probably forgot to read the instructions.

But that’s the great thing about the WP system, that are very few instructions needed. To add functionality, usually takes two steps– FTP the plugin into the proper directory, and then click “activate” in the admin side.

Plus, I can use it as a blog at the very same time.

That’s it– two plugins and I have all the function I want right now.

I can see other ways to use it as well– There are three different image galleries that fit neatly into the framework, and I think I noticed a comics management plugin as well.

If a group were going to archive using WordPress, and if that group did RP, for instance, there is a newer Organise Series plugin. It doesn’t function the way the old one did, but would be fabulous for an RP game that gets posted here and there through other conversation and postings. Or, it could be used for round robin writing.

There is an enormous gallery of themes to choose from– and with a bit of css knowledge it is very easy to make changes to suit yourself. Of course, I’ve been fiddling away at that for days now…