{"id":6058,"date":"2022-07-09T00:07:34","date_gmt":"2022-07-09T00:07:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/?p=6058"},"modified":"2022-07-16T21:18:40","modified_gmt":"2022-07-16T21:18:40","slug":"a-technical-week-mostly-working-on-widgets","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/a-technical-week-mostly-working-on-widgets\/","title":{"rendered":"A ‘Technical’ Week: Mostly Working on Widgets"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

<\/a>First, not-so-good news.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A month after deciding to start using WordPress blocks before their classic user interface became one with Nineveh, Tyre and rotary telephones \u2014 I don’t have the usual Saturday post ready.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The good news is that I’m more comfortable with WordPress blocks than I’d feared.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And, more good news, I’ve finally finished updating this blog’s widgets.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The frustrating news is that updating, fixing and in some cases removing widgets took all this week. I finished the last (I hope) of that task Friday afternoon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The process would have gone faster if the WordPress ‘blocks’ user interface didn’t take between ten minutes and an hour to load all of its nifty new ‘blocks’ widgets editing page.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The page itself, along with several dozen ‘you got problems’ messages, came up promptly. What sometimes never loaded were the little \u2014 dialog boxes? block bits? \u2014 that represented ‘pre-block’ widgets.1<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n

That was then, this is now. The nifty new ‘blocks’ widgets editing page now loads with no more than up to a half-dozen ‘you got problems’ messages. And, thankfully, most of the little \u2014 dialog boxes? block bits? \u2014 load without giving me time for a coffee break.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now some definitely not-so-good news. Although it could be worse.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/a>Hello HTTPS; Goodbye RSS<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

\"Brian<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

A Catholic Citizen in America is now on a Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure (HTTPS) domain \u2014 which I gather is a good thing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, anyone who had been using this blog’s RSS feed stopped getting new content <\/strong>the moment that “https” thing went into effect. After a little checking, I’ve found no<\/strong> way of restoring A Catholic Citizen in America’s RSS feed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And I’m pretty sure that RSS and https won’t work together. Which may be part of why HTTPS is so much more secure, and that’s another topic.2<\/a><\/sup> Topics.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Checking in each Saturday, or however often seems convenient, is one option for seeing new content here.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So is getting notifications via email. I really wish email notifications were easier to find. And that alternatives \u2014 I’ll get back to that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/a>Email Notifications Available: But Not Easy to Find<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

\"Image
(Note: This is an image<\/strong> of the comment form, not the real thing.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Right now, the “Notify me of new comments via email” and “Notify me of new posts via email” checkboxes are on the comment form. At the bottom of the comment form.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And those “Notify me of new…” checkboxes will not appear unless<\/strong> you make a comment, or at least click in the “Enter your comment here” box.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I don’t know what would happen if someone clicked a “Notify me of new…” with a blank “Enter your…” box, and then clicked the “Post Comment” button. [Update July 16, 2022 – apparently there must be something in the comment box, or the ‘post comment’ button won’t work.]<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This “Notify me of new…” option should work, and is part of this blog’s Jetpack software. More about Jetpack on the Privacy Policy<\/a> page. [Update July 16, 2022 – The “Notify me of new posts” service apparently does work. It did for me, at any rate. Once. \ud83d\ude42 ]<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I’d prefer having more options for folks who want email notifications or something like the now-unavailable RSS feed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Make that acceptable options. I found widget-using software that promised easy handling of email lists.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Easy, I got the impression, for folks who see no problem with spamming their readers.3<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I could be wrong about ‘Spamalot Services’ \u2014 catchy name, that, but fictional.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Like I said, I could be wrong about the software I’m not using. But if I’m right, that’s emphatically not<\/strong> what I want to do.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So that’s what I’ve been doing this week. Working on widgets. Mostly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I’ve also been reading Kramer’s “History Begins at Sumer,” enjoying a visit from son-in-law and granddaughter; and plan to take it easy this weekend.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And hoping that next week I’ll have something about science, history, Faustus \u2014 or pretty much anything other than another ‘technical’ report ready<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Last week’s ‘Saturday’ post, and earlier ‘technical’ stuff:<\/p>\n\n\n\n