Finding Neverland

January 23, 2005

(insert kleenex)

Just a dog? Rufus dreams of being a bear, and you want to shatter those dreams by saying he’s just a dog? What a horrible candle-snuffing word. That’s like saying, “He can’t climb that mountain, he’s just a man,” or “That’s not a diamond, it’s just a rock.” … Just.

Mom and I headed up the street, coupon in hand, for a matinee of Finding Neverland.

That was easily three dollars I was happy to part with.

I almost had to leave for fear I would have a stuttering outburst of loud uncontrollable sobs.

Next on my agenda is to follow-up on the story inspired by the life of James Barrie. I’ve half a mind to go up to Dayton and catch Cathy Rigby perform his most famous work. I dunno though… folks in tights sorta creep me out.

4 responses to “Finding Neverland”

Onajide

January 24, 2005

Chris, sort of a side question but, are you totally using typepad’s interface here or, are you using moveable type? I want to be able to make stylistic changes to my typepad blog but, I can’t afford to upgrade. I thought about changing to moveable type but, according to sixpart people, they are two different things although, the software that runs them is the same. They offered me, Miamiartexchange.com, a reduced cost version or free unsupported version. Since I just renewed for another year, I asked them for the unsupported version so that I could learn how to use it (although it won’t be the first attempt).
Chris Glass

January 24, 2005
Onajide,

It’s all TypePad. Here’s what I did:
1. Created a new Template Set based on two columns.
2. I removed all the content I wasn’t going to use in the next step (my photo, about page, typelists, recent posts/comments.
3. Order of content was next, I didn’t fiddle too much with that.
4. Colors I selected on the style page.
5. Then I saved it.
Here’s where it gets advanced.

When clicking on Edit Existing Template Sets, I CONVERTED the template to an Advanced Template Set.

That allows me to go in and add CSS to my hearts content.

To make the rollovers for the nav at the top AND the categories at the side, I used the technique from this article. http://www.alistapart.com/articles/sprites/

So I added a navigational wrapper up top (all in CSS you can view on the site) and I added a little bit of trickery to the sidebar with categories. Essentially, I created a bit of CSS to match up with the names of my categories for the icon list.

Here is the code on the page (sidebar) used to generate a list of categories and select the proper icons.

<!–<h2><$MTTrans phrase="Categories"$></h2>–>
<ul>
<MTCategories>
<MTBlogIfArchives archive_type="Category">
<li><a href="<$MTCategoryArchiveLink$>" id="<$MTCategoryLabel$>" title="<$MTCategoryLabel$>" style="border:none;"><$MTCategoryLabel$></a></li>
<MTElse>
<li><$MTCategoryLabel$></li>
</MTElse>
</MTBlogIfArchives>
</MTCategories>
</ul>
</div>

Here is the related CSS to categories (remember, category names in TypePad MUST match your CSS attribute names.

a#Art, a#Bears, a#Books, a#Cincinnati {
    background: url(http://glass.typepad.com/catsvert.gif) no-repeat transparent;
    height: 20px;
    display: block;
    float: none;
    margin-top: 5px;
    margin-bottom: 5px;}

a#Art {background-position: 0 0;width: 20px;}
a#Bears {background-position: 0 -40px;width: 20px;}
a#Books {background-position: 0 -80px;width: 20px;}
a#Cincinnati {background-position: 0 -120px;width: 20px;}
(snip)

a#Art:hover {background-position: 0 -20px;width: 20px;}
a#Bears:hover {background-position: 0px -60px;width: 20px;}
a#Books:hover {background-position: 0 -100px;width: 20px;}
a#Cincinnati:hover {background-position: 0 -140px;width: 20px;}
(snip)

I truncated those lists, but you get the idea. I hope this is helpful, feel free to drop me a line with any more questions.
Sebastian Schmieg

January 30, 2005

Chris, to keep those comments off-topic…
Just wanted to say that I really like your website and especially dig you headline style.
glass

February 8, 2005

Thanks Sebastian.
Much appreciated.