So, I made a thing. Some of you had inquired as to how I formatted the actual plays on my blog. The answer is: mostly using WordPress plugins/shortcodes (akin to BBCode, which may be more common).
I happened upon a JavaScript library that allows for defining your own such shortcodes, so I forked it and threw a few AP-specific codes together:
* Wrap your narrative in [story] tags
* Die rolls and the like can be styled, inline or block, with [dice] tags.
* Put the sekruts behind [spoiler] tags that expand and collapse with a click.
The good news is, you can drop it in to most any site that allows you to include JavaScript. The bad news is, it's JavaScript. Some of you may find it useful, and I encourage you to change up the CSS and create your own codes -- it's not terribly difficult if you're familiar with programming at all.
The code is on GitHub here <https://github.com/sdsalyer/ap_shortcodes.js> and I created a Blogger demo site here <https://actualplayformat.blogspot.com/2017/10/apshortcodesjs-demo-page.html> (Todd Rokely, this blog's for you!)
Let me know if you have any issues with it, or if I can help out with defining other shortcodes for you. Cheers!
http://wispsoftime.com/ap_shortcodes/
Thank you! Need to start playing around with these tool!
ReplyDeleteOne quibble...if a SEAL is part of the Navy, shouldn't he be in his dress WHITES?
Or is this a meta-joke about how we gamers rarely bother to do basic research for our games, because that would just slow down the action?
I actually did look that up. Unless I misread, SEALs wear any standard naval uniform (which is the "sailor" whites or the dress blues) -- with the addition of the SEAL "trident", of course. They also wear terrain-appropriate camo when warranted.
ReplyDeleteLet me know if I can help with the tags. The colors, etc, I'm sure aren't for everyone, and I didn't take into account other players and things like that, so there's plenty more could be added or changed. It's basically in an "alpha" state without mich testing (but does work on Blogger! -- I was actually surprised how much customization you can do on there )
ReplyDeleteSeriously, man. This is a great help. I'm gonna poke around a bit and see if I can make it work for me. I'm sure I'll be back with a host of annoying, petty questions!
ReplyDeleteSo, I'm back with annoying questions!
ReplyDeleteStep 1 is to enter key code in the tag. I can't find the head tag. I go to a post in draft, and click on "HTML." There's a mix of basic code and text, but no "head." I DID go to the search option and several instances of "head" were shown, but none of them were visible to me.
I created a brand new post, just for testing. Typed in a few words. Went to HTML, and THIS is what I'm seeing:
testing
testing again
Clearly, a good chunk of the code is being hidden from me. How do I get to it? All the google help seemed to assumed that " wlll be listed around LN 4 of the post."
Ok, i managed to figure out where the HEAD option was, and I got that going. But I'm still running into some issues I can't understand. Below is the WYSIWYG version of what I'm writing, with the image being the preview page.
ReplyDeletetesting
testing again [story]Impressive and artistic story title[/story]
[story title="artistic rubbish" style="fancy"]
A whole big mess of narration and other big words that make me feel better when facing off against the crushing loneliness of the world. [/story]
[story] testing again [/story]
[story title="This is my story..." style="fancy"]
Narration of the game goes here.
And then some [/story]
[dice]These are my dice, these are my polyhedrals[/dice]
[dice style="inline"]my inline mechanics[/dice]
[story]This is my story,
this is my song[/story]
https://plus.google.com/photos/...
Ah, wait. Ok, I THINK I figured it out. I had to set blogger to "interpret HTML code." I could get it to replicate what you had posted, but as soon as I edited it or tried typing in my own, everything went screwy. Pretty sure it's working now. Thanks for posting this. I'll see what I can do with it.
ReplyDeleteI actually created a Blogger demo site to see what all I could do there. The linked post should guide you through the steps I took to "install" this, but there are a few other posts I made to see what else was possible on Blogger, if you decide you don't like the JavaScript.
ReplyDeleteactualplayformat.blogspot.com - Advanced Theme Editing for your Actual Plays
The steps proposed at that link involve editing your theme file so the codes will apply universally to every blog post.
ReplyDeleteI think what you are doing may work, but it would require editing the post as HTML and pasting in the codes for every post. It could get messy switching back and forth between HTML and the visual editor.
Editing the theme would be a one-time thing, then you could stay in the visual editor without fiddling with HTML.
Well, ok. So, I tried that first. I went to Theme editor and added in the base code. But the only way I could get the results was by going to the HTML section and copying and pasting your work.
ReplyDeleteWhen I switched the individual post settings to "Interpret Typed HTML" THEN it started working. Now I can use the format in Compose (WYSISYG editor) just fine.
You might try turning that option back off and discard that post and start a new one.
ReplyDeleteI can see the 3 includes in your , so I think it should work for you, all things being equal with my Blogger site. I'll make another post on my site to see if I notice anything weird.
Let me know if you publish anything and I can debug it if there's a problem. ;)
Here's another, shorter example I borrowed from my blog. I had monkeyed around with the HTML in my other Blogger posts, so I wanted to make sure a new post with just the visual editor and the shortcodes would work.
ReplyDeleteactualplayformat.blogspot.com - Another Test of ap_shortcodes.js
I added a Wiki on the GitHub page with instructions for Blogger. If you see any discrepancies here, let me know (or just edit the page, it's a wiki!).
ReplyDeletegithub.com - ap_shortcodes.js
awesome !
ReplyDeleteIs there a length or size limit? I wrote up the Prologue to my game, and the whole thing won't go with the story codes. I need to chop off like the last two paragraphs if I want it to format properly.
ReplyDeleteNever mind. I just spent a good chunk of my day trying to do a post with the formatting, and it failed completely. I spent probably an hour typing and playing, and about three fighting with the formatting tools, to no avail.
ReplyDeleteI am more than willing to admit that this is my fault, that I am somehow incapable of using tools such as [story] and [/story] properly, but that's the situation I'm in.
Hey Todd Rokely, if you published the post on your blog, I can take a look and try to debug it. It is all JavaScript, so it has its limitations. It might be useful to know which web browser and operating system you're using, too. I hate that you spent so much time on it without the desired results. ;-(
ReplyDeleteWell, I REALLY don't want to publish it , since it just looked really bad without the coding. I honestly think I just broke it with my massive "Prologue." And the more I think about, the more I need to cut that down. Sure, it was fun writing it, and I think it did a top notch job introducing the character, her world, the logistics of the situation, and the philosophical core of the conflict the story would be exploring. And if I ever do write it up as a novel, I might keep it.
ReplyDeleteBut this is supposed to be a game. Need to keep the narration to a minimum.
That, and apparently I was coming down with a cold, which always makes me extra cranky. Not a good time to be fighting with formatting :)