The Komment Revolution: Day Two
The transformation has begun. The informational enrichment of comments with graphical inclusions is beginning to catch on. Xanga’s available bandwidth will not be impacted. According to seanmeister,
“For the record - this trick has ZERO impact on Xanga's server load.”
Moreover, the meister also observes: “And the technique uses the hyperlink tag....
Please restrict HTML in the Comments to bold, italic, underline, and hyperlinks. (Xangods edict) “
So it’s a revolution empowered by our own Xangan constitution!
Will the Xangods follow Raw_Flame’s flaming attack on me and panic? They shouldn’t. Graphical comments are another reason to get Premium (though you can go non-Premium and reference non-Xanga graphics, too) so that your creations gang tightly from one source. What happens when I run out of 10 Mb of graphical storage? Will I need to delete old pics or will Xanga sell additional space? From a biz perspective, that should be a no-brainer for them.
Some reflections of the newly-empowered graphical comment:
It was inevitable. Eventually blogs will be readily inclusive of sound and video, too. Technology is burgeoning to accommodate just this. For Xanga to recant and disallow this extension of expressiveness would herald the beginning of the end of Xangadom.
It’s fun. I’m already planning ahead with future commenting graphics. I intend to eventually have a whole library of them that I can draw upon. It just might make commenting even more attractive than posting as a form or self-expressionism.
It’s additive. It doesn’t need detract from a written comment that can accommodate it. Rather, it offers the possibility of word and image synergy, like ancient Chinese scrolls where characters and imagery danced together.
It can be terribly convenient. In those instances where you’d like to comment broadly but just don’t have the time, or besieged by writer’s block can’t devise a sensible comment on the spot, leaving your own personalized graphic (something more than just two eProps or a smiley face) gives more credence of your thoughfulness.
It’s simple. Once I’ve selected or created my image and uploaded it to Xanga Premium (I know there are other repositories, but why not toss in some homey support?!), and I’m prepared to leave a comment, I:
1) Leave any written comment first.
2) Then click on the Edit HTML selector above the comment box.
3) Copy and paste the proper html graphical comment code in.
4) Click off the Edit HTML selector to see how the comment will appear when posted.
5) Submit.
Step 3 above, of course, is the essential ingredient. Again, thanks to seanmeister for pointing the way. To give you an example, the code I’ve been using looks like this:
<A style="BACKGROUND-IMAGE: url(http://i.xanga.com/notforprophet/comment2.gif); WIDTH: 187px; HEIGHT: 121px; TEXT-DECORATION: none"></A>
<A style="BACKGROUND-IMAGE: url(http://i.xanga.com/notforprophet/aniself.gif); WIDTH: 70px; HEIGHT: 88px; TEXT-DECORATION: none"></A>
…where the WIDTH and HEIGHT matches the image’s in pixels. But not to worry, if the width/height isn’t exact, at Step 4 above you can grab the corner of the graphic and shrink or enlarge it as appropriate. Cool.
So onward into Day 2, my Krazy Kommenteers! Things can only get more interesting from here on…
Recent Comments