Textile Live Preview (AJAX Version) is a WordPress plugin which gives you a live preview of a comment as it’s being typed. This preview will feature accurate Textile syntax. The plugin is just a packaging of Jeff Minards excellent script, as such, the bulk of the credit belongs to him.
Finally packaged and released, this plugin should be as simple as “upload folder and activate”.
I’m having a difficult time seeing what the use of a server-side call for updating a live preview window would be, aside from using a centralized method for text formatting or something like that. Is it perhaps something special with WordPress that makes this a better approach than the normal js-only previewer? ( I don’t blog or anything, so I don’t quite understand what all the hype is about wordpress
)
AJAX is all about calling the server hideously many times. I had the same woes back in the days, but I’ve never heard a single issue from hosts with regards to these live previews.
But of course, I am also offering a JS only version which is faster in fact, than this one. It’s just not as stable, or as precise.
That’s the really cool thing about WordPress, you don’t have to “blog” to make use of it. As an example: All sections of this website are powered by wordpress, except photography and wallpapers. That means I can edit them via the WordPress admin interface.
Oh I know perfectly well what “ajax” is all about, and use it in a quite of a lot of sites.. For instance, in tele2 (sweden)’s web shop we use it to dynamically refresh prices.. not the most thrilling use, I know. I just happen to have the pleasure of managing servers, so I kinda feel sorry for them having to process constant calls whenever you tap a button.
Of course, if you’ve written your calls well it shouldn’t cause much traffic at all.
Do you have a fail-over to a standard javascript, sans xmlhttprequests, or does it simply stop working if there’s no server response?
Yeah, I’ve snooped around the WordPress admin, and looked at the screenies of that project you and your friends had going.. Though it was mostly to see what was needed for the blog administration, since I was setting up a blog module in the company i work for’s CMS.
It looked neat, just a little confusing..
I have been considering kicking up a little blog, but if I did I’d likely code it myself.. I just have the feeling I’d neglect it after a week or so… Plus really, everyone’s blogging now, what’s the point?
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I checked out your little live preview thing.. 40kb php loaded every time a user hits a button? Ouch
After closer inspection of the tele2 site, it seems their web admin has done something weird to it.. I can’t get it working right.
I gotta be completely honest with you, I’ve merely repackaged an existing script into a wordpress plugin. I haven’t actually changed any of the core functionality.
But I can tell you that no, there’s no failsafe. I’m sure if someone picked this up, a really neato package could be made by combining the JS only and the AJAX one with some wizardry and magic powder. * Poof * live preview magic. For now, this will do
In my case, I really just tacked on a blog to my web gallery, which is what I really enjoy doing. It all depends on what you want to do, of course.
If I’m not mistaken (which is entirely possible), the 40 K is only loaded once after which it is cached. After that, the server CPU is given the daunting task of converting the textile text into HTML and then output it. Also, it’s not on every button stroke — it’s every buttonstroke + 400 milliseconds.
So, while I admit it seems bad, I’ve had it in place here for quite a while without trouble. Again, you could use the client-side script if you need to take extra care.
I’m not meaning to be dogging the ajax script or anything, I’m a big fan of ajax, and if this is a good use then by all means.
I can’t say I’m in enough on this “Textile” thing to eh.. know what it is, and if the javascript version was shaky, then moving it on to the server should help.
As long as you’re not putting any services that the web page completely relies on to ajax without a backup in case it fails, it’s all fine by me. (And to be fair, I have some sites around that go completely dead without javascript.. It’s a cross you have to bear if you’re a really lazy developer)
Yeah, your sister has mentioned you’re a big fan of your web gallery. I like the things where I get to drag the little dots around, interactivity is always fun.
Well, the server isn’t going to have any problem processing it, I’m just sortof pedantic and all. To be fair, PCRE (which PHP uses for regex handling) can process most regex queries in under half a second on a massive 6mb of data.. So your comments should probably go by pretty rapidly.
Right, didn’t notice the timeout, always a must, ofcourse.
No no, not here no.
I’M a big fan? Heheh, that’s one way of putting it. Yeah, I guess adding to that gallery keeps my creative engine running.
As for interactivity, I plan to continue to do that in the next few months.
Just for the record,
i’m a big fan of you to.
…and proud as can be.
Aaaw, that’s nice. Thanks sister!
[...] Joen released an AJAX version of his Textile Live Preview plugin. [...]
What I want to do on my blog, is every few hours take the oldest post and move it to the
front of the queue, all automatically. Anyone know if there is a plugin that can do this or
a simple way to set up another plugin to do this (use my own feed perhaps)?
Thanks.