Recent Entries

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$ python post_entry.py

I continue to post regularly on Dreamwidth, so I’ve extended my previous script for turning Markdown into Dreamwidth HTML, and written another script that asks me a few questions about filters and title, then posts the entry for me.

Everything I’ve posted in the last fortnight came through this script.

Code here if you’re interested:

https://github.com/alexwlchan/junkdrawer/blob/a2a5340a08d3c75f4caf31a89c4f9af2133eb6d4/services/dreamwidth/post_entry.py

There are some weirdnesses in how the API handles filters when posting an entry, so if you want to use it I’d test it on something innocuous first. As usual, code is in the “junk drawer” repo because it’s not especially well-documented, and provided more as a “here is a useful starting point for your own script”, not a finished article.

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$ python backup_posts.py

Now I'm posting more on Dreamwidth, I want a way to keep an offline copy of everything I've written here. (I am almost hoarder-like in my desire to keep copies of everything I’ve written.)

Hooray for sites with sensible APIs! Dreamwidth has an XML-RPC API, so I've written a short script that grabs a copy of all my posts. It saves a JSON file with all the data from the API, and an HTML file for convenience (and grep).

If Python is your thing and you'd find it useful (or just want another example of using the Dreamwidth API), code is on GitHub:

https://github.com/alexwlchan/junkdrawer/blob/55b32a7896915c4d8a4246279a718e69dc61df8f/services/dreamwidth/backup_posts.py

(Usage instructions in the docstring; whole repo is MIT.)

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$ python markdownify.py

I’ve been posting a lot more on Dreamwidth recently (although mostly private/filtered entries).

I've written a short script that lets me write posts in Markdown, then just upload the finished HTML to the Dreamwidth post editor. I find Markdown easier to write.

If Python is your thing and you'd find it useful, code available here:

https://github.com/alexwlchan/junkdrawer/blob/b25c2d0cdeebab8b0335fc5717081b1154e0cf09/services/dreamwidth/markdownify.py

(Usage instructions in the docstring; whole repo is MIT.)

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hailing the mothership

the curb cut effect: slides and notes

I was at Monki Gras today, giving a talk about the Curb Cut Effect and inclusive design. I explained how curb cuts came to be, how the CCE works, why it’s an important and useful tool. I suspect none of it’s especially new to folk who follow me here, but may be of interest anyway.

Proper thoughts from the conference will follow (probably as private journal entries); in the meantime you can read my slides and notes in a post on the mothership.

An RSS feed for Dreamwidth (of sorts)

I like having all my Internet reading in one place – if I have to check lots of locations, I get stuck looping between them and find it more difficult to do something else. I’m also trying to be better about reading Dreamwidth entries from my friends.

So I wrote a script that grabs my Dreamwidth reading page, and creates an RSS feed from it. Post titles, authors and tags are pushed to a private RSS feed on my web host, and then I can see posts in my RSS reader. If I want to read the post, I click through to the main site – so the content of locked posts is still protected by Dreamwidth logins.

If you’re interested, code here: https://github.com/alexwlchan/junkdrawer/tree/master/dreamwidth_rss

[If there’s a more “official” way to do this, it’s hidden very well.]