So I finished up with the Geshi highlighter helper. There was a helper already from Matias Lespiau, but it was slightly out of date for the new version of Geshi. Notable changes include the name of the geshi script, the highlight method name, and some other things. There is no longer a need to alter any geshi code too.

So fortunately I was able to fix that helper after half writing a new one. I also added on to it a little bit and I will be adding some options that can be set through the helper to change styles and such.

I'll follow up with the changes I made soon, but for now, here's an example. Note: I also have it automatically display which language in the header.

// example comment
$foo = 'blah';

function theFoo() {
     echo $foo;
}

There are some issues though, it changes around some spaces or non-breaking spaces to special characters as you'll see at the end of some paragraphs on other posts. Looking into that...More to come...

So I'm going to use this demo as my blog eventually. That way I figure I'll be more inclined to work on it. Also I'll start adding some features that I find useful. In turn hopefully others will find these useful. This may take me off schedule a little, but I'm already off schedule.

One of the enhanacements I'm currently working on is Geshi highlighting support. There was a CakePHP Geshi helper out there that I found, but for an older version of Geshi and I couldn't get it working.

So I've been able to setup Geshi as a vendor and display a block of php code all highlighted properly. The only way though was to hard code it in. I need to make a helper that will not only pass the code to be highlighted but also some options for styling things and changing Geshi options.

But I have to figure out how I want to flag code in the body copy of a post to be run through Geshi. I don't really want to modify the Geshi code like the other helper did for the same reasons. If Geshi updates, the helper could become outdated and not work for new versions of Geshi.

So one of my solutions would be to add special tags like ##php## all the code here ##php## and then have a function replace everything bewteen the ##php## tag..though I like the pre tags approach that the helper used. I'll see if I can work that in. THEN, I'll add a nice plugin for TinyMCE of course to make it even easier.

After I figure this out...I can actually share some code in this blog to explain what I'm doing and such. I'll also be closer to using it as my personal full time blog. 

Then I guess I'll get back to cleaning up the code and making things more efficient. 

Well, I learned a few new things over the past few days. Advanced and handy things. Things that will help this media blog be a lot more efficient.

There's still a long process of cleaning up some things and making the blog even faster. However, some of the new techniques that I'll be able to employ will work out very well.

The bad part is that it took me longer than I'd like to iron out some authentication issues. The new provisions also setup the ground work for a more advanced access control system. Though with all likeliness, the basic authentication system within CakePHP will work out just fine. I'm not really sure how many levels of access and restrictions a blog needs.

The other nice thing will be a more efficient system for handling files. This is very important and will speed up the application considerably.

So, moving forward with a stronger system is very exciting and though I'm now slightly behind schedule, I'm happy to keep moving with all this. 

The other interesting news is that I'll be implementing the Blueprint CSS framework. This will help standardize things and allow new themes to be created very quickly and easily for the blog.

Ok so what you're seeing is pretty much beta actually. There is only one more core function that I need to finish up and that's the ability to leave comments on each media item. So you can leave comments on specific photos, videos, audio, etc. under each one when you view them.

Then I need to finish up with design. I have setup "theming" provisions so there will be a default theme and then users will be able to add new folders with themes where there will be files that override the default if present. So I also have ot add in the backend the ability to choose which theme the site is using. Then we'll be cooking with fire. It will actually be a completely customizable application there in terms of looks.

Now. WHEN that is all done I will be releasing a limited beta version to people. Not that many people are stumbling upon this site now...so I also have to advertise, but I'm only going to need feedback from a few people and more specifically those who are more inclined to spot errors and understand web design and development a little bit. Not that some random person stumbling upon this site couldn't get their hands on a beta copy...just ask.

AFTER I start to get some feedback and start to work on some tasks in my trac for RC1 I will release a true beta open to the public. This will be a larger effort in advertising and getting this app out there. It will also be a half step between beta and release candidate 1.

This is where I plan to be in shock haha. I expect all my todo's and issues in trac to go WAY up for RC1 pushing off my anticipated delivery date of March 1st...ha. Yea, way off there. However, what we'll have is a very stable blog application for everyone to use. I'm hoping any major issues (don't exist ha) will be solved by then and I'll begin to polish things off and make everything more user friendly.

So we'll be in the thick of it soon then. After I finish RC1, I'll be setting up provisions for accepting feature requests and such. I'll probably have a public trac setup at this point too where I can keep things separate from my svn and core tasks (two sets of books, ooh).  

I've come up with the licensing and game plan for Minerva. Phew. That was hard. I did a lot of thinking, but I'm going to release Minerva blog as a blog (not a larger social/commnity site thing like myspace, etc.) and as far as anyone is concerned it will be like a cross between Blogger and WordPress...Semi-restricted. The core functionality will be encoded and people won't be able to change it. People will be able to change how it looks though. 100%

So that may come as a big disappointment...but I've been around open source projects for quite some time. Many are not very successful. LOL I know I'm using CakePHP to build this app which is an open source project...one of the few I DO consider successful, but I won't have my application tainted dammit. That doesn't mean it isn't open to change by public voice...there will just be a process to these things.

I do believe in a community effort and value the insight of everyone no matter how silly it may seem. It means they are thinking and are aware of things. Everyone needs something different and Minerva blog will NEVER be 100% solution. So I'm not going to try and make it so. That's the mistake of too many open source projects and CMS'. Too much push and pull and too much spread. BUT. If you're looking for a great blog where you can also share all your media...then Minerva blog is going to be for you.

Finally, here's an example of putting a specific gallery or collection of media within an article post. This shows the flexibility you have with Minerva blog. You can utilize all sorts of RSS feeds for not only the posts on the site, but also for other uses that one may need RSS feeds for. This could include various widgets and syndication tools.

There will be other types of feeds in future releases of Minerva. For now the available feeds are the latest images, videos, audio files, and then specific collections of either images, videos, or audio files. Of course you can also include single media items within an article as well. You will also have the ability to upload "loose" files for use within an article, or of course link to any image or file that exists on the internet elsewhere. You can also, of course, edit the html code behind any article post.