Icons

Throughout the page various icons are used to indicate the availability of some action or alternative. Passing your mouse over them should display a tooltip explanation. Here is a list of the icons used in the log pages and what they mean.

Permalink
This icon identifies a link a URL for the highlighted item which should always be valid (called a 'permalink'). Used to mark links to specific days.
#
Similar to the previous icon, the octothorpe found in the bottom line of each entry is a permalink for that specific entry and no others.
Trackback link
This icon identifies a link to the trackback URL for the highlighted entry. It's not meant to be clicked on, just copied (as in RightClick->Copy This Link) and used to tell some other logging package how to let this one know the entry is being referenced. This will allow a trackback entry to be added automatically by the other log.
Print link
This links to a version of the current page which should be suitable for printing. I.e., no link box, no sidebar, no calendar, et cetera. Some browsers may get the same effect automatically when printing the current page; it depends on how well they implement CSS stylesheet handling.
Page as XML/RSS
This icon links to a version of the current page in RSS (Rich Site Summary) format, which is an XML format used by news aggregators like AmphetaDesk. Copy the link and add it to your aggregator to get the updated log added to your list of news feeds.
Entry as XML/RSS
Similar to the previous icon, this one links to an XML/RSS version of the highlighted item only. It is the XML/RSS equivalent to the HTML item permalink described above.
GeoURL
This icon links to the GeoURL project, at which sites may register their geographic locations so physical proximity can be seen. Clicking on the icon will take you to a list of GeoURL-registered sites within 500 miles of this one.

The Calendar

TBS

Trackbacks and Comments

Trackbacks are excerpts from other documents that reference this one. That is, if someone else's Web log refers to a particular entry in this one, it might send a trackback ping to make the connexion and say 'I've got a related comment.' A trackback includes the author, a subject, an excerpt from the other document, and a link to the document.

Comments, on the other hand, are remarks that are entered manually by individuals. When looking at the detail page for a specific entry, a comment form should appear at the bottom of the page. If you select the 'Remember info' checkbox, the information about your name, email address, and URL will be stored in a cookie on your system; if you deselect the checkbox, it won't be stored -- and any existing cookie will be deleted.

Comments may not contain any HTML. However, to make formatting easier and predictable, the following things are done to comment text:

  1. Recognisable URLs (e.g., 'http://foo.bar.com/bletch') are turned into links.
  2. Recognisable email addresses are turned into mailto: links.
  3. Blank lines mark the beginning of a new paragraph.
  4. Explicit newlines are preserved as line breaks.

These rules mean that things like lists ('1. first<enter> 2. second<enter>') will be preserved -- but also that you shouldn't include a newline (Enter key) unless you really want the line to wrap at that point.

If you want to see how your comment will look before actually submitting it, just click on the 'Preview' button. To actually submit it and make it part of the log, click on 'Submit'. Once submitted, comments cannot be modified!

URL Parameters

You can control which entries from the log will be displayed through parameters in the URL. This page describes the available parameters and how to use them. They're listed in lexical order by name rather than by function.

Except where noted, all of these controls apply equally to the RSS feed as to the HTML pages. In other words, to request only entry 39 in RSS format, use http://ken.coar.orgindex.rss?entry=39&words=all.

before=yyyy-mm-dd

Limits the selection to entries published on or before the specified date. Can be combined with since to describe a window. No default.

citations=name-or-keyword

Limits the selection to only those entries which cite the specified source. * may be used as a wildcard. No default.

count=n

Sets the maximum number of entries that will be selected and displayed. All entries will be selected with count=all. Default is 10.

day=yyyy-mm-dd

Only entries published on the specified date will be selected. No default.

entry=n

Only the specified log entry will be selected (if it exists). All other selection criteria will be ignored except for words and sanitise. No default.

format=print-or-screen

Controls whether clickable items and the sidebar are displayed. format=print is primarily for browsers that don't handle media="print" stylesheets. Default is screen.

month=yyyy-mm

Only entries published during the specified month will be selected. No default.

order=ascending-or-descending

Controls whether entries will be listed in chronological order or most-recent-first. Default is descending.

sanitise=true-or-false

Only meaningful for RSS requests and with words=all
Controls whether RSS excerpts have HTML tags removed. sanitise=false is ignored for partial entries (i.e., any not requested with words=all) in order to avoid breaking HTML elements. Default is false.

since=yyyy-mm-dd

Only entries published on or after the specified date will be selected. Can be combined with before to create a window. No default.

words=n

Only meaningful for RSS requests
Controls the size of the excerpt included as part of each entry in the RSS feed. The entire entry can be included with words=all. Default is 50.


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