My First Open-Source Contribution
Monday September 26, 2005 / 9 CommentsIt’s small, but I’ve gotten involved in Textpattern with this change. So starting with 4.02, Textpattern will support using label tags and for attributes on comment forms. It’s small, but it’s a start. (You can view source here if you want to check it out.)
Ironically, I came across this post at the Textpattern weblog as I was in the process of making the changes. Having gone through the process, I have to admit, they’re right. After the upgrade to 4.0, all of my hacks were lost, as expected, and I decided I wanted future upgrades to go more smoothly. Solving the problem at the root is definitely much better.
Up Next: Adjustable tabindexes in the comment forms. (Hopefully.)
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I’m sure you’ve heard, but in case not, Jared has a great write-up on how to change your tabindex order…
http://www.jaredigital.com/article/114/textpattern-hacking-the-comment-forms-tabindex Nathan Smith
Nathan – I’m very familiar with hacking Textpattern. The problem is that it all gets overwritten during upgrades. I’d like to be able to upgrade without any worries in the future.
Plus, it would mean others could do the same. :) Thanks for the link though. Garrett
Just one big “thank you”! Eric
If things go on like this, I might actually consider using Textpattern for some sites; I tried it when it first launched, and was impressed with its capabilities, but there were too many niggles like this one (not the mention the somewhat exasperating GUI and naming scheme—‘forms’? Urgh).
In any case, nice work. Benedict Eastaugh
Excellent Garrett, Comments have been a pain in my side for a long time. Its good to see that you are tackling it.
If I knew php better I would try taking on the search functionality. Any chance you would like to make a better search at some point? Not just the tags but the search logic it uses. Jeff Adams
Jeff – I’m afraid I’d be getting in over my head if I did that, but I’ll never say never. Right now, I think the tabindexes will be challenging enough. Garrett
Even if it’s small, the feeling you get from contributing something to the open source world is great isn’t it? I love it! Marco
@Marco: It’s like that “I made something from nothing” feeling—one hell of a feeling. Zach Blume
Ah, okay – That makes sense Garrett. I do so get tired of re-hacking things everytime there’s a Textpattern update. Good call. Nathan Smith
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