android.moparisthebest.org/source/docs/blogging/linklog/index.markdown
2012-05-20 23:45:21 -05:00

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---
layout: page
title: "Writing a Linklog"
date: 2012-02-05 17:18
sidebar: false
comments: false
sharing: false
footer: false
---
A linklog is a blogging format where the post titles link directly to an external site and the content of the post offers commentary on the linked piece. This is commonly referred to as a "linked list" like the [The Daring Fireball Linked List](http://daringfireball.net/linked/) which helped popularize the format.
To publish linked posts with Octopress simply add the url for the item you want to write about to the `external-url` variable in the yaml front matter of a blog post.
``` yml Sample Yaml Front Matter
---
layout: post
title: "Someone on the Internet is Wrong"
date: 2012-02-05 17:18
comments: true
external-url: http://opinionguy.com/post/uninformed-rant-vs-straw-man/
---
```
When you generate your blog, the title link will point to the external url. Also, each post will show it's own permalink, and in the feed there will be a permalink at the end of linklog posts.
## Customizing titles
In the `_config.yml` there are some configurations you can change if you like.
``` yml Permalink and Linklog settings
permalink_label: "∞"
permalink_label_feed: "∞ Permalink"
linklog_marker: "→"
linklog_marker_position: after
linklog_marker_position_feed: after
standard_post_marker:
```
The default settings were inspired by [Marco Arment](http://marco.org) with one exception, in his RSS feed the linklog marker comes before the title to help readers better distinguish linked posts from normal posts. To use that style simply change `linklog_marker_position_feed` to `before`.
John Gruber's [Daring Fireball](http://daringfireball.net) takes a different approach than Marco. Rather than mark his linked posts, he adds ★ to the beginning of each of his standard posts. If you wanted to copy that style, you'd set it up like this.
``` yml Linklog settings like Daring Fireball
permalink_label: "★"
permalink_label_feed: "★"
linklog_marker:
linklog_marker_position:
linklog_marker_position_feed:
standard_post_marker: "★ "
```
## Styling
To help distinguish them from standard posts, linked posts have a smaller font size in addition to the linklog marker. When an article is a linked post it is marked with the html5 attribute `data-linklog` to give you a hook to customize styles if you like. If you wanted to set a different color for linked post titles you could add this css to your `sass/custom/styles.scss`.
``` scss Customized linked post title
.linklog .entry-title a {
color: lime;
}
```
Styles for linklog markers and permalinks can also be customized.
``` scss Customize permalink styles
.entry-title:hover .linklog-marker {
color: $link-color-hover;
}
article a[rel=bookmark] {
font-size: 1.2em;
}
```