You’ve done something noteworthy when people are willing to tell you publicly that they don’t like it. Such is the case with my Wordpress plugin, jQuery Table of Contents. Zoran at Hackadelic, author of a similar plugin, Hackadelic SEO Table of Contents, likes the clean code but could do without the Javascript.
Response to the Arguments
Javascript makes page load slow
Well, okay, it can, but I use jQuery.ready, which doesn’t. I don’t really care if the TOC is visible the second the page renders, so I’m willing to wait.
DOM manipulation is browser specific
Well, okay, it can, but the DOM is an open W3C standard, and modern browsers do a good enough job that I don’t expect there to be problems. Besides, jQuery sorts out most of the difference that matter.
Javascript doesn’t know about the database
Here I agree. But the objection only applies if you want TOC navigation across pages of a multi-page post. If you need that functionality, I highly recommend the Hackadelic plugin because it will do what you want. But I don’t make multi-page posts, and if I do, I only really need intra-page navigation.
The Freedom Software Model
In the Freedom Software model, most unpaid programmers are just out to scratch an itch – and to share in case someone else has the same kind of itch. There is significant overlap between the Hackadelic plugin and my own, but I’ve got a different itch to scratch, and I designed an elegant little tool to do it. Yes, I could probably scratch my itch well enough with the Hackadelic plugin, but I personally think lightweight and elegant and in-browser are features. The beauty of Freedom Software is that an entire ecosystem of tools can grow up, coexist, borrow ideas, and maybe eventually die off. This is the “bazaar” model.
Conclusion
I was certainly flattered to have the engagement over this, my first Wordpress plugin. Thanks for the constructive engagement and for bring to light that everything we build starts from a set of assumptions and requirements. That kind of critical conversation is what will continue to make Freedom Software great.
I’m proud to announce my first WordPress plugin, “jQuery Table of Contents,” which inserts the lovely little table of contents you see on many of the pages of my website. It uses jQuery to inspect the content of your post or page and generate table of contents links based on the header tags. It’s easy, SEO friendly, and highly customizable.
Download
Looking for something interesting to add to my online presence, I decided to try out Twitter. I’m not really sure why I haven’t tried it out until now.
Apparently, fewer than 40% of people stay on Twitter after they start using it – a phenomenon so prevalent that it even has a name: “Twitter Quitter.” I don’t really like the idea of abandoning a social network after I join, so maybe that’s why I haven’t jumped in before. Also, most everyone I know is on Facebook, and I really can’t stand the idea of updating multiple accounts. So I’m not sure exactly why I have decided to try it out now, either.
I installed Twitter Tools to tie this website in with Twitter, so hopefully when I post here it’ll show up there, too. This complements the functionality of WordBook for Facebook integration.
Alas, I am on Twitter, for now. So if you are too, go ahead and add me.
Jennifer won a diaper giveaway from Nicki’s Diapers. How cool is that?
I was listening to NPR’s Laura Sydell yesterday as she and her guests were discussing media trends over the past 40 or 50 years as they connect to shared experience. 
One guest on the program was arguing that the development of global communications technology means that next-door neighbors may have few shared cultural experiences. In essence, by enabling a large fraction of the population to seek the television news that it wants to watch, the music that it wants to hear, and the political ideas that it wants to think, there are fewer cultural touchstones that we share in common.
I developed a handy Table of Contents script using JQuery for another project, now abandoned, and I decided to implement it on this website (which uses Wordpress). This assumes that you have JQuery already loaded and are using Wordpress 2.9 or newer.
I wrote this song in honor of my wife, Jennifer, on the occasion of our fifth wedding anniversary. It comes from my experience of realizing just how blessed I am to be married to such a good and faithful woman. It’s very easy to take the people we love for granted. Every once in a while, though, those scales fall from my eyes and I’m dumbstruck by the blessing I have in her.
I included You Are Beautiful, My Love in this video, but I also want to make it available for download. It is licensed CC-BY-SA (see below) so you can feel free to share it with others. I hope you enjoy hearing it as much as I enjoyed making it.
Listen and Download
This article ran in the January 2010 issue of The Messenger, the newsletter of St. John’s Lutheran Church, Sterling, IL.
As we look past Christmas and into January, many people are thinking about New Year’s resolutions. Maybe you’re thinking of losing weight, eating more healthily, or exercising more. Perhaps you are going to read more books or take a night class. I even know people who are thinking about giving up late night TV in favor of more sleep. What all of these goals have in common is self-improvement. The fresh, unblemished year stands before us, and we naturally want to make the most of it – and the most of ourselves.
Jennifer – you are such a blessing to me, and I thank God for our five years together. This song and video are in your honor. May we have at least 55 more!
Ever thought about what it would be like to live with less? I’ve been thinking a lot about this article on Time.com from June about the 100 Things Challenge. Dave Bruno started this as an effort to reduce his number of personal possessions to just 100 Things. He has since posted a list of rules to guide the process. In the Christmas season, full of consumerism and consumption, this challenge represents an antidote.
