Coming Soon (I Think!): Author Bios
To be appearing soon at the bottom of most posts, something like the below:
Post Author Bio Block
Something like the above ought to appear down below. I’m still refining the code, but that’s my current draft “author bio box,” which I hope to be implementing at the main site right soon.
On the author archive page (where you go when you click on an author’s name-link), we replace the shorter biography with a longer one (if available), and get rid of the recent posts/archive section, since, obviously, the whole page is already an archive, in reverse chronological order. Something like:
Author Archive Bio Block
Eventually or sooner, we should further develop the author page, adding new features and options in the context of a broader perspective on the page’s potential uses, but, even at this early stage, there’s nothing preventing the enterprising and ambitious OG from developing the author bio into a full-fledged on-line resume, if that’s what the enterprising and ambitious OG wants. (If the enterprising and ambitious OG wants a complete custom-designed author page, that’s also possible.) Additionally, I expect to incorporate gravatar, archive links, site role, biographical details, possibly recent posts, into a new Contributors page and Contributors’ “mega-menu.”
Some practical issues to note:
- If a contributor has not 1) gotten an avatar (at gravatar.com) and 2) added biographical info at his or her “Your Profile” page, then the biography box will not show up on his or her posts, nor will one appear at the top of his or her Author/Archive page, nor will he or she and his or her bio/info appear on the future Contributors page.
- All social/contact links are optional: If you don’t provide them, nothing will appear. (There is also an option at the end of the profile page to add links and icons of your own, if there’s something else you’d like to link to.
- This change will NOT affect past posts, but will affect all posts after date X – I’m thinking as soon as this weekend (Sept 26 or 27). So, authors who have been adding their own bios to their posts don’t need to worry about old ones now featuring two bios.
- It is also possible to create custom bio boxes for individual authors that will override the built-in application – possibly for guest authors or for writing teams. These should be handled on a case by case basis.
As always, suggestions and questions are welcome – including from non-authors.
