D 2018-09-16T17:42:46.603 L Design\sand\sLayout N text/x-markdown P 193c5a029bef17984748de347fb84b1119789f31523101354da2de2f4698b85e U joel W 5594 There are two big priorities underlying the design of *The Local Yarn*. The first is that it will live in two places: on a web server, and on bookshelves. The web server, because it’s a fun, fast way to publish writing and code to the whole world (you knew that already); but also on bookshelves, because [a web server is like a projector][1], and I want to be able to turn it off someday and still have something to show for all my work. [1]: https://thelocalyarn.com/excursus/secretary/posts/web-books.html The other priority is simply that, in both media, the product should have a “functional attractiveness”, as embodied in this quote from [Samuel Rogers][2] that I’ve had on my site for twenty years: >“Yet modest ornament with use combined Attracts the eye to exercise the mind.” [2]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samuel_Rogers ## Information model Because of its dual print/web nature, and because it is somewhat more complicated than your typical blog, I’ve come up with a set of common terms to describe everything. The Local Yarn is mostly comprised of *Articles* (individual writings) which may contain *Notes* (addenda by the author or others) and may also be grouped into *Series*. These are similar to a typical blog’s *posts, comments* and *categories*, but there are important differences (see [Differences from blogs](/wiki/Differences from blogs)). ### Articles Articles have the following properties: * A *publish date* and an optional *last updated date*. * An **optional** *title* * An *author* (optional) * A *series* (optional) to which the article belongs, which also indirectly determines the article’s *singular noun*. * A *document body*. The structure and features of the body text follow from [Pollen Markup](/wiki/Pollen Markup). * A *conceal directive* (optional) that can be used to prevent display of the article in various contexts: series listings, in print editions, or in the RSS feed. The template used for new/draft articles will include a directive to conceal from all of these by default. (Such an article, if included in a sync to the live web server, will still be accessible on the web via its direct URI.) * Optionally, one or more follow-up *Notes* — any of which may also indirectly determine the article’s *disposition verb* (e.g. “disavowed”) and *disposition date* (which is the date of the Note). If more than one note in an article specifies a disposition verb, the most recent one takes precedence. An article can start out very small — just a date and a few sentences — and later grow in any of several directions. Notes can be added, or a title, or cross-references to later articles; or it may be added to a series. Or it may just remain the way it started. ### Series A Series is like an article in that it has its own body, but it has the additional effect of grouping individual articles together into a particular order. It has the following properties: * A *name* * A *creation date* * An *order* for its member articles, which can be one of: 1. Reverse chronological, or *Blog order* 2. Ascending chronological, or *Journal order* 3. Arranged by subject matter (as with chapters in a book), or *Pagetree order* * A *plural noun* which applies to all its member articles as a group (e.g. “Speculations”) * A *singular noun* with an indefinite article “a” or ”an”, which applies to each of its member articles individually (e.g. “a speculation”). * A *document body* which appears on the series’s main page, and whose markup also dictates whether/how the listing of its member articles will be presented. ## Visual Design The stuff described above gets translated into web and print designs. ## HTML markup **“Listing” context: complete articles/notes:**

ARTICLE TITLE

ARTICLE BODY

ARTICLE BODY

A note from AUTHOR, re: PARENT-TITLE

NOTE CONTENTS

AUTHOR

Coming at some point: * Typographic conventions * Web design notes (HTML markup structure, etc) * Print design notes Z 28c301a7acfac586f253f34240aa7713