I have been able to simulate categorization of content in my blog. A feature I lamented not having. Over the next little while I’ll explore what I can do with the technique I’m using.
I was able to create categories by leveraging the search capability provided with Blogger. Google recently provided the capability to search individual blogs (rather than across all blogs). By disassembling the html I was able to determine how to set up searches programmatically. With that ability I am able to define “canned”searches that look for specific categories of content. As I put key words in my titles, the process is reasonably accurate.
One thing I have noticed already is that there is a lag between the time I publish an entry and when it shows up. I presume this is becuase indexing is done separately from publishing.
Disassembling the HTML was some fun. Although it was easy enough to find a code sample to work from, understanding the parameters (what parameters were available and what they meant) took a little more investigation. I was foruntate to find a search page that had text descriptions associated with the underlying code and more importantly the parameter names. A sort of Rossetta stone.
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