I'm not sure where it started, but the first place I saw it, was on trac-hacks.org. I'm talking about the really cool green box that holds the "news". What's even cooler, is combining the green news box with the blog plugin. This is what trac-hacks.org is doing.

The green news box is a little mix of HTML and CSS, and it's dead sexy to have. zachtib was looking for instructions on how to set it up, so here we go

After installing the blog plugin, add the following CSS to the site_css.cs file. It is located in the Trac environment's templates directory.

#newsflash {
        border: solid 2px #8f8;
        width: 400px;
        float: right;
        background: #dfd;
        font-size: 0.8em;
        margin: 0em;
        padding: 0.5em 1em 0.5em 1em;
}
#newsflash h1 {
        font-size: 1.2em;
        padding: 0em;
        margin: 0em;
}
#newsflash .post hr {
        display: none;
}

Once the CSS is inplace, the green box can be created by placing the following at the top of the wiki page on which it should appear.

[[html(<div id="newsflash">)]]
[[BlogShow(blog,news,hidecal=true,num_posts=4)]]
[[html(</div>)]]

Obviously, the options passed to the [[BlogShow]] macro can be adjusted to taste.

Finally, after having done all that, I find a gem that coderanger has created: NewsFlashMacro. While I haven't tested it out, this should provide exactly what the above does, and packaged in to a nice macro.

As everyone should know, PyCon 2007 is in Addison, TX, February 23rd-25th. It's a time for Python developers to get together and rub elbows.

As it happens, I, unfortunately, am not going. This would be due to a thing called life. Of course, there are going to be a few Trac notables¹²³⁴ there, and one, in particular, has been bugging⁵ me to go.

Oh how I would love to go to PyCon. However, it just isn't in the cards right now. Of course, that would all change if, by some miracle, someone paid for my air fare. So, if anyone out there wants to pay for my air fare, I would be ever so grateful. For that wonderful saint that wants to send me to PyCon, contact me at: pacopablo at pacopablo dot com

Here's to wishing! If not, well then perhaps next year.