This modification to MT for instant smilies also has an added feature of working for text strings as well - so for example, it can change it from when you type :mtforums: into

I just implemented it on my page yesterday and it works great!

Kristine

I thought about loading the expressions in an external file, I just haven't gotten around to anything like it yet.  This was the quickest, easiest way.   I'm sure it wouldn't take more than 20 seconds to impliment though.

Yes, we do plan on something like this in a future release--probably in the form of a generalized macro feature, which can be enabled or disabled on a per-entry basis (so as to not slow down the system if you don't want to use macros).

You know, I rather think it would! Thanks, domoni! And thanks, scottandrew!

I find that I'm regularly posting links to certain sites, and I always have to go doublecheck their URLs to make sure I get them right. Does anyone have any clever ideas of how to make this easier? Is there something that can be done with bookmarklets, or with some kind of hack to the new entry page? I'd also like to find a labor-saving trick for doing stuff like posting links to items at Amazon.com with my affiliate info included in the URL.

I guess the big question is: should I be refreshing my knowledge of JavaScript or of Perl?

Thanks, Kristine - that's a good trick. That way I can use regular expressions for all sorts of things in my posts. I might try to modify the hack so that it loads the list of expressions from an external file, so that I can reduce the risk of meddling with the code.

Ben, Mena -- would you consider adding a hook for this in a future release? You could supply an empty replacement_expressions file and reg ex-savvy users could add their entries.

I may still try my hand at a bookmarklet or something for adding Amazon associate links -- something to make it easier to link to titles and authors, etc, etc. I'll be happy to share this if I get around to it, but I've got a lot of other stuff on my plate first

-Songdog

So, can any reg-ex-savvy users provide us with some templates for:

Amazon affiliate-links
Google-searches
IMDB-links and searches
CDNow etc...

?

Regarding adding Google searches, IMDB, etc...scottandrew made a few shortcut buttons. I added an IMDB button and I'm sure other buttons would be easy.

You can find his file and description here:

http://www.movabletype.org/support....4;t=383

Would that work for you?

The Smiles hack from Posh rocks. I took it a step further and made a smiliebar, to make it a little easier for some to use. You can see the full details here:

SmilieBar How-To