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2025-04-21 Emacs news

| emacs, emacs-news

Links from reddit.com/r/emacs, r/orgmode, r/spacemacs, r/planetemacs, Mastodon #emacs, Bluesky #emacs, Hacker News, lobste.rs, programming.dev, lemmy.world, lemmy.ml, planet.emacslife.com, YouTube, the Emacs NEWS file, Emacs Calendar, and emacs-devel. Thanks to Andrés Ramírez for emacs-devel links. Do you have an Emacs-related link or announcement? Please e-mail me at sacha@sachachua.com. Thank you!

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You can e-mail me at sacha@sachachua.com.
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2025-04-14 Emacs news

| emacs, emacs-news

Links from reddit.com/r/emacs, r/orgmode, r/spacemacs, r/planetemacs, Mastodon #emacs, Bluesky #emacs, Hacker News, lobste.rs, programming.dev, lemmy.world, lemmy.ml, planet.emacslife.com, YouTube, the Emacs NEWS file, Emacs Calendar, and emacs-devel. Thanks to Andrés Ramírez for emacs-devel links. Do you have an Emacs-related link or announcement? Please e-mail me at sacha@sachachua.com. Thank you!

View org source for this post
You can e-mail me at sacha@sachachua.com.
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2025-04-07 Emacs news

| emacs, emacs-news

Links from reddit.com/r/emacs, r/orgmode, r/spacemacs, r/planetemacs, Mastodon #emacs, Bluesky #emacs, Hacker News, lobste.rs, programming.dev, lemmy.world, lemmy.ml, planet.emacslife.com, YouTube, the Emacs NEWS file, Emacs Calendar, and emacs-devel. Thanks to Andrés Ramírez for emacs-devel links. Do you have an Emacs-related link or announcement? Please e-mail me at sacha@sachachua.com. Thank you!

View org source for this post
You can e-mail me at sacha@sachachua.com.
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Using Emacs Lisp to batch-demote HTML headings for my static site

| blogging, 11ty, emacs

Assumed audience: People who have lots of HTML files used as input for a static site generator, might need to do a batch operation on them, and are open to doing that with Emacs Lisp. Which might just be me, but who knows? =)

HTML defines a hierarchy of headings going from <h1> to <h6>, which comes in especially handy when people are navigating with a screenreader or converting web pages to Org Mode. I think search engines might use them to get a sense of the page's structure, too. On my blog, the hierarchy usually goes like this:

  • <h1>: site title,
  • <h2>: blog post titles, since I put multiple blog posts on the main page and category pages (ex: blogging)
  • <h3>: blog post's subheadings, if any
  • <h4>: I rarely need subsubheadings in my main blog posts, but they're there just in case

While fiddling with my blog's CSS so that I could try this fluid type scale, I realized that the subheadings in my exported blog entries started at <h2> instead of <h3>. This meant that the outline was this:

  • Site title
    • Blog post 1
    • Subheading 1
    • Subheading 2
    • Blog post 2
    • Subheading 1
    • Subheading 2
    • Blog post 3

I wanted the outline to be this:

  • Site title
    • Blog post 1
      • Subheading 1
      • Subheading 2
    • Blog post 2
      • Subheading 1
      • Subheading 2
    • Blog post 3

This was because I hadn't changed org-html-toplevel-hlevel during my 11ty export process. To solve this for new posts, I added a new option org-11ty-toplevel-hlevel that defaults to 3 in ox-11ty.el, re-exported one of my long blog posts to test it, and confirmed that my headings now started at <h3>.

I still had all my old HTML files with the wrong levels of headings. I wrote some Emacs Lisp to shift the headings downwards (h5 to h6, h4 to h5, h3 to h4, h2 to h3) in a file if it had an <h2> in it. Regular expressions are usually not a good idea when it comes to HTML because there might be exceptions, but I figured it was a pretty small and low-risk change, so I decided not to use the full XML/DOM parsing functions. I saved all the blog posts under version control just in case I messed things up. Here's my function: 

(defun my-html-shift-headings (filename)
  "Shift heading tags in FILENAME."
  (interactive "FFile: ")
  (let ((case-fold-search t)) ; make the search case-insensitive
    (with-temp-buffer
      (insert-file-contents filename)
      (goto-char (point-min))
      ;; Only modify the files where we have an h2
      (when (or (search-forward "<h2" nil t)
                (search-forward "</h2>" nil t))
        (goto-char (point-min))
        ;; Handle both opening and closing tags
        (while (re-search-forward "<\\(/\\)?h\\([2-5]\\)\\>" nil t)
          (let* ((closing-tag (match-string 1))
                 (heading-level (string-to-number (match-string 2)))
                 (new-level (1+ heading-level)))
            (replace-match (concat "<" closing-tag "h" (number-to-string new-level)))))
        (write-file filename)
        filename))))

Running it on all the source HTML files in specific subdirectories was easy with directory-files-recursively. 

(dolist (dir '("~/proj/static-blog/blog"
               "~/proj/static-blog/content"))
  (mapc 'my-html-shift-headings
        (directory-files-recursively
         dir
         "\\.html\\'")))

Then I could just rebuild my blog and get all the right heading levels. Spot-checks with Inspect Element show that the headings now have the right tags, and org-web-tools-read-url-as-org now picks up the right hierarchy for the page.

Correcting the input files was easier and more efficient than modifying my 11ty template engine to shift the heading levels whenever I build my site (probably by defining a preprocessor). I could've written a NodeJS script to do that kind of file manipulation, but writing it in Emacs Lisp matched how I might think of doing it interactively. Using Emacs Lisp was also easy to test on one or two files, check the list of files matched by directory-files-recursively, and then run it on everything.

Going forward, the new org-11ty-toplevel-hlevel variable should properly modify the behaviour of Org's HTML export to get the headings at the right level. We'll see!

You can e-mail me at sacha@sachachua.com.
More posts about blogging, 11ty, emacs

2025-03-31 Emacs news

| emacs, emacs-news

Links from reddit.com/r/emacs, r/orgmode, r/spacemacs, r/planetemacs, Mastodon #emacs, Bluesky #emacs, Hacker News, lobste.rs, programming.dev, lemmy.world, lemmy.ml, planet.emacslife.com, YouTube, the Emacs NEWS file, Emacs Calendar, and emacs-devel. Thanks to Andrés Ramírez for emacs-devel links. Do you have an Emacs-related link or announcement? Please e-mail me at sacha@sachachua.com. Thank you!

View org source for this post
You can comment on Mastodon or e-mail me at sacha@sachachua.com.
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Org Mode: Cutting the current list item (including nested lists) with a speed command

| emacs, org

Defining shortcuts in org-speed-commands is handy because you can use these single-key shortcuts at the beginning of a subtree. With a little modification, they'll also work at the beginning of list items. 

(defun my-org-use-speed-commands-for-headings-and-lists ()
  "Activate speed commands on list items too."
  (or (and (looking-at org-outline-regexp) (looking-back "^\**" nil))
      (save-excursion (and (looking-at (org-item-re)) (looking-back "^[ \t]*" nil)))))
(setq org-use-speed-commands 'my-org-use-speed-commands-for-headings-and-lists)

I want k to be an org-speed-commands that cuts the current subtree or list item. This is handy when I'm cleaning up the Mastodon toots in my weekly review or getting rid of outline items that I no longer need. By default, k is mapped to org-cut-subtree, but it's easy to override. 

(defun my-org-cut-subtree-or-list-item (&optional n)
  "Cut current subtree or list item."
  (cond
   ((and (looking-at org-outline-regexp) (looking-back "^\**" nil))
    (org-cut-subtree n))
   ((looking-at (org-item-re))
    (kill-region (org-beginning-of-item) (org-end-of-item)))))
(with-eval-after-load 'org
  (setf (alist-get "k" org-speed-commands nil nil #'string=)
        #'my-org-cut-subtree-or-list-item))

So now, if I put my cursor before "1." below and press k: 

- this
  1. is a
    - nested
  2. list
- with levels

it will turn into:

  • this
    1. list
  • with levels

You can find out a little more about Org Mode speed commands in the Org manual: (info "(org) Speed Keys").

This is part of my Emacs configuration.
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You can e-mail me at sacha@sachachua.com.
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Tweaking my 11ty blog to link to the Mastodon post defined in an Org Mode property

| 11ty, mastodon, org

One of the things I like about blogging from Org Mode in Emacs is that it's easy to add properties to the section that I'm working on and then use those property values elsewhere. For example, I've modified Emacs to simplify tooting a link to my blog post and saving the Mastodon status URL in the EXPORT_MASTODON property. Then I can use that in my 11ty static site generation process to include a link to the Mastodon thread as a comment option.

First, I need to export the property and include it in the front matter. I use .11tydata.json files to store the details for each blog post. I modified ox-11ty.el so that I could specify functions to change the front matter (org-11ty-front-matter-functions, org-11ty--front-matter): 

(defvar org-11ty-front-matter-functions nil
  "Functions to call with the current front matter plist and info.")
(defun org-11ty--front-matter (info)
  "Return front matter for INFO."
  (let* ((date (plist-get info :date))
         (title (plist-get info :title))
         (modified (plist-get info :modified))
         (permalink (plist-get info :permalink))
         (categories (plist-get info :categories))
         (collections (plist-get info :collections))
         (extra (if (plist-get info :extra) (json-parse-string
                                             (plist-get info :extra)
                                             :object-type 'plist))))
    (seq-reduce
     (lambda (prev val)
       (funcall val prev info))
     org-11ty-front-matter-functions
     (append
      extra
      (list :permalink permalink
            :date (if (listp date) (car date) date)
            :modified (if (listp modified) (car modified) modified)
            :title (if (listp title) (car title) title)
            :categories (if (stringp categories) (split-string categories) categories)
            :tags (if (stringp collections) (split-string collections) collections))))))

Then I added the EXPORT_MASTODON Org property as part of the front matter. This took a little figuring out because I needed to pass it as one of org-export-backend-options, where the parameter is defined as MASTODON but the actual property needs to be called EXPORT_MASTODON. 

(defun my-org-11ty-add-mastodon-to-front-matter (front-matter info)
  (plist-put front-matter :mastodon (plist-get info :mastodon)))
(with-eval-after-load 'ox-11ty
  (cl-pushnew
   '(:mastodon "MASTODON" nil nil)
   (org-export-backend-options (org-export-get-backend '11ty)))
  (add-hook 'org-11ty-front-matter-functions #'my-org-11ty-add-mastodon-to-front-matter))

Then I added the Mastodon field as an option to my comments.cjs shortcode. This was a little tricky because I'm not sure I'm passing the data correctly to the shortcode (sometimes it ends up as item.data, sometimes it's item.data.data, …?), but with ?., I can just throw all the possibilities in there and it'll eventually find the right one. 

const pluginRss = require('@11ty/eleventy-plugin-rss');
module.exports = function(eleventyConfig) {
  function getCommentChoices(data, ref) {
    const mastodonUrl = data.mastodon || data.page?.mastodon || data.data?.mastodon;
    const mastodon = mastodonUrl && `<a href="${mastodonUrl}" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">comment on Mastodon</a>`;
    const url = ref.absoluteUrl(data.url || data.permalink || data.data?.url || data.data?.permalink, data.metadata?.url || data.data?.metadata?.url);
    const subject = encodeURIComponent('Comment on ' + url);
    const body = encodeURIComponent("Name you want to be credited by (if any): \nMessage: \nCan I share your comment so other people can learn from it? Yes/No\n");
    const email = `<a href="mailto:sacha@sachachua.com?subject=${subject}&body=${body}">e-mail me at sacha@sachachua.com</a>`;
    const disqusLink = url + '#comment';
    const disqusForm = data.metadata?.disqusShortname && `<div id="disqus_thread"></div>
<script>
 var disqus_config = function () {
   this.page.url = "${url}";
   this.page.identifier = "${data.id || ''} ${data.metadata?.url || ''}?p=${ data.id || data.permalink || this.page?.url}";
   this.page.disqusTitle = "${ data.title }"
   this.page.postId = "${ data.id || data.permalink || this.page?.url }"
 };
 (function() { // DON'T EDIT BELOW THIS LINE
   var d = document, s = d.createElement('script');
   s.src = 'https://${ data.metadata?.disqusShortname }.disqus.com/embed.js';
   s.setAttribute('data-timestamp', +new Date());
   (d.head || d.body).appendChild(s);
 })();
</script>
<noscript>Disqus requires Javascript, but you can still e-mail me if you want!</noscript>`;
    return { mastodon, disqusLink, disqusForm, email };
  }
  eleventyConfig.addShortcode('comments', function(data, linksOnly=false) {
    const { mastodon, disqusForm, disqusLink, email } = getCommentChoices(data, this);
    if (linksOnly) {
      return `You can ${mastodon ? mastodon + ', ' : ''}<a href="${disqusLink}">comment with Disqus (JS required)</a>${mastodon ? ',' : ''} or ${email}.`;
    } else {
      return `<div id="comment"></div>
You can ${mastodon ? mastodon + ', ' : ''}comment with Disqus (JS required)${mastodon ? ', ' : ''} or you can ${email}.
${disqusForm || ''}`;}
  });
}

I included it in my post.cjs shortcode: 

module.exports = eleventyConfig =>
eleventyConfig.addShortcode('post', async function(item, index, includeComments) {
  let comments = '<div class="comments">' + (includeComments ? this.comments(item) : this.comments(item, true)) + '</div>';
  let categoryList = item.categories || item.data && item.data.categories;
  let categoriesFooter = '', categories = '';
  if (categoryList && categoryList.length > 0) {
    categoriesFooter = `<div class="footer-categories">More posts about ${this.categoryList(categoryList)}</div>`;
    categories = `| <span class="categories">${this.categoryList(categoryList)}</span>`;
  }

  return  `<article class="post" id="index${index}" data-url="${item.url || item.permalink || ''}">
<header><h2 data-pagefind-meta="title"><a href="${item.url || item.permalink || ''}">${item.title || item.data && item.data.title}</a></h2>
${this.timeInfo(item)}${categories}
</header>
<div class="entry">
${await (item.templateContent || item.layoutContent || item.data?.content || item.content || item.inputContent)}
</div>
${comments}
${categoriesFooter}
</article>`;
});

I also included it in my RSS item template to make it easier for people to send me comments without having to dig through my website for contact info. 

const posthtml = require("posthtml");
const urls = require("posthtml-urls");

module.exports = (eleventyConfig) => {
  eleventyConfig.addAsyncShortcode('rssItem', async function(item) {
    let content = item.templateContent.replace(/--/g, '&#45;&#45;');
    if (this.transformWithHtmlBase) {
      content = await this.transformWithHtmlBase(content);
    }
    return `<item>
    <title>${item.data.title}</title>
    <link>${this.absoluteUrl(item.url, item.data.metadata.url)}</link>
    <dc:creator><![CDATA[${item.data.metadata.author.name}]]></dc:creator>
    <pubDate>${item.date.toUTCString()}</pubDate>
    ${item.data.categories?.map((cat) => `<category>${cat}</category>`).join("\n") || ''}
    <guid isPermaLink="false">${this.guid(item)}</guid>
    <description><![CDATA[${content}
<p>${this.comments(item, true)}</p>]]></description>
    </item>`;
  });
};

The new workflow I'm trying out seems to be working:

  1. Keep npx eleventy --serve running in the background, using .eleventyignore to make rebuilds reasonably fast.
  2. Export the subtree with C-c e s 1 1, which uses org-export-dispatch to call my-org-11ty-export with the subtree.
  3. After about 10 seconds, use my-org-11ty-copy-just-this-post and verify.
  4. Use my-mastodon-11ty-toot-post to compose a toot. Edit the toot and post it.
  5. Check that the EXPORT_MASTODON property has been set.
  6. Export the subtree again, this time with the front matter.
  7. Publish my whole blog.

Next, I'm thinking of modifying my-mastodon-11ty-toot-post so that it includes a list of links to blog posts I might be building on or responding to, and possibly the handles of people related to those blog posts or topics. Hmm…

View org source for this post
You can comment on Mastodon or e-mail me at sacha@sachachua.com.
More posts about 11ty, mastodon, org