User:Venusy/weeklies.xml editing

From Homestar Runner Wiki

Peoples all the time be asking me:

Dear Venusy,
How do you make those Quote of the Week images?
Sincerely yours,
Several peoples

And I tell them the truth, I just edit weeklies.xml, and create a picture in an imaging program.
However, I realise that this isn't a very good answer, and editing weeklies.xml probably requires its own page.

[edit] Setting up

You will need:

• A copy of weeklies.xml saved to your hard drive,
• A copy of qod.swf saved to your hard drive,
• A folder named "weeklies" (without quotation marks) somewhere on your hard drive.

Got all of those? Good! Now, put "weeklies.xml" into the folder named "weeklies", and put "qod.swf" in the folder that "weeklies" is in. So, in example, if your weeklies folder is located at "C:\My Documents\Homestar Runner\Swfs\qod\weeklies", then "qod.swf" would be placed in "C:\My Documents\Homestar Runner\Swfs\qod".

Now we can start editing!

[edit] Editing weeklies.xml

Open weeklies.xml in Notepad by right-clicking on weeklies.xml, and selecting "Open With...". Then select Notepad. You'll see something that looks a little bit like this:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="iso-8859-1"?>
<sketchbook>12-string sad</sketchbook>
<fanstuff>homestar cubeheads</fanstuff>
<qod character="strongsad" filename="ss_looseleaf.mp3">Uh, Strong Bad, were you just first basin' it with that piece of loose leaf?!</qod>


<!-- Chapos: here are the character shortcuts 
homestar   
strongbad   
strongsad 
bubs
coachz
marzipan
kingoftown
strongmad
homsar
marshie
cardgage
cheerleader 
soandso 
whatsherface 
uglyone 
stinkoman
1up 
gunhaver  
fightgar 
silentrip 
crackotage 
reynold
bluelaser  
ehsteve
doreauxgard 
oldstrongbad 
oldhomestar 
oldstrongsad    
oldmarzipan  
oldcoachz
dumple

     Love, jonathan ("nickname")
-->

Ignore all of it except the stuff between qod tags, and the character shortcuts at the bottom. If you're slightly confused as to which character is what, don't be! Here's a table!

Weeklies.xml name	Actual name	Preview of head
homestar	Homestar Runner
strongbad	Strong Bad
strongsad	Strong Sad
bubs	Bubs
coachz	Coach Z
marzipan	Marzipan
kingoftown	King of Town
strongmad	Strong Mad
homsar	Homsar
marshie	Marshie
cardgage	Senor Cardgage
cheerleader	Cheerleader
soandso	So and So
whatsherface	What's Her Face
uglyone	The Ugly One
stinkoman	Stinkoman
1up	1-Up
gunhaver	Gunhaver
fightgar	Fightgar
silentrip	Silent Rip
crackotage	Crackotage
reynold	Reynold
bluelaser	Blue Laser Commander
ehsteve	Eh! Steve!
doreauxgard	Doreauxgard
oldstrongbad	Old-Timey Strong Bad
oldhomestar	The Homestar Runner
oldstrongsad	Sickly Sam
oldmarzipan	Old-Timey Marzipan
oldcoachz	The Fort Wayne Locomotive
rocoulm	Horrible Painting (no longer available)
dumple	The Jolly Dumple

Thank you to Smileyface11945 and Mibluvr13 for finishing that.
Now, just take the name of the character you want to use, and paste it here:
character="CHARACTER GOES HERE"
Then, paste the quote you want between the tags, i.e.

<qod character="CHARACTER GOES HERE" filename="None">QUOTE GOES HERE</qod>

So lets say that I wanted the quote "I'm Homestar, and this is a website!" from First Time Here?. I would type <qod character="homestar" filename="None">I'm Homestar, and this is a website!</qod>

[edit] Last Bit

Take a look at qod.swf, and save a picture by Print Screening the browser window containing qod.swf. Make sure it's the right size, then upload it to the internet for all to see.

[edit] Troubleshooting

Common errors with this. All of the errors relating to weeklies.xml also apply for Stinkoman 20X6 levelData, rando.xml and hallrunner_questions.xml.

• I get an error when I try to look at weeklies.xml.
  • Weeklies.xml wasn't designed to be viewed in a browser. If you would like to see the file without saving the file to your hard drive, simply view the page source.
• I can't save weeklies.xml to my hard drive.
  • Use "File → Save As". If your browser displays ".xml" in the Save As window, make sure to rename it to weeklies.xml, or it won't work!
• This guide only covers Quote of the Week. How do I make my own Sketchbook or Weekly Fanstuff?
  • The text in between the <Fanstuff> tags controls the Weekly Fanstuff text, and the text in between the <Sketchbook> tags controls the Sketchbook text. Much like qod.swf, fanstuff.swf and sketchbook.swf must be placed one directory up from /weeklies/. The images must be in jpg format, and placed in the weeklies directory. The Weekly Fanstuff pic should be named "fanstuff_pic.jpg" and the Sketchbook pic should be named "sketchbook_pic.jpg".
• The swf opens, but appears to be frozen on the side of the screen.
  • Right click on the swf and press play.

[edit] ^{MORE TXT}_{TO C ME}

Stuff that needs adding to this page:

• Table finishing -- Done!
  • Table needs to be checked by Venusy
    • Checked, thank you Smileyface11945 and Mibluvr13. I don't think I'd have been bothered to finish that table anytime within this year.
• A better editing summary, and the last bit needs improving
• Some spelling fixings?
• Pictures

If you have any improvements to make to this page, please do.