“Fix” the New Formatting for Nealz Nuze Pages

I frequently read a daily writeup called “Nealz Nuze” on the Internet by talk show host Neal Boortz.  Just this morning they updated the format of the page and I’m not a fan.  To quote Mr. Boortz: “This mess wasn’t our idea. I’m talking about the new format for Nealz Nuze.”  Judging by the comments we aren’t the only two people not in love with the new format.

update: I now have a native Firefox extension that you can download which does the same thing.  Right click and choose “Save Link”, then save it to your computer.  Then drag the file into a Firefox window and allow it to install.  Get it here. You can still use the GreaseMonkey script below if you prefer.

Well, problem solved.  My old friend GreaseMonkey and I got together for a minute and here’s what we came up with:

?View Code JAVASCRIPT
// ==UserScript==
// @name           Nealz Nuze Formatter
// @namespace      eric.biven
// @description    Restores Nealz Nuze to it's previous glory (with improvements).
// @include        http://boortz.com/*
// @include        http://www.boortz.com/*
// ==/UserScript==
 
var listenLive = document.getElementById('streamLink');
listenLive.style.cssFloat = 'right';
listenLive.style.width = '200px';
 
var header = document.getElementById('logoAdContainer');
header.removeChild(header.childNodes[1]);
header.appendChild(listenLive);
 
var ads = document.getElementById('rightColumnCell');
ads.parentNode.removeChild(ads);
 
var head = document.getElementsByTagName('head')[0];
if (head) {
    style = document.createElement('style');
    style.type = 'text/css';
    style.appendChild(document.createTextNode('.hrDivider, .blogFooter, .blogEntryByline { display: none; }'));
    style.appendChild(document.createTextNode('.blogEntry { padding-bottom:20px; }'));
    style.appendChild(document.createTextNode('.storyhed { padding-bottom:10px; display:block; }'));
    style.appendChild(document.createTextNode('.blogEntryBody > table { margin:10px 0px 10px 20px; }'));
    style.appendChild(document.createTextNode('#pageWrapper, #centerColumn { width:auto; }'));
    style.appendChild(document.createTextNode('.pageContainer { margin:0px 10px 0px 10px; }'));
 
    head.appendChild(style);
}

This script is available for download from UserScripts.org at http://userscripts.org/scripts/show/36900.  It will return the page to a look that is more familiar to readers.  I’ve taken the liberty of adding a little more white space around some items as well.

New Layout

New Layout

If you aren’t familiar with GreaseMonkey, here’s a quick rundown.  GreaseMonkey is an addon for the Firefox web browser that lets you run scripts against pages and change how they look and/or behave.  In this case I’m removing ads, then changing the style of some elements.  You can install GreaseMonkey from here:

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/748

Once you’ve installed GreaseMonkey and restarted Firefox, make sure the little monkey icon down at the bottom of your Firefox window is brown.  If he’s grey, click on him (this enables GreaseMonkey).  Then click this link and allow the script to install:

http://userscripts.org/scripts/source/36900.user.js

Once the script is installed you’ll be able to view Nealz Nuze in all of its former glory.  Enjoy.

Read more about this at:

http://boortz.com/nealz_nuze/2008/11/dont-blame-me-nor-the-web-wenc.html

update: Now corrects their page width so that the text is always the width of your browser.

update: It should now work on Neal’s entire site and it moves the listen live link into the header of the page.

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Written by Eric Biven
Filed under: GreaseMonkey, Projects on November 13th, 2008
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11 Responses to ““Fix” the New Formatting for Nealz Nuze Pages”

  1. David says:
    2008-11-13 at 12:05 pm

    I did it .Looks fine, except you need to slide page from left to right a few spaces. Knock a gift horse in the head. Tax dave

  2. Eric Biven says:
    2008-11-13 at 12:21 pm

    David:

    I’m not really sure what you’re asking for, if you clarify I’m certain I can make the change quickly.

  3. Ray says:
    2008-11-13 at 12:27 pm

    Wow! Thanks! Works great!
    (Using FF3 w/ NoScript plugin)

  4. RMI says:
    2008-11-13 at 12:47 pm

    Oops, one minor glitch–the Listen Live link is gone.

  5. Eric Biven says:
    2008-11-13 at 12:51 pm

    RMI:

    Only on the Nuze pages. That’s something I can “fix” when I get more time.

  6. Tammy says:
    2008-11-13 at 1:05 pm

    Great job guys! Thanks so much!

  7. Eric Biven says:
    2008-11-13 at 3:53 pm

    RMI:

    There’s a new version that puts the Listen Live link on the top of the page. Enjoy.

  8. harold says:
    2009-01-27 at 8:25 am

    Eric, thanks for writing the Neal’s Nuze reformatter. I like being able to read more of Neal’s comments, than some sales persons advertisements.

    I do have a question or problem to ask about. The script reformats the website when I enter “boortz.com/nuze”, but if I enter “boortz.com/neals_nuze” it doesn’t.

    “boortz.com/nuze” redirects to “http://boortz.com/nealz_com/index.html” which the script has a statement “// @include ….”

    I’m not a web programmer, but would be interested in knowing how this script is working.

    thanks again, your script is very useful.

  9. Eric Biven says:
    2009-01-27 at 8:50 am

    @harold:

    There was an earlier version of the script that only reformatted a certain URL on the site. You may have that older version. Try uninstalling the script and then installing the most recent version, which reformats the entire site.

  10. harold says:
    2009-07-06 at 8:10 am

    Nealz Nuze running under FireFox 3.5….
    FF 3.5 didn’t like NealzNuze 0.1, so I went looking to see on the FF Forum how people got other Add-On’s to work. There was a resolution to use Mr Tech Kit addon, and when another Add-On is attempted, to check the box that ignore’s FF version check. Did that, and NealzNuze installed, FF Add-On stated it was not compatible, but when I went to boortz.com/nealz_nuze, FF was able to display the site as before.

  11. Eric Biven says:
    2009-07-07 at 9:12 am

    @harold:

    It sounds like there are some issues with Greasemonkey in FF 3.5 that may or may not have been resolved yet.

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