| Several questions have been cropping up at the group in reference to Week 5 topic: Template Customization and Multimedia Content. I've been collecting them on this page so that no query is left unanswered. |
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Q 1. What's a widget? It's not in the bloggers glossary. Did I miss something? Janet Q 2. I'm also lost today. I don't know what are widgets. I hope anyone can help us. Barbi |
A. "A widget is a small, specialized application you can download and run on your desktop. Some of the most common widgets are clocks, battery monitors, calculators, calendars, news aggregators, and weather forecasts. More specialized widgets even let you track flights or monitor traffic on your route home. Because they don't take up much space, look fun, and handle live data well, widgets can be an alternative to a lot of open browsers or system tools." (http://www.fidelity |
| Q. Will we also be dealing with the physical limitations of our blogs and of the widgets in week 5? I had to put things in the middle rather than on the sidebar because they were too wide, but they really clutter up the top of the middle. Wish I could reduce them - or better yet, decrease the margins! Jenny |
A. Yes, Jenny, we'll see how to go about those little design glitches. There are easy ways to align and resize things. Your blog will end up looking fabulous, believe me! Claudia NOTE: This is not a proper answer. Jenny, ask again if you feel you are clueless after week 5. |
| Q. At what point in the page creation process can you add hyperlinks on the right? Jenny |
A. You can add hyperlinks at any stage in the blog development. If you have an attentive look at your template, you'll be able to spot the Links section, which usually has some model links, like Google, etc. You can just copy that code and replace the existing URL with the one you want, and the anchor (that is, the clickable word), with the name of the website you're linking.Claudia NOTE: This answer refers to the "Old Blogger" interface. Now it's much simpler than this. |
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Q. I've just created my Frappr map but don't know how to add it to my blog. Would you be so kind to help me, please? Andrea G. |
A1. All you have to do is copy the code Frappr provides and paste it on your template. You can either paste it on one of your regular posts, clicking on the HTML tab first (easy), or on the sidebar (not so easy). The key point here is finding the exact place to put it. Study your
A3. Removing a page element that doesn't work is easy. Go to the dashboard and select "Layout". Then click on "Edit" in the box you have added the incorrect code. A new window will pop up. Click on "Remove page element" and that should play the trick! Secondly, the map is too big for the available space at the sidebar. Maybe the footer is a better place. You could try the footer again or change the default size values. If you have a close look at the code you'll find this string:
A2. I would like to help you if you are using the new Blogger. First,sign in with your user name an pass word. While you are in the dashboard, click on Layout. Under Template, you are in Page elements. Here, you can add and arrange you page elements. It is here where you have pasted the supposed code for the Frappr map on the sidebar and the bottom side bar. Click on Edit of the element that you want to delete. A new window opens. There are 3 buttons at the at the bottom of the window. Click on "Remove page elements". A prompt asks you if you are sure to remove this element, click yes. There you go. Make sure that when you want to paste a code, the whole code must be written between these two symbols < > Karim |
| Q. About video and powerpoint slides, I wonder how to put them into my blog. Fatemeh | A. |
| Q. An: How did you add the links to your blog? I want to do that but I don't know how. Barbi | A. Once in the Dashboard click on the template tab, go to "page elements" and click on the "add a page element" link. A window will pop up with different options. Click on "links list", enter the links, and finally save the changes. Carla R. |
| Q. I would like to upload a video to my blog, but I don't know how to do that. Can anyone help me? Barbi | A. if the video you want to upload to your blog is from http://www.youtubec the video a box with an html code that says "Embed". You should copy this code into your post. Erika |
| Q. I don't know how to organize the format. If you take a look at the video clip in the sidebar you can only see half of it. How can I solve this? Monica | A. Instead of adding the video (the html code) in the Sidebar, delete it there (delete page element). Start a post and add the html code for your video there. Carla |
| Q. I am trying to upload to my blog a home recorded file but I find nowhere to attach this kind of files. Anyone knows how to upload sound files? Maite |
A 1. The only solution that I can suggest may be to upload your WAV file to a service like Odeo (http://odeo.
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| Q. How can you manage to add these widgets to Wordpress. I know that some widgets are not allowed. Jennifer | A. You need to click on "Presentation". Apparently, it all depends on the template you've chosen... With my current template, for instance (Fast Track), no widgets are allowed, but comments can be left on webpages as well as on posts (which was not the case with the Default theme). I also tried the theme "Connections reloaded", no comments allowed on web pages again, but you can choose from a number of widgets to display (by dragging and dropping, as in the new Blogger). Looks like the only way to find out is to explore the themes one by one... I was glad to learn I can add images that link to other URLS under links, though. Gladys |
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Q. Help! There's no option to change the font size for a post title in the template "fonts and colors" page. I'm using a template, so I can't seem Jenny in Delft |
A. Go to "template" in the dashboard to see if you find that part of the code where the font is set. Some templates have detailed codes and others just references without the specific details. Another way to go is openning a new blog, writing a sample post and then playing with the different templates. That way you are not messing around what you already have in your present blog and can keep experimenting later without the risk of losing material you want to keep. Try to see if you can find this in the template and check if the size changes by changing the percentage: } .post-title { margin:.25em 0 0; padding:0 0 4px; font-size:140% font-weight: line-height: color:#c60; } Once I wanted to have the main column as wide as I could and changed the width of the main posts in the template until I came up -by trial and error- with one that was really wide and almost took up all main space. This is the one I use now: @media all { #content { width:800px; margin:0 auto; padding:0; text-align:left; } #main { width:450px; float:left; } #sidebar { width:220px; float:right; Berta |
| Q. Does deleting the template and picking a new one clear all posts and messages in my weblog? What about changing the color of the background or sides? Any changes in my posts? Can I myself add some modifications to the template? Fatemeh |
Q. You can certainly make changes to the blog html template. In fact, you have to do this if you want to add things to the sidebar, such as links. If you change your template (skin), your posts and comments are not affected, but you will lose any changes you have made to your template, such as sidebar additions, so before changing the template (skin), copy the whole template (or just the sidebar) into Wordpad (the reason for not using Word or something similar has to do with line breaks which might result, I believe), change the template (skin) and then paste the sidebar back into the html template. I am sorry if this is confusing. I think "template" is used both for the "skin" (color and appearance of the blog) and for the html code which is underneath everything on the blog. I may not have explained this very well! Nina Liakos |