Creating a Following with HTML

Spice Up Your Blog with a Dash of Code

From time to time, I get the urge to do something new with my blog. The same thing manifests itself at home with an irresistable desire to rearrange the furniture. Fortunately for the blog (unlike moving furniture), the only heavy lifting involved is learning something new.

Now you code masters are probably laughing your closing tags off at me but I, unlike Al Yankovic, am fluent in neither Klingon nor JavaScript. However, I have picked up a few bits and pieces of HTML which you might find useful too.

How’d I Get Those Follow Buttons at the Top of the Page?

Some time ago, a friend asked me how I put my follow buttons at the top of the blog.

Come to think of it…I’m not sure if I actually sent the directions or totally forgot…sorry Selena! *hangs head in shame*

If you want to add follow buttons to your blog, you can drop them into image widgets and stack them in the sidebar and some WordPress themes have built-in follow buttons at the top of the blog. Of course, if you have a self-hosted site, you can install a social media plugin.

But, with a little code know-how and a lot of copy/paste, you can line up your follow buttons in neat row all by yourself.

Note: instructions for uploading images and using widgets are specific to WordPress. Other blogging platforms may function differently.

You can view the video version of these instructions here.

First, you need to do is find and download the follow buttons that fit your blog and turn them into hyperlinks to your social media sites. I found mine on Webtreats. They have tons of free buttons and icons. This is especially great if you want all your follow buttons to have the same style. Alternatively, you can download the free buttons provided by your social media sites.

Then, you need to upload the images to your Media Library and grab the image URL.

Don’t worry too much about image size as you can resize in the code. You can also edit the image to size (in Paint or some such…can you tell I’m a PC user?) before loading it to Media Library, edit and save the image in an online editor such as Pixlr or edit the image within your Library. If you opt to edit the image in your Media Library, just make sure you grab the updated image URL.

Note: If you edit the image in Paint, the transparent background will be lost. If your blog background is white, this isn’t a big deal but, if you have a dark background, you might want to work in Pixlr.

Next, you want to fire up an online HTML editor. You could use a Word (Open Office, etc) document to work with your code but I like the online editor because you can see each of your changes as it will look on your blog. I like the Real-Time HTML Editor.

One thing to note about the Real-Time editor is that it seems to work great in Chrome but not Firefox (for me anyway). If you try it in your browser and it doesn’t do anything, try Chrome.

You can use the following code to make any one of your follow buttons into a link to your social media.

<a href=”SOCIAL MEDIA LINK HERE” target=”_blank”><img src=”IMAGE URL HERE” width=”38″ height=”38″ border=”0″ />

The SOCIAL MEDIA LINK is the URL for your profile page. If you’re not sure how to grab it, go to your profile page on your social media site and copy the address from the address bar. Facebook is usually http://facebook.com/YourName, Twitter is http://twitter.com/YourID, etc.

The IMAGE URL comes from your Media Library.

You can change the size of the image by changing the number associated with “width” and “height.” You’ll want to keep proportions in mind when you’re working with icons that aren’t square. My Webtreat icons are all square transparent images with the social media symbol in the middle.

You can place several of these codes side by side (one after the other with no spaces) to create a follow button line up.

Here’s how it looks on the “front side” with Facebook, Twitter and StumbleUpon buttons:

Drop the completed code into a Text Widget on your Widgets Dashboard and you’ve got the makings of an epic following.

In the not too distant future, I’m planning to make the follow buttons light up or change on mouseover. When I do, I’ll be sure to share the secret with you.

What do you think? Is this something useful and fun for your blog? Any code wizards out there have suggestions?

Does Everything Belong on YouTube?

Image by Anirudh Koul on Flickr (Apapted) CC BY-NC 2.0

I’m a big fan of YouTube. I love the way just about anyone can upload a video and share their talent (okay…in some cases, the word “talent” might be a little generous). I love how folks can capture something amazing, funny, silly, weird, or cringe-worthy and share it with the world.

On the other hand, it’s more than a little horrifying that just about anybody can video anything at any time.

That time you drank a few too many Jagerbombs at the office party. The time you went to the grocery store in your crappiest sweats because it was just a quick trip and you were sure you weren’t going to run into anyone you knew. Or the time you picked your nose while stuck in traffic. Or maybe the time you had a ginormous fight with your significant other in public…and then made up passionately afterwards.

Wait a minute! Were you just filming me? If you put that on YouTube, I swear I’ll poop in your shoes.
Image by kishrieves (Katie Shrieves ) on Flickr CC BY-NC 2.0

Personally, I’m grateful no one filmed the time I had a spectacular nursing mishap when my eldest was a newborn (although I’m reasonably sure that guy across the restaurant who got an eyeful will never forget). I’m even more glad there was no YouTube or Facebook when I was growing up. I’d hate to be famous for any of the idiotic growing up mistakes I made, on the off-chance they went viral. While I may want to be on YouTube someday, I hope it’s only ever by choice.

Speaking of choosing to be on YouTube…

Recently, I’ve come across more than a few videos of kids having meltdowns in public places. Most of these videos don’t seem to be uploaded by parents, friends or relatives. On the contrary, they’re usually uploaded by a (probably childless) stranger. Then a bunch of folk add witty comments about how the tantrum “should” be handled, what a bad parent (usually the mother) the attending parent is, and how this is an example of why he or she will never have kids or how his or her kids will never do that kind of thing in public.

Those of you who are parents can stop laughing now.

Seriously.

Been there. Done that. My kiddos were very low on the tantrum-having scale (at least in public). And I usually tried hard to avoid tantrums by not dragging hungry, tired kids from errand to errand. But…I have survived a tantrumapocalypse or two. I’m eternally grateful none of those made it on YouTube (standing among all the stares and helpful advice was torture enough).

Image by rafa2010 (Rafael Edwards) on Flickr CC BY-NC 2.0

Parenting technique aside, I have to wonder at a person who uploads a video of somebody without their consent, especially a child.

I surely don’t want my kiddos on YouTube without my consent. Heck, I don’t even like friends and family posting pictures of my children without asking.

But it seems like our world is moving in an always-on-stage kind of direction.

And I’ll admit to enjoying a video of someone doing something wacky now and then. I generally only watch if the video seems to be uploaded by the folks in it or with their knowledge or if you can’t really see said folks clearly enough to identify them later.

And I may or may not have visited that People of Wal-Mart site. I’m not admitting to anything.

What do you think? What are the ethics of posting videos of other people on YouTube?

Do You Talk Too Much?

Muffin finally clears his inbox…only to discover he’s received 562 new messages.
*Image by Cassandra Leigh Gotto on Flickr CC BY-NC 2.0*

Conversations at home. Hollering at the kids. Coaxing the puppy out from under the bed. Phone calls. Work conversations. Email. Texting. Novel writing. Blog writing. Commenting on blogs. Twitter. Facebook.  Email. Email. Email. Text. Text. Text. Phone call. Phone call. Phone call.

All of this technology affords us so many ways to talk to one another. In seconds, we can make a connection with almost anyone anywhere, meeting new people, renewing friendships, reaching out to family, and sharing ourselves with the world. It’s an amazing things.

But with the power to talk to communicate anytime anywhere comes the expectation, from ourselves and others, that we should be available to talk all the time.

Maybe we’ve even become addicted to talking all the time.

What do you think? Do we talk too much? Have we lost the value of quiet time?

Do you ever get to the end of the day and feel like you just talk too much, out loud and in writing? How do we balance all the opportunities for communication with the time we need to just be quiet. What do you do for quiet?

Possibly Probably Related articles

• Smartphone addiction disrupts Canadians’ lives (vancouversun.com)
• Theater Offers ‘Tweet Seats’ To Smart Phone Addicts (huffingtonpost.com)
• Peeling Back the Layers of Modern Communication (tufts.uloop.com)
• Why I am leaving Facebook (roseofeurope.wordpress.com)
• “Technology Addiction” in the Electronic Age: Worldwide Progress or Servitude? (prn.fm)

Night of the Living ROW

Final ROW80 Check in for Round 2, 2012

Having reached the end of another ROW80, Mortimer decides to take a well-deserved nap.

We’ve reached the end of another round of ROW80. This round, I haven’t been as attentive as I would have liked. Of course, lots of life intervened. But all we can do is all we can do.

My plans for this round:

• Update ROW80 page, for last round and this one: I updated the page at the beginning of the round but it needs another update.
• Spend 15-30 minutes minimum 4 days a week on new novella. I’m working on expanding Postcards from Hell and its sequel, Ants in the Mailbox into a novella. My MIP is on hold for now: For the last month, I’ve tried to catch up with work projects and a big move. I put a hold on writing work until I get settled.

Ray Bradbury Lives On

Last week, I was in the throes of the move (the last one for the next 20 years, at least, if I have anything to say about it) and bereft of Internet. Since I rarely bother to turn on the TV (unless it’s to watch Netflix or something from the DVR) and even more rarely bother to pick up a newspaper, I did not hear about the passing of the great Ray Bradbury until last Sunday.

I wonder what Mr. Bradbury would say about our reliance on the digital word. E-books. Blogs. Google News. Yahoo! News. Search engines. Chat boards. Wikipedia. Facebook. Twitter. Books can be burned at the digital word can be altered. While I delight in the digital, I wonder…

Thus Spake the Dragon: How Useful is Speech Recognition Software for Writers/Bloggers?

*The awesome Sherry Isaac is at the Life List Club blog, talking about creating goals that really motivate us. Head on over and join in the conversation*

Some time ago, I heard about using speech recognition software for writing. One author (unfortunately, I can’t remember which one) was able to dictate thousands of words daily in less than half the time it would take to type them and without the associated strain on the hands and wrists. Although it sounded impressive, I was skeptical. The software, Dragon NaturallySpeaking, was not especially cheap and there were no free trial offers (I know, I’m a great big cheapo). There was an app, Dragon Dictation, available for free but I found it difficult and slow to use (or maybe I’m just slow and difficult). So, I shelved the idea for a while.

Fast-forward about a year and I found myself drowning in writing. I was working on my MIP, blogging, commenting and replying to comments on blogs and doing the social media tango. On a day when the words were really flowing or when the blog/social media scene was hopping, I found myself typing out a prodigious number words… and my hands, wrists, neck and back were not thanking me.

And the Writer Said, Let there be Blogs (and a ROW80 Check-In)

blog fatigue: (blawg fuh-teeg) noun

1.  the condition of being overwhelmed by one’s blog and/or the number of blogs to read, often characterized by an avoidance of blogging related activities and a loss of the pleasure previously associated with those activities

Last week, we discussed whether or not an epidemic blog fatigue was on the horizon. The consensus seemed to be that the risk of blog fatigue has indeed sky-rocketed but it doesn’t have to take any of us down.

Blogging and social media gives writers the opportunity to connect with a vast number of other writers, to see

Do the ROWky Pokey

ROW8O Check-In 10/12/11

The first week of ROW is done! I got off to a bit of a slow start but I’ll be up to speed soon. Here’s my progress so far:

• Start exercising, minimum 5 minutes at a time, 5 days/week:
  I worked out 3 days this week for an average of 10 minutes each time. Not exactly the 5 days I’d planned for but still better than 0. I’m getting into the habit now, so hitting all 5 days next week should be no problem.
• Update ROW8O page for the new round: Haven’t updated the page yet.
• Have Friday’s Life List Club guest post ready to go by Wednesday: Got this one done!

100 Posts…What? Already?

*The drawing is now closed. I’ll announce the winner September 19*

Guess what.

Go on, guess.

Okay, I guess the title kinda gave it away.

I’ve made it to 100 post here!

When I started this blog, I had no idea what was in store for me. Since then, I’ve found so many wonderful people and learned so much. You’ve all enriched my