[Tags] [Blogger] Putting your tags on a post template

Thanks to Andrew for all the good information about tags. He helped me find a mistake I was making in Technorati that completely knocked me out of their system (at least I think that's what did it, anyway it's fixed now).

I wanted to share an idea I had that is working well. Now mind you, I'm in first grade in this s'cool, so if everyone else already is doing this, just indulge me. I am pretty proud that I thought of it.

On Blogger there is a place in dashboard (under Settings / Formatting) where you can create a post template by adding any html language for formatting that you want to use on every post. I use the same tags for Technorati about 90% of the time, so I made a template with the tags on it. That way they automatically are on the new page when I create a new post. It's great. It's much easier than saving them as a text file and cutting and pasting every time, which is what I had been doing. And if I want to change one of the tags, I can just go into html when I create the post and change what needs to be changed.

I hope there is someone reading this who is as technologically challenged as I am who can benefit from this idea.
Kalyn

Big Blog looking for food bloggers. Will pay small fee:

This an email that was sent to everyone at Food Blog S'cool:

Hello--

I've been enjoying food blog s'cool as a lurker. I write for Weblogs Inc (home of luxist.com, engadget.com and other large blogs). We are planning a food blog and looking for foodies interested in blogging with us. There is a small amount of pay involved. Your blogroll is such an amazing list of talented foodbloggers, I thought I'd check in and see if any of them would be in coming aboard. Our dream is to create a blog that brings together food-passionate people from around the world who have a variety of opinions, cooking styles and levels of expertise. You can have interested people email me for more info.


Thanks,
Deidre
deidrewoollard@gmail.com

IMBB tea spam, er... offer

Did anyone else get this email? I'm posting it here cause it shows a landmark in IMBB events- they're attracting spamer attention! And yeah, I guess it is ironic that I'm re-posting it...

edited July 31: the offer for free tea from Adagio looks legitimate (see Clement's response in the comments). I'm sending off for a free tea set on behalf of this Food Blog S'cool mention. Do you want to try out Adagio's tea and get a free tea set? Click here and to see the details. They are offering a free tea set in exchange for a link posted on your website. Now if only that guy contacting me about posting a link to his KitchenAid site would offer us free Kitchen Aids in exchange...)

Hello,

Might you be taking part in this month's "Is My Blog Burning," an event that
brings together bloggers from around the world to cook dishes with a common
theme?

This month's theme is tasteTea, a dish of your choice prepared with tea:
http://www.alacuisine.org .

We would like to contribute by mailing you complimentary teas. We are Adagio
Teas, the most popular destination for tea online: http://www.adagio.com

Simply reply with your selection of teas and mailing address. Will gladly
contribute to your participation in the IMBB phenomenon,

There are always more people watching and reading your blog thatn you are aware of...

Hi Everybody!

Does anyone (who uses a Mac) know if there is a way to make photo collages (a la Picasa) with Flickr? I am not the biggest fan of posting multiple shots, and would love to put up just one that is a collage/series.

Thanks!

Rachael

[HTML] Site Search

I finally figured out how to get Google to search my site, BUT I still can't figure out how to get it to search the archives. I'm sure it's a basic code change, but I'm just too html-challenged. Will someone please help me? Thanks!

[Blogger] another unwanted space problem

I am trying to add this table to my blog but for some reason it adds a huge chunk of space above it	< Help	I can't work out why because there is nothing before I start the code for the table
	Me Please!>

the code I am using to create the errant table above:

<TABLE BORDER width="425" CELLPADDING=2 CELLSPACING=2> <TR> <TD ROWSPAN=2 bgcolor="#EE799F">I am trying to add this table to my blog but for some reason it adds a huge chunk of space above it</TD> <TD width="55" bgcolor="#EE799F"><span style="font-weight:bold;"> < Help</span></TD> <TD ROWSPAN=2 bgcolor="#96C8A2">I can't work out why because there is nothing before I start the code for the table</TD> </TR> <TR> <TD bgcolor="#96C8A2"><span style="font-weight:bold;"Me Please!></span></TD> </TR> </td bgcolor="#fef5fc"></TABLE></span>

mailing lists?s

Hi all!

My wife and I have recently started blogging for our upcoming newborn as well as the food-related blog that I run. (They're http://darelleats.blogpspot.com and http://babyhartlen.com if you're interested)

Is there as way to start up a mailing list so that when a site is updated, people get the new post emailed to them? When I update our blogs, I do get an email in my main account, so I guess I could just forward that to everyone, but it would be nice if this could be automated.

Several of the people who frequent our baby site aren't completely computer savvy (read: grandparents, etc.) so going with .rss feeds isn't really an option (although I should set one up for the foodie blog).

Sorry for the non-food related spam, but I thought this would be a good place to ask!

Cheers,

Darell

(Blogger) My Site Search Stopped Working

I hope this query is not just displaying how dumb I am about all this technology stuff, but if so, I guess it's still ok because I can really use help. I am having a strange problem with my site search. For some reason my site search button (on the nav bar on Blogger) is not able to find anything posted after July 8. (I discovered this by trial and error until I came to the dates where the search is working.) It also does the same thing on my Google AdSense search box. I posted a question on blogger forum and someone replied and said it is probably because Google has not indexed my site since then. Is that possible that it would be that long since they have been to my site?

My previous posts before July 8 show up fine when I type in an ingredient and search. I get a complete list of everything. Therefore I am assuming (maybe incorrectly) that it can't be a template problem, otherwise when I republished it would have affected every post.

This is driving me crazy because I have a small but loyal group of readers who use the site all the time to find recipes. Currently they can't find anything I've done for the last two weeks, except by scrolling down the page.

I would be so grateful for any suggestions or ideas that anyone is willing to share. (I'm only in about the first grade in this s'cool, so please speak slowly and use short words.)

Thanks,
Kalyn Denny
http://kalynskitchen.blogspot.com

Is Trackback Useful?

I've read up on trackbacks but I still don't understand how it works. Is this a useful thing to have? I added in free haloscan trackbacks and comments to my blog and then learned that unless you are a paid haloscan user, old comments (3 months I think) won't be displayed. They don't tell you this when you register...at least not that I saw. Then I had to go back in and remove the haloscan comments and replace the blogger ones. I kept the trackback though. Should I ditch that too?

[Blogger] How I load Images

I load all of my images to Blogger using Picasa and Hello

why?

Because it works perfectly every time

It is fast and easy

It is absolutely free

Blogger allows you to load large images - up to 1024 res

I currently have over 1500 x 1024 res images stored on blogger for free

Other Considerations

I have a separate blog dedicated to my photographs which I hide from my profile

When using hello I set my Inline image to 400

When using hello I set my Archive image to 1024

Picasa/Hello work only with a PC. Not available for mac users.

Blogger does not allow third party links to photographs stored on Blogger

The photos I store on Blogger can be used on any Blogger blog I own

But ther Blogger bloggers cannot directly link to my photos.

How to I add my pictures to my Blog posts?

First I make Sure I use navigator tabs. File->New->Navigator Tab (or Ctrl+T)

In one window I open the blog post I am creating.

In another window I open the blog where I have loaded my pictures.

I go to the picture I want to use, click my right mouse button down on it and select "View Image"
This shows me the photographs resolution at 400 resolution.

I select the url http://photos1.blogger.com/img/164/977/400/RachaelRayAndSam.jpg and 'Copy'

I go to the post I am creating and paste in the url of the image into the appropriate place.

What is the appropriate place?
Here are some examples:

Explanation of this example (look in the grey box underneath for the code)
The first url with the href is the link - this is where you will go if you click on the photo. This could be the same image, a larger image or another webpage. In this instance it is a larger version of the image. Next we read in the image you will see on your post. the border is set to 0 = no border. The class is a blgger thing - you could cut this out and it would still work. Next we align the picture to the left size. Left can easily be replaced with right. This will only work where your ohoto is small enough to allow text to wrap to the side in your post. Next I am reducing the size of my image further using width and height. If you do mthis make sure you keep the proportions/ratio the same as your original photo. If you cut the width and height your picture will show up at the input res of 400. Fianlly alt - this is the magic bit: ANy words you choose to put in here will be alternative text for your picture. This is a great way of hiding words in your post that will be picked up by google searches, but that you will never be seen by the general public looking at your post.

<a href='http://photos1.blogger.com/img/164/977/1024/RachaelRayAndSam.jpg'> <img border='0' class='phostImg' src='http://photos1.blogger.com/img/164/977/400/RachaelRayAndSam.jpg'align="left" height="148" width="200" vspace="8" hspace="8" alt="photograph picture Rachael Ray and Sam "></a>

I coud do more of these examples if anyone needs help, but that is enough for tonight.

Why don't I use Flickr?
Well - actually I do use Flickr a bit - for loading pictures I want to show in a Flickr group like EOMEOT and or if I want to them to show on technorati tag like WBW.

But the reason I haven't adopted them - was
1) they may charge you for using lots of bandwidth. (at least they did - do they still?)
2) the resolution is smaller than blogger.


Ok - that's just my world view. It may well be wrong, please feel free to correct me, but if you have a PC and use Blogger - then I can't recommend this route enough.

And also they allow auto-moblogging too which is totally easy and wonderful to use.

OK - time for dinner - hope that helps

Images and Blogs

So I'm still new to blogging and the one thing I'm still having issues with are images--the best way to upload, where to host them, how to link them, size them, etc.

I've been using Hello/Picassa from the beginning (as I thought this was my only option). I've been trying to figure out how to size the images once they're uploaded through Hello. Is this even possible or must I do it before uploading?

I noticed on a previous post that several bloggers have been using Blogger Images, but at least one person is finding that it doesn't produce very good results. Has anyone else used Blogger's own uploading and hosting service? What do you think?

I noticed some bloggers using Flickr, but is it pretty manageable (i.e. you don't spend hours pulling your hair out trying to get things to work)? How do you link from Flickr to the blog?

Looking back on this post, may I suggest a "class" on the various ways to upload and host images? Is there anyone interested in teaching. I know I would be a diligent student with virtual notebook ready.

[Blog Directories] Good? Bad? Ugly? Your Opinions Wanted

I'm a new blogger and have just learned about blog directories. I read about Blogtopsites.com here, and signed up for that one (thank you!). Now I am finding out about other sites like blogwise and blogarama.

Help. Any advice for a beginner? Comments? Suggestions? Warnings? Favorites? Are any giving you tons of spam or some other unpleasant thing? If you use them, do you think they are helping bring visitors to your blog?

Thanks!

Posting Logos / Images in Typepad

We have a couple logos going for the Eat Local Challenge and a fellow blogger asked me for help getting her logo into a side column. I wrote out the directions for her and thought I'd post them here too in case they can help someone else. This works if you have Basic or Plus. If you have pro, you need to just add the image ref to your template.

Disclaimer: I am not claiming that this is the best way -- there is probably someone who will see my dorky way and laugh, but I know that it works.

The directions can be found here (I tried to cut and paste into Blogger but it took my text and tried to make it into image files and it was ugly).

Jennifer added the following note: One thing I did notice is that when I try to place the logo link on the left, under the "about" link, it offest my entire blog in a bad way. It worked much better either at the end of the typelists on the left or at the top or bottom of the right. Not sure why this is, though.

Common Screen Resolutions

Do you ever think about screen resolution when developing your blog? Below are the most common screen resolutions, which is interesting reading for those of us who are creating web spaces for the "public."

1. 1024 x 768 54.02%
2. 800 x 600 24.66%
3. 1280 x 1024 14.1%
4. 1152 x 864 4%
5. 640 x 480 0.6%
6. 1600 x 1200 0.8%
7. 1152 x 870 0.1%

I just checked my stats, and they run pretty close to the above numbers, provided by onestat.com. The one that really always surprises me is that the #2 screen resolution is 800 x 600. Have you ever tried looking at your site in that resolution? It's not always pretty.

It's definitely not the end of the world if you never check on this, but it's sometimes a nice thing to do when you are playing around with templates.

There are a couple of ways that you can see what your site looks like at a different resolution. I believe that there are a couple of programs you can use. I usually end up changing my display settings on my monitor to check on things:

From a windows box:
> Open your control panel and select display
> Select the settigs tab
> Change the screen resolution to the resolution you'd like.
> Select ok.
> To change it back, do the same thing.

Interestingly, once I do this then the sites that drive me crazy with their teeny tiny font (ie., dooce) look great in 800 x 600. I think I'm getting old ;)

P.S. Can anyone tell that I am procrastinating? I mean, who needs to check screen resolutions in the middle of the day!

[calendar] Dine and Dish no. 4 Has a Celebrity Host!

Dine and Dish no. 4 has a celebrity host! By now, you probably have all already been over to the host's site to check out the theme (and most certainly laughed your patootie off), but in case you haven't...the celebrity host for Dine and Dish no. 4 is SAM of Becks and Posh!!!

Now take the little jump over to her annoucement post to see why Sam should becomes a cover model for Maxim magazine ;)

FYI - the deadline is Monday, August 22.

[Blogger] [HTML] I hit enter once, blogger acts like I hit it twice

Help. After typing about five paragraphs of a post just now, Blogger suddenly started adding an extra blank line every time I hit the enter key to start a new paragraph. Usually I end a paragraph and I have to hit the enter key twice to get a blank line (that I want to be there) between each paragraph. Now I hit enter once and it skips two lines, making my post look stupid. I didn't go in and change anything (at least not on purpose--maybe I hit some weird key?)

Here's the link to the problem post in case looking at it helps you (scroll down a little ways to where the numbered lines start. After each numbered line, I didn't put that blank line in there): http://foodiefarmgirl.blogspot.com/2005/07/ten-tips-for-better-bread.html

And one more thing. When I put in a link (like to a book title), it's putting a space in between the last letter of the link and the next thing I type. For example, I ended a sentence with a book title link and there is a space between the last letter of it and the period. That definitely makes me look like an idiot. Any ideas?

I had a similar "double space" problem happen when I typed up a recipe that had lots of short lines. It looks like I made it double-spaced, but I didn't. And then the paragraphs of instructions look double spaced but aren't. I don't know how to fix that one either. Here's the link to it (the recipe is at the bottom): http://www.foodiefarmgirl.blogspot.com/2005/06/chocolate-chip-sheep-chocolate-chip.html

I'm really new to (and bad at) all this mysterious HTML stuff. Any help greatly appreciated! Thanks!

P.S. Okay, this is really weird. On this post (my first time here), I hit the enter key three times after each paragraph and still couldn't get a blank line between them?!

About that stupid grey blogger bar ^ above

I don't know why it is there instead of the top.
I copied the same template to my test blog and it didnt have the same error.
Despite Amy's post on the subject a few days ago, I can't work out how to get rid of it on this blog, sorry.

Please be patient until I can try agin.

Thanks

Food Blog S'cool Goes International!!

Food Blog S'cool has spawned its first sibling educational establishment in a language other than English. Congratulations to our French-speaking friends, who now have a forum for their food blogging questions too.

Nos blogs cuisinés has been launched by "Claire Japon" who has a beautiful blog called Clea Cuisine.

If you would rather be speaking French instead of, or as well as, English during class, then head over to Nos Blogs Cuisinésand sign up. It works (I think ) in much the same way as this blog, although is more "canalblog" oriented.

School memembership is not exclusive. You can be a member of both if you can converse in the appropriate languages.

[Calendar] Uncle Wiggly's Good Time Cooking Contest

Yup, you guessed it. A cooking/recipe contest is being held in and around Meathenge. In the last six months or so I've run out of those nice daily meals for my family. In a little over 10 years I feel I've done really well. However, today? I feel like a used tube of toothpaste.
Please take a moment to go read the details of the contest and come share the love.

Biggles

[Misc] Get a logo made for your blog!

www.gotlogos.com will design a logo especially for you for $25. They also have more expensive packages in case you want to do more with your logo than just post it, like use it on T-shirts, etc.

[calendar] More events to mark in your diary

Announcement: Wine Blogging Wednesday #12 -- Drink Local. Real Local.
go to Lenndevours for the announcement.

Check out Jen Maiser's site Life Begins at 30 for more details on what else you can do to eat local during the month of August. I hope I am not being presumptious in suggesting she might be a good person to turn to if you have any questions or need any help or encouragement.

Announcement: Sugar High Friday #10 -- Oh Honey, You Shouldn't Have!
go to Baking Sheet for the details.


Announcement: Does My Blog ook Good In This # 7 --!
go to Lex Culinaria for the details.

[calendar] reminder for 2 blog events

*****************************************************************
Reminder: for Dine and Dish no. 3 - please make sure to send an email.
Otherwise this lazy girl just might miss it ;)
*********************************************************

Most of us are very busy with our summer schedules - in real life and our cyber lives - so much that it's hard to keep track of everything that is going on! just wanted to pop in with a calendar reminder about two online events coming up:

1) Paper Chef no. 8 kicked off last Friday, and because our Chairman Owen of Tomatilla is on vacation this week, the deadline has been extended by one whole week to Monday July 11! The list of ingredients are: cheddar cheese, olives, spinach, and either cream or potatoes (but not both). So off we go for another twirl in each of our own personal kitchen stadiums!

2) July 11 is also the day for our delicious dishing session for Dine & Dish no. 3 - The Freshman. Just eat out at a place that is in its first year (freshman) then post about the experience (the good, the bad, the ugly) on Monday, and email me with the link to the post. I'll put up the summary on The Delicious Life sometime shortly thereafter.

[photos] blogger is killing me!

is anyone else having trouble with posting photos to blogger with the program Hello? i have not been able to upload a single photo all morning, and it's driving me crazy!

Psst! Wanna remove the Blogger navbar?

If you are hosting your Blogger blog you can easily remove it but if Blogger is hosting it you'll need a work around. I have been experimenting on my "test blog" and found this code that removes the top navbar (if you are so inclined).


Find < body >

insert before and after

< noembed >
< body >
< /noembed >

remove the spaces between the < > and voila! your navbar goes bye bye

3 columns in Blogger?

Has anyone successfully found a way to create 3 columns in blogger or blogspot? Would you be willing to share info and html code? Thanks so much, Carolyn

linking your other sites to your food blog

Like many others with a food blog, I have other web sites--some business, others personal--and I am wondering about establishing linkage between them and my food blog. I can see how perhaps a link to my business might be a good idea (I am a writer so this even makes sense) but then there are others that I am less sure about.

Like sites based on humor.

I have a Cafe Press site that is selling items with a humorous line on them. But one person's joke is another person's fighting words so I am not sure if I should link one site to another. OTOH, it's not unreasonable to use one of my sites to promote another of my sites--especially the one that might make me a nickel.

But I don't want to lose readers either.

Thoughts? What of your other stuff do you link to? How? Have you had any feedback or did nobody even notice?

(if you want to see the humor in question, the cafe press shop is "usorthem" (all one word) but i am not linking directly to avoid this seeming like self-promotion, which is not the point)

Blog Polls, Cont

In the post below, darell asked if there is an easy way to create polls in your blog. I just found a site called blogpoll that allows you to create your own polls - I am testing it out here:

polls?

is there an easy way to add a poll to your blog?