Sep 17 2008
Widgets, How We Love Thee
Another question about widgets, this time it comes from from Derek at Rolling Traveler:
I have a widget-related question too. How do you add widgets and buttons like those from Blog Catalog to your sidebar? I’ve noticed that you and several other Today bloggers have them, but I can’t for the life of me work out how you get them on there. I’ve tried every tab in the Control Panel, and even tried adding them as links to the blog roll. What am I missing?
Add-ons like Blog Catalog and anything else that involves the addition of HTML to your page are all added by using the same widget, but you might not recognize it when you first see it because the label is a slight misnomer.
To start, let’s get to the widget page by clicking on “Look & Feel”. Then you will see the current theme you are using and to the right is a text link marked “Widgets”. Click that link to get to the starting point.
To get to it you need to be on the widget page for your theme. The image on the left is what my first widget looks like on this page to the reader. It contains text and HTML (an email link).
There is no widget labeled “HTML”, so where do you put that sorta stuff?
On your widget page, you’ll see something along the lines of the image above. The widgets that include HTML are all labeled “Text 1″, “Text 2″, etc. The problem is that you probably only show one available text widget but you might need more. How do you do it?
On the same page, scroll down until you see this:
As you can see in my example, I have changed the number of available text widgets on this blog to 3. You can set it to as many as you need, and once you have clicked Save, those widgets will appear in your available widgets box.
Then all you need to do is drag them into your sidebar, click them and paste in your necessarily HTML. Be sure to click Save changes or all will be lost!
Thanks for the question, Derek! Keep on rolling!
20 Responses to “Widgets, How We Love Thee”
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How did you add the little green square that says “got questions?” Is that just a perk of this particular theme or can it be done on all?
Isn’t that the question I just answered by writing this post?
It is a text widget in which I included text and HTML.
*tap tap tap* is this thing on?
Michael, Answerman, you are my blogging hero. Can I touch the hem of your cape?
Seriously, thanks a million. I’ve been slowly building up my blogs, and this is one of the more important things I couldn’t work out. It meant I couldn’t fully be part of the networks I wanted to join.
I am a little embarrassed: I tried the “Text 1″ button on its own, without clicking it, and assumed there was something wrong with it…
* blush *
Fantastic! I’d completely failed to spot all those settings below … *blush*
Glad I could help, folks. Just don’t step on my cape on your way out the door.
Great tips!! I had figured out the text box, but not the quantity.
You said “On your widget page, you’ll see something along the lines of the image above. The widgets that include HTML are all labeled “Text 1″, “Text 2″, etc.”
My admin area (blog links, add a link area) does not look like what you have posted.
What does your area look like? Start by telling me what you see at the top of the page.
Thank you so much! I was getting angry, for a moment!!
You added that widget right into your actual post. I do understand how to do the widgets on the sidebar, but I don’t think I am clear on how you added it into your actual post???
thanks
Kristy
James: No need to get angry! Just ask the Answerman!
Kristy: That’s a screen capture (image) of the widget itself. I’m making a post in a few minutes about how to use images in your posts.
Hi Answerman,
I was referred to this post from today.com. What I want to do is add one of those cute orange widgets to my sidebar so people can subscribe to my blog via rss. How do I do that?
Thanks,
Angela
you can subscribe to a service like feedburner or you can create a graphic that links to your existing RSS feed (look at the links on the right side of your page, just scrill down and you’ll see the link).
I see where people can click on the meta link on my page but I don’t understand how to turn that into the orange button. Like you have at the top of your page - only yours is green
Thanks,
Angela
Angela,
That is a feature of the individual theme and not something anyone has added after the fact.
That’s a bummer.
I like my theme. Where can I find a graphic to link to my current RSS feed? Maybe that would make it more noticeable.
Thanks,
Angela
You have now become my answer hero!! I came to your page looking for this very specific question, and lo and behold, there’s the answer. I know it must get tired sometimes to hear the same questions over and over, so I thank you for your time you take to explain it all out.
My current theme is Digg 3 Columns
Can I get more little boxes at the top of the page besides Home and About? If so how do I do it? What kind of widgets are those on the top of thepage anyway
Thanks
If you’re referring to the links at the top of a blog, those are links to the pages that you’ve created on your blog and they appear automatically when a new page is created, depending on the theme you have selected.
I followed your directions to a T for adding an advertisement. It worked absolutely perfect! Thanks for this great information.
happy6