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Tuesday, August 4, 2009

Entrecard Top Droppers Widget

I'm going to give you a very different kind of post today. I am frequently asked questions about some of the things here on my blog such as the sidebar widgets or the design of the site. It has never occurred to me to write about some of these things until yesterday when I was asked about my Entrecard Top Droppers Widget.

For all of you that are looking for some Nature, I posted some pictures right below all of this geek stuff.

I actually put this widget together myself, and it was very easy to do. It can serve many other functions besides being for top droppers. What about a latest posts widget? Or anything else you want involving an RSS feed. So today, for anyone interested, I'm going to explain how to create this Top Droppers widget so anyone can do it. This one works strictly for Blogger blogs. Others that use javascript might also find it useful.

The first step is to find the RSS feed for your top Entrecard droppers. Go to your Entrecard dashboard, and look for the Statistics button along the top of the page. Click that button to go to your statistics page. About halfway down the page is the Tables section. The first list in that section is your Top Card Droppers. You'll see the orange RSS icon there. Right click on that icon and copy that address. It's your Top droppers RSS feed.

Next go to this site:
Feed2JS. This is the place that makes it all happen. There are other similar sites, but I use this one right now. Now paste your Top Droppers RSS feed into the box towards the top of the page. Don't worry, they tell you where to do it right on the page. There are several options you can choose now to customize the look of your widget now. Go ahead and try what you want.

When you think you have what you want or you just want to know what it will look like, click on the
Preview Feed button at the right of the page. It will pop up a window that shows what your widget will look like. You can close this pop up window at any time. If you don't like the way it looks yet, keep adjusting the settings.

When it finally looks the way you want it, it's time to generate the script for your widget. So, click on the
Generate JavaScript button that's right below the Preview Feed button. That will create a new box that is titled Get Your Code Here above where you entered the RSS feed. Copy all of the text that's inside that box. That text will become your Top Droppers Widget.

Now we will move on to the next step.
Head on over to your blog, you know, your Blogger blog page. At the Blogger bar at the top click on the word Customize. Most of us know where this goes, but I'm still going to take you through this a little bit. You are now on your Layout page. Click on Add a Gadget at your sidebar section to go to the list of sidebar widgets. Choose the HTML/JavaScript selection in the list. Now paste the text you copied right into the Content section. Pick a title for your widget. Click Save, and you're done.

All you have to do now is decide where you want to place the widget on you sidebar. That choice is up to you. If the widget doesn't look the way you want it, you can always go back and do it all again. You can potentially create all sorts of lists on your Blog with this little RSS list builder. It's all up to you. If you have any questions about my instructions, all you have to do is ask.

Now, for all of you that came here looking for my usual nature post, here are some of my latest pictures. I'll be back doing my usual nature stories tomorrow. I just had to let a little bit of the computer geek out to relieve the pressure. Now it won't explode all over everyone. Here's those pictures.




I bet you didn't know I was also a computer geek, did you?

19 comments:

  1. No I didn't know that you are a computer geek, Ratty. Till now :D Nice flowers as always :)

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  2. Thanks for sharing your "geeky" side, it will save me many hours adding it, one by one every month..

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  3. Hey Ratty,

    Thanks for the tips on creating a RSS lists. Nice photos and looking forward to your next adventure - yes, it is OK to toss in the technical stuff - we all learn from each other - that is what makes the blogging community a great place.

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  4. Thanks, I didn't notice that little RSS button there before. :-)

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  5. Loved the flower pix.
    I joined Entrecard, not knowing anything about it. I do not like it nor do I use it since. I have a ton of credits....my question is, what can I trade the credits in for before I "unjoin" it? (and how do I go about trading the credits in?) I won them from another blogger.

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  6. Hi Ratty. I just got back from vacation and am trying to play catch up. Hope all is well with you

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  7. thanks for sharing the widget ratty. what about your commentator widget? i would like to find one that goes monthly. would you happen to know of anything like that?

    the flowers are beautiful.

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  8. Great info! Thanks for sharing. Love the flowers!

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  9. Ratty, I suspected you were a fellow geek from looking at your page. My hubby and I build our own computers, I am a total geek.

    The flowers are so beautiful. I hope all is well with you.

    Judy

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  10. i am very interested with what you are sharing, very helpful information for sure, but being technically deficient in computers, it will take me time to digest :(

    it is great you are a geek, at least i know who to ask sometime. thanks for the beautiful pictures.

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  11. Ratty, thanks for the "Geek post" some good info there. Love the flowers as always.

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  12. Let this techno savvy part of you surface more often. The information you shared was definitely helpful.

    Love the photos as always

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  13. Ratty you are so multi talented. Great info. I like the flower pictures too

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  14. Thanks for the tips, they are useful.

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  15. VanillaSeven - Sometimes the geek part of me just has to burst out. I like the flowers more right now though.
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    Icy - That's the same reason I put this widget together. I like things to be automatic and easy. A blog shouldn't be that much work.
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    Mike - I hope you can use things like this on your blog. I love the tech stuff, but I try to concentrate more on the real world. I'll post little things like this from time to time though.
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    Rebecca - That button is buried and most people don't know about it. I'm glad I could help. :)
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    The Retired One - I understand. Entrecard is not everyone's taste. I dropped a few similar things myself. Entrecard has a Marketplace where you can spend your credits. If you go to your Entrecard dashboard you will see a button called Market among the others at the top. That's where you can spend credits. Or you can just do a lot of advertising before you leave. I've never used the market myself.
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    Joe Todd - Welcome back! I hope your vacation was a good one. I'm a little behind myself, but everything is fine here otherwise. :)
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    PJ - Right now I'm having some trouble with the Top Commentators widget too. The monthly version I was using stopped working. The one I use now is only weekly, so I'm looking for one myself. When I find a good one I'll let you know. It shouldn't be long.
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    Ashley - The flowers are my favorite part, but Ilove the geek stuff too.
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    SquirrelQueen - I build my own computers too. I have so many computer parts and gadgets laying around that it looks like a mad scientists dream. I have to be careful about not becoming obsessed with the stuff. Nature is my way of getting out to the real world.

    I wanted the flowers in here so I wouldn't break with my Adventure theme. I'm just catching up on everything here on the internet again.
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    Betchai - If you want to use this information but have some trouble, just let me know and I will help you through it. You can ask me any time about this stuff.
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    Poetic Shutterbug - I only yesterday realized that others might find this stuff useful. I try to stay away from the geek stuff on the blog but it sometimes bursts out. :)
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    Sound San Sense - I will definitely try to throw some in whenever I can. Sometimes I need a kickstart to remember to do it though. I get lost withing myself when my geek side shines through.
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    Ann - You'll always see more flowers here than tech stuff, but I do indeed love both.
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    Rainfield - I'm glad you like them. It's back to nature for tomorrow's post.

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  16. Thanks so much for doing this! I started early today and am just about done with drops.

    I am going to work on this today. I apologize for dropping by sooner but I had exceeded 'My Fair Use Policy' time on both satellites!

    Great flowers too!
    Jackie:-)

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  17. Shinade - I hope this works well for you. I'm glad you asked about it in the first place. It gave me a chance to write about stuff like this. If you have any trouble with it let me know.

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  18. Great info! Thanks for sharing. was follow you..

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