Oct 26, 2006

Blogger FAQ

Question:

I have just started my first blog and really need some help with the template!!

I really don't know anything about the css, but what I want to do is to change the default banner of the Minima Template, to a graphic that I've designed in photoshop.

How do I do this????
I know this is really basic, but I need the help!


Answer:

The header is just a box on the page. It's style attributes are defined by CSS such as:


Minima CSS=

#header {
width:660px;
margin:0 auto 10px;
border:1px solid #ccc;
}

This CSS sets the width, margins and places a one pixel border around the header. One way of adding your image would be to make it the background of the header by adding this CSS:

background: url(http://the address of your image.jpg)
no-repeat;

So now you would have;

#header {
width:660px;
margin:0 auto 10px;
border:1px solid #ccc;
background: url(http://the address of your image.jpg)
no-repeat;
}

The following HTML code directs the location on the page where the header is displayed and what items are contained inside the header:

<div id="header">
<h1 id="blog-title">
<ItemPage><a href="<$BlogURL$>">
<$BlogTitle$>
<ItemPage> </h1> <p id="description"><$BlogDescription$>
</div>

Any Item placed between the opening division tag and the closing division tag will display inside the header. For example the Blog Title and Discription are inside the header in a standard minima template. By changing the above code to the code below you are removing the Title and Description and replacing it with a image:

<div id="header">
<img src="http://image address.gif" width="size" height="size" alt="description of image goes here">
</div>

The information in between quotations will have to be replaced with items specfic to your image, such as it's address, size and a short description of the image.

Not knowing what size your image is I can't tell you exactly but you might have to add a height to your header CSS if the image is cut off. Just add what ever the pixel height of your image is. For example if the image is 100 pixels height add the following which takes into account the margins:

height: 110px;

Hope this helps!


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Oct 14, 2006

Google buys You Tube

With Googles acquisition of You Tube it makes one wonder if there is a logo change in the future. I've drafted a couple of possibilities, let me know what you think.

You can experiment with your own options with Custom Google

Oct 12, 2006

Tooltips

Here is a cool little CSS trick I stumbled across thanks to Len Kutchma and the Theatrum Mundi Blog. By hovering -here- This is a tooltip created purely with CSS and does not involve the use of any javascript.

Because it is css-based it's appearance is highly customizable.
you can see the tooltip in action.

You can find the code and instructions for creating tooltips -here-

I experimented with the code and was also able to get the code to pop an image, check this example out.

Would you like to meet the Holywood Poker girls? Just hold your mouse
-here- to see these lovely ladies.(keeping hovering to see all the girls)

Cool eh? To pop a image just replace the text of the original code in Len's example with <img src="http://your image address.gif"/> and your image will pop on hover.


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Oct 10, 2006

Add Google Calendar to your Blog


Just click the subscribe link above and follow the directions, it's free.

Oct 1, 2006

Put Google Maps on your Blog

Google has created a JavaScript API that lets you embed Google Maps in your blog or web site. Google Maps is a free draggable map for the whole world and displays a street map with directions to any business in the U.S., Canada, the UK and Ireland (city centres only). It is currently in beta testing.

A typical application would be for a food critic's blog where one could describe his dining experiences and the map would provide a location and directions for every restuarant the blogger critiqued. I have put up a sample blog with a few entries based on restaurants located in Wilmington, NC. Here is the Link This blog also incorporates the Google core search where if you click on certain designated items, google search results appear within your blog entry. Click the Movie reviews link in the sample blog to see what I mean. If you would like a copy of the template I used, you can download it here.

Google has in developement several other API's such as the Video Search and Video Bar. You can read all about how to add these cool features to your blog by visiting the developers blog here.His blog was also earmarked as a Blog Of Note on Googles Blogger Buzz.

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