JSON Two Click Blog Archives Gadget for Bloggers.

Archives in the real world is a place where we deposit historical records and documents. In Blogger Layout Templates the Blog Archives is a place on your blog page showing all your blog post linked titles. The Classic Templates show only ten previous posts.


Since the default Archives gadget which comes with every Layout template shows only the latest month posts we have used various methods to create gadgets showing all post titles. The latest method uses JSON (JavaScript Object Notation) to extract linked post titles from your blog feed.


It can be installed with two mouse clicks (using the widget installer from Beautifulbeta) and no coding is required...........

How To Install

The installation process cannot get any simpler! Just click on the button below :

You will get a dialog window (disable any popup blocker) :



Click on picture to enlarge it.

Under 'Widget Title' type in whatever title you wish. Under 'Customize Widget' type in your blogspot subdomain (That is the part which appears before 'blogspot.com' in your blog address.) Then click Customize button. The 'Add Widget to my Blog' button will become active. Click it to get the next "Add Page Element' window :



Click on picture to enlarge it.

Here you can select the blog to add it in. You can add this to other blogs also to promote traffic to another blog. Type in a title for the widget and click the blue 'Add Widget' button at the bottom. Then click View Blog to see the result :



If you have lots of posts be ready for a long sidebar. If you want to have an archives widget in a smaller space check out Gadget No 29 - Scrolling Posts Gadget on My Gadget Showcase Blog.

Gadget Features

1. Easy to Install in two clicks only. Native Blogger Gadget/widget.

2. No coding knowledge required.

3. Uses Google Code.

4. Shows all (max of 1000) blog post titles.

5. Post titles linked to Posts.

6. The credit link is generated by Javascript and so does not generate a linkback to my blog. It is only for information for other bloggers who may wish to install it. So please do not remove it.

Read Multiple Blogs in One Go with OPML.

Many new bloggers are puzzled about blog feeds and how to subscribe to them. In the new layout templates Blogger has provided a default "Subscribe to Posts Atom" link at the bottom of the Main Page. This is not ideal as a better place would be to place a prominent Feed Icon at the top of your sidebar as in this blog.



To subscribe to the feed of this blog click the big orange icon at the top of the middle column. The feed will get added to your default feed reader. You can do this with every blog you come across which you find interesting but what if you want to read more than 100 blogs. This is where OPML comes into play..............

WHAT IS OPML?

OPML (Outline Processor Markup Language) is an XML format for outlines. It is a file containing a list of site or blog feeds that you have subscribed to in your feed reader.


You can open the file with Notepad and see that it is written in XML but the file is saved not with a txt extension but with an OPML extension . You can create this file manually using XML knowledge but more easily using your Feed Reader settings.....

BACKUP FEED LIST WITH OPML

You can backup your full list of blog feed subscriptions from within your Feed Reader. This is important if you wish to share your feed list and also if you upload the file to any free host like Googlepages you can access it from anywhere.
In Google Reader go to Settings and click on "Import/Export" link at the top. Then click "Export your subscriptions as an OPML file" link.


You can also import other feed lists. On the same page click Browse button and select the OPML file on your PC and then click Upload button. All feeds in the file are imported in one go.


In My Yahho login first and then get your subscriptions as a OPML file here. Right click the link and choose 'Save link as'.

SHARE OPML FILES

You can share your OPML files with others by uplading them at online OPML sharing sites like share.opml.org You can search for OPML files in your speciality at www.opmlsearch.com Here is CNET News Blog OPML file :

http://www.news.com/html/ne/blogs/CNETNewsBlog100.opml

Right Click the link and choose Save link as to save it to your PC. Then upload it to your reader. You will get the feeds from 100 blogs all neatly categorized in one go in your reader. You can unsubscribe from the ones you do not wish to read.


Enjoy!

Tips on Using Google Reader with Site Feeds.

As the World Wide Web exploded with millions of sites it became tedious to surf to each site especially in the age of Dial-Up. Hence Site Feeds were invented to push content to your desktop. Instead of using a browser to fetch each site content individually viewers subscribed to Posts Atom as in Blogger Blogs and read all the content in a Feed reader.



Google Reader is an online feed reader or aggregator where you can subscribe to multiple site feeds to read their content. Now with Google Gears you can use it to read your feeds on the tram : Official Google Reader Blog: Oh Sam I Am, can I read it on the tram?



Here are some more tips on using Google Reader.............

LOGIN TO GOOGLE READER

Google Reader is an online feed aggregator where you only need a free Google Account to access it. For this get an account and go to http://www.google.com/reader in your browser.

ADD OR SUBSCRIBE TO FEEDS

To subscribe to a site feed go to that site in your browser and look for the orange feed icon such as the one at the top of the middle column in this blog. Just click on this and the feed will open in Google Reader. You can also right click the orange icon and select 'Copy link shortcut'. Then in Google Reader click on +Add Subscription link in the left pane and paste the feed url there and OK it. Blogspot blog feeds have the following links :

http://yourblogname.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default
http://yourblogname.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default?alt=rss

Substitute actual blog name in place of yourblogname. You can also subscribe to Comment Feeds and Label Feeds.

NEXT BOOKMARKLET

The Next Bookmarklet can be used to navigate to the next unread item in your reading list and marks it as read. To get it go to the Settings Page. Under Goodies tab click and drag the Next button to your bookmark bar.

GOOGLE READER IN iGOOGLE

You can add Google Reader to your personalized Homepage. This will enable you to see updates at a glance. Just click this button to do so :

GOOGLE READER MOBILE

To get Google Reader on your data phone point your mobile phone's browser to www.google.com/reader/m. You can also go to iGoogle (Personalized Home) and access the Google reader Gadget if you have installed it beforehand.

GO OFFLINE WITH GOOGLE GEARS

First install Google Gears. Then click the "Offline" link in the top right of Google Reader. This will download your latest items so that they're available when you are offline.

IMPORT/EXPORT OPML FILES

OPML (Outline Processor Markup Language) is used to exchange lists of web feeds between web feed aggregators.. If you wish to import all your feeds from another feed reader or export to them no need to add each individually. Just go to Google Reader Settings and click on the relevant links.

LABEL/TAG YOUR FEED SUBSCRIPTIONS

Under the Tags tab in Google Reader settings you can add tags to your feeds and make them public or private. Simply hit g then l to bring up the label selector. Then begin labeling an individual item, by hitting the L key on your keyboard.

SUBSCRIBER COUNT

The number of subscribers to your feed is available at Feedburner. To increase the number add a ADD TO GOOGLE button to your site. For example click on this to subscribe to this blog :

PUT A CLIP ON YOUR SITE

Add a clip of items from your Google Reader to your site. This has two advantages : It adds content to your site. It enables you to share your items with your viewers. To do this go to Put a Clip on your site. Click the Add to Blogger button or copy and paste the code given.

MONITOR YOUR READING TRENDS

You can monitor your reading trends by going to the Trends page. This shows the number of subscriptions, read items, starred items and shared items.

TOOLS FOR GOOGLE READER

These are add ons which will optimize Google Reader reading area and Reader button for IE. More tools here.



Have a tip to share? Put it in your comments to this post.


In forthcoming posts we will see how to combine multiple feeds into one feed. Also coming soon is putting your Reader in a Google Gadget.

Feedburner and Blog Feeds.

Blog Feeds are a method by which viewers can view your blog and updated content without visiting your blog. Their importance is further enhanced by Google's frequent indexing of feed content........

To make sure that your blog content appears in the Search Engine results turn on your feeds. For this go to Settings------->Site Feed------>Select Short or Full Feeds and Save Settings.

Your blog feeds once turned on are accessed using their feed URLs. The URLs for your beta/new blog's feed is

http://yourblogname.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/full
http://yourblogname.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default?alt=rss

Substitute actual blog name in place of yourblogname. For example the feeds for my blog can be accessed by clicking on :

http://betabloggerfordummies.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/summary
http://betabloggerfordummies.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default?alt=rss

Click on the above links to see the result. To view a blog's feeds in a Feed reader such as Bloglines or Google Reader simply add these URLs to it.

PUBLICIZE FEEDS

:To ensure that your viewers can easily subscribe to your blog content you have to put these URLs in a place easily seen on your blog. Blogger provides a link to them at the end of the posts. See What is Subscribe to Posts Atom.



Login to Feedburner and click on name of your blog. Then click on Publicize tab on top. Then click on Chicklet Chooser in sidebar. Choose the new standard feed icon by clicking its radio button. Scroll down and choose Use as a Widget in Blogger. Then click Go and follow instructions.

FEEDBURNER.COM

Feedburner.com provides a standard method of sending your feeds out. Your Blog feeds are taken by Feedburner and sent out. If you turn off your blog feeds then Feedburner will also give you error. To 'burn' your feed at feedburner goto feedburner.com and paste your blog URL into the text box provided and click on Next.


There is no actual burning involved. Feedburner takes blog feeds modifies them according to the settings you specify and passes them onto the readers. To make the actual connection with a blogfeed you have to first submit or burn it at feedburner. It is a once only process. Feedburner being separate from Blogger cannot connect with your feed unless you submit it to them. They prefer to call it burning in accordance with their name and probably to invest it with some portent!



Feedburner will show you what feeds are available (Atom and RSS) and ask you to choose one. Choose anyone and click on Next. Feedburner will give your feed a title and a new URL which you can copy and save for personal reference. Click on Activate Feed. The feed is now activated and you have to put the link for it in a prominent place on your site. Click on Skip directly to feed management beside the Next button at the bottom.

PUBLICIZE FEED

Buzzboost is the first option here. This takes your feed URL and turns it into Javascript code which you can embed into any other website you own which will then show the contents of your blog on that site. As an example I have added it to this Googlepages site : http://betabloggerfordummies.googlepages.com/bbd
This gives your content more exposure automatically.

Headline Animator is the second option. This displays rotating headlines from your blog. You can customize its appearance. See the left column of my blog where there is a seasonal Headline Animator. You can add this to the foot of your Emails also. Place this on another of your sites to promote your content.

FeedCount is another way to promote your feed. It is a dynamic graphic that always displays your feed's current circulation, as calculated by FeedBurner. Choose its color scheme and an animated or static appearance. This impresses your viewers into signing up for your feed.




Chicklet Chooser : These are small buttons which are the links for viewing your blog feed in any feed reader or application. You can choose the standard feed icon or any of the many chiclets. Paste the html code into a Html/Javascript Page Element in sidebar. This encourages people to subscribe to your feed by posting a friendly graphic in an easy-to-find location.

PingShot : This Notifies services when you publish. You can notify Technorati, My Yahoo, Bloglines, PubSub, Ping-o-matic, Newsgator and up to five additional services. Click on activate after choosing and then Save. Whenever you publish new content all these services are notified.

Email Subscriptions : Offers feed updates via email. Activate this and you will be given code to put in your site. Viewers can then type in their email address and click the Subscribe button. They will then receive in their email any updates to your blog.

Creative Commons : This service attaches the appropriate Creative Commons license in your feed's content. Choose the options you want and Activate and Save.

Password Protector : Basic security to keep an unwanted Tom, Dick, or Harry out of your feed. Protect your feed with a required username and password using HTTP
authentication. Any requests for your burned feed will require readers to enter a username and password to retrieve it.

OPTIMIZE FEED

Browser Friendly : makes your feed formatting easy to read in any browser. Choose among the options and Activate.

SmartFeed : Makes your feed compatible with any Reader application whether it is RSS or Atom.


FeedFlare : gives the viewer multiple options at the bottom of each post. See image below:

AUTODISCOVERY

It's a tag that tells web-based news readers and browsers like Firefox and IE7 what your exact feed address is. First View your blog in a browser and click on View----->Page Source. Locate these lines at the top :

<meta content='text/html; charset=UTF-8' http-equiv='Content-Type'/>
<meta content='true' name='MSSmartTagsPreventParsing'/>
<meta content='blogger' name='generator'/>
<link rel="alternate" type="application/atom+xml" title="test blog - Atom" href="http://yourblogname.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default" />
<link rel="alternate" type="application/rss+xml" title="test blog - RSS" href="http://yourblogname.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default?alt=rss" />
<link rel="service.post" type="application/atom+xml" title="test blog - Atom" href="http://www.blogger.com/feeds/875397467806229665/posts/default" />
<link rel="EditURI" type="application/rsd+xml" title="RSD" href="http://beta.blogger.com/rsd.g?blogID=87539746760806229665" />

Copy this code. Then goto Template----->Edit Html and locate this line :

<b:data='blog' name='all-head-content'>

Replace the above line with the source copied. Save Template.

Then in the same code replace these lines :

<link rel="alternate" type="application/atom+xml" title="test blog - Atom" href="http://yourblogname.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default" />
<link rel="alternate" type="application/rss+xml" title="test blog - RSS" href="http://yourblogname.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default?alt=rss" />

with this line :

<link rel="alternate" type="application/atom+xml" title="Your Blog Feed" href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/YOURBLOGFEEDNAME" />

where YOURBLOGFEEDNAME is the URI, of your FeedBurner feed. Save Template.

REDIRECT YOUR FEED

If your url is changed you may need to redirect your feed. Follow the instructions here.

Technorati Tags:feedburner, feed, rss, atom, autodiscovery, ping,

Technorati in Blogger Beta.

Technorati is the search engine for blogs and hence no blogger can afford to go without it in his/her blog................

Google is the generalized search engine for the web. Technorati is a search engine which is specialized for blogs. Blogs in contrast to other web sites have ever changing content and Technorati focuses on them by searching them for keywords. Each blog is indexed and individually ranked among the 50 plus million blogs in today's blogosphere. The major differences between the two are outlined below :

Search Engines Compared

GOOGLE	TECHNORATI
Generalized Search	Specialized Search
Searches static, inactive Web	Searches Dynamic Web
No Focus	Focuses on Blogs
Infrequent visits to site	Immediate indexing of content
More sites to cover	Less sites to cover increasing efficiency
Covers World Wide Web	Covers World Live Web

Just as you have to submit your site to Google and the other search engines you have also to 'submit' your blog to Technorati so that other bloggers/readers can find your blog in the blogosphere. Also by doing so you can analyze your blog traffic, backlinks and find out your blog rank.

To register with Technorati go to Technorai.com and click on Join link at the top or click here. After registering you have to 'claim' your blog which is like submitting your site. To do this go here. Claiming your blog establishes that you are the (co-)author of the blog and allows you to use other Technorati services to help increase the visibility of your blog.

During the claiming process Technorati will give you a snippet of code which you have to paste in a Html/Javascript Page Element in the sidebar. To do this go to Page Elements subtab of Template tab and click on Add Page Element in the sidebar. In the new window choose Html/Javascript option and paste the code in contents and save. Having done this go back to technorati and click on Verify so that Technorati spiders your blog. Automatic robots known as "spiders" are released by Technorati to discover content on your site and its feeds. Technorati uses RSS feeds to track updates to millions of blogs. After updating your blog or after every post you have to ping Technorati to let them know that fresh content has been added. It then sends the spiders to index the content.


Each blog you claim will be listed on the Your Blogs page. To make sure the world can see it on Technorati, click the "Configure Blog" button and check to make sure that "Include this blog in Technorati's Blog Finder" is checked. This includes your blog in its Blog directory.


Technorati receives alerts from the Blogger servers whenever a user updates his or her public weblog. To set this automated ping go to Settings---->Basic----->Add your blog to our listings----->Yes---->Save Settings. Blogger will now ping Technorati automatically whenever content is updated.


Technorati breaks up your weblog's home page into smaller sections such as posts and sidebars. You can help Technorati's spiders properly identify a unique post and its proper link destination by adding a link with a defined relationship of "bookmark" for each post. For example:

<a href="http://blog.bloghost.com/post1" rel="bookmark">Post title</a>

Technorati also uses tags to index your blog. A tag as a simple category name. People can categorize their posts, photos and videos with any tag that makes sense. For example if you have a post about films you can tag it with the tag 'film'. Another post about family matters can be tagged as 'family'. Thus you can have posts on various subjects within your blog all neatly categorized using tags. In Beta Blogger tags are called as Labels.

There are two types of tags recognized by Technorati. Post tags are tags added to your posts and they allow your posts to be listed in Technorati's tag search here. To add the tags, add the below code for each tag you'd like add to your post into the body of your post.

<a href="http://technorati.com/tag/[TAGNAME]" rel="tag">[TAGNAME]</a>

Publishing a tagged post in Blogger automatically pings Technorati about updated content. If your blog software supports categories and RSS/Atom feeds just use the included category system and make sure you are publishing RSS/Atom feeds and your categories will be read as tags.


Blog Tags are tags added to your blog on Technorati's Blog Configuration page here. These tags allow your blog to be listed in Technorati's Blog Finder and Explore feature.


Technorati indexes the home page of your weblog assisted by the content of your web feeds. If the home page of your weblog contains summaries or plain-text with no links Technorati may not recognize and index your full posts.


If you use the Atom syndication format to publish the content of your weblog Technorati can still index the full text of your post regardless of your content choices on your weblog home page. Just include your entire post within the content element of each entry and we will recognize this content as the full content of your post.


HOW TO SEARCH TECHNORATI :

You can search Technorati Blog diectory.

Technorati Tags:atom, feed, google, ping, rss, search, search engines, tags, technorati

What is "Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)".

"Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)" is a link provided at.................

the end of all your blog posts. This link is for viewers of your site/blog to view your blog without having to come to your blog. In the real world when we want to read a newspaper or magazine we go to the news-stand and buy it.

If you wish to change the words "Subscribe to Posts Atom" go to Template------>Edit Html----->Backup Template first------->Put a Check in
Expand Widgets Template box------------>Scroll down in Edit Template
text box and locate this code in Blog Posts widget :


<b:includable id='feedLinksBody' var='links'>
<div class='feed-links'>
<data:feedLinksMsg/>
<b:loop values='data:links' var='f'>
<a class='feed-link' expr:href='data:f.url'
expr:type='data:f.mimeType' target='_blank'><data:f.name/> FEED ME</a>
</b:loop>
</div>
</b:includable>


Substitute the CAPS instead of (<data:f.feedType/>). Change the CAPS to whatever suits you. Preview and save.

After having read it we like it so much that we decide to read it regularly. However, we cannot spare the time to go to the news-stand daily or monthly to buy the paper or magazine. It is then that we decide to subscribe to it. Then the news/magazine is delivered to our doorstep without us having to visit the news-stand.

In the virtual world regular users subscribe to groups whose members hold the same interst as they do. Some examples of these are Google groups and Yahoo groups. In these groups members post messages which are delivered automatically to all members of the group. They do not have to send emails to each member seperately. After the World Wide Web exploded into millions of websites viewers were confounded and confused and a wasted a lot of time visiting each site separately.

Thus RSS and Atom was born. These are the delivery guys of the Internet. RSS is an acronym that is short for Really Simple Syndication. It's a type of XML (eXtensible Markup Language) that is used for syndicating content. XML is used to describe data and is basically a markup language like HTML. To read the feed easily, download a feed reader like Feedreader.com or use an online reader like Google Reader.


TO MAKE IT WORK right click the link : Subscribe to posts - Atom and left click on 'Copy link location'. This will copy the URL of the link to your clipboard. Then go to your feed reader and paste the link into it.

DO NOT LEFT CLICK THE LINK because it will ask you to download the XML file full of code.

You can paste multiple such links from multiple sites on the Internet and then you will have updated content from all sites ready to read instead of having to visit all those sites one by one.


You can also use it to deliver updated content from other sites/blogs to your site/blog. How to do this is descirbed in Add Content with RSS feeds.

Similarly others can use this to deliver content from your site to their site. To prevent access to your feed you can hide this by pasting following code in your CSS part of template :

.feed-links {
display:none;

}

To see what is CSS part of template see Parts of Template.

The feed url for you beta blog is :

http://yourblogname.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/full
http://yourblogname.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default?alt=rss
http://yourblogname.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default

type name of your blog in place of 'yourblogname' in link above.

To add these links to your sidebar go to Settings----->Page Elements---->Add Page Element in Sidebar------>Choose Link List------>Enter the above feed URLs and for Titles add Subscribe to Posts :Atom and Subscribe to Posts :RSS.

In Classic Blogger the feed URL is :

http://yourblogname.blogspot.com/rss.xml

TO SET THE SETTINGS for your feed in Beta Blogger go to Settings----->Site Feed.

Here you can set the Settings for :

1) Whether you want your full posts to be sent in the feed or none or short.
2) Whether you want the Blog Comments also to be sent in full or short form.
3) Whether you want the per posts comments to be full, none or short.
4) Lastly if you want something else to appear in your feed like Adsense Ads.
5) Always try to set it to short so readers get a sneak preview of your posts and then visit your blog to read more on the topic.

For more info see :

• How to use a RSS FEED.
• What is RSS
• You Need RSS Atom

Technorati Tags:atom, feed, rss, subscribe to

TO ADD A GOOGLE READER BUTTON to your blog go to http://www.google.com/webmasters/add.html . Type in your Feed URLin the first Text box and click on Create Html. Copy the snippet of code and paste it into a Html/Javascript Page Element in the sidebar. For Example a Google Reader button for my blog is :

Clicking on the above button will enable you to add the feed from my blog to your Google Reader or to your Google Personalized Search Page.


TO ADD A Add-to-My Yahoo! Button GO TO :
http://publisher.yahoo.com/promote.php. Choose a button style. Enter your bew blogger feed urls which are described above. Then click on Generate Html. Copy and Paste the code generated in a Html/Javascript Page Element in the sidebar. I have added a button here below :



Clicking on the above button will enable you to add a feed from my site to your MY-Yahoo Page.



RSS Auto-Discovery

Auto-discovery is a way to let applications (such as Mozilla's Firefox browser, Yahoo! Toolbar, etc.) know there's an RSS feed on your web page or site. Then, the application lets users know they can subscribe to your feeds.

To see if your web site currently supports RSS auto-discovery, use the new Yahoo! Toolbar or Firefox browser. If Firefox has an orange box highlighted in the lower right corner , or the Yahoo! Toolbar has a blue "plus" button next to the My Yahoo! button on the toolbar, then you don't need to do anything.

Otherwise, please add the code below to your template after the metatags :

<link rel="alternate" type="application/rss+xml" title="[YOUR RSS FEED TITLE]" href="%5BURL%20TO%20RSS%20FILE%5D">

Auto-discovery tips for publishers:

Please make your titles something meaningful and descriptive (e.g., "NYTimes Top Stories") – otherwise users will see "Add RSS" when they use this feature.

If you have multiple feeds, please add this code to all feeds if possible, so users have more choices.

Make sure the LINK tags go in the HEAD and not in the BODY of the HTML document.