« Previous | Ain't too proud to blog | mail it | Next »


Posted: 06.11.2002
This is how we do it...
Ok, because I'm a sucker for peer-pressure...here's the mini-Blogrolling tutorial I wrote up. Please keep in mind this was not meant to be a thorough "on the web" unofficial tutorial. It was meant to be a small set of e-mail instructions for friends having trouble only. So it's really not fancy -- just how to set up a Blogroll and get it to appear on your site.


The beauty Blogrolling for someone who's afraid of editing templates and HTML is that once you've set up a Blogrolling list, you never have to touch your blog templates again when you add, edit or delete your links! All you do is either go to the Blogrolling site and login, or use the handy dandy little bookmarklet to auto-add the page you're currently at. (The bookmarklet will fill in the site name and URL for you -- very cool. You can find more about the bookmarklet feature when you're logged in. It's in the center column under the title "One-click blogroll addition".)

Another big praise -- you can put what Jason calls a "prepend" or "append" either before or after your links. You add this feature when you're getting the code for the link-list, not in the actual entering of the links themselves. Once this is working, you will know directly from your site when each link has updated (if they ping weblogs.com)! On mine I got a little fancy and used star and starburst icons for my updated links, but you can make it as simple as "*" or "NEW". Or whatever you wish. That way when you've got a million reads like I do, you can tell exactly when they've updated (again, as long as they're pinging weblogs.com) straight from your site, rather than visiting each individual page one at a time, or waiting for weblogs.com to update.

And yet another reason I'm in love -- you choose how you want your Blogrolling list to appear. When you enter your links, you can give them a priority of between 1 and 9. (One for high, nine for low.) It's in a little drop-down box when you're entering the link. Then when you get the code to make the list, you can check for the list to display by priority. So your list won't appear in alphabetical order or random order (which are both options if you prefer them instead), but rather in the order of what you read most/first.


To get started, go to Blogrolling.com and login. If you haven't created a Blogroll yet, click on the link in the lefthand column that says "Create a Blogroll (Start Here)". Give it a name and your URL. (The reason to enter this information is so your links will be counted in the stats here, which also helps you see who has linked to you when you make the list.) Then back on the main page, once you've entered the above information, you should see your new Blogroll that you just made over in the right-hand column. Click on "add links".


At the "add links" screen, enter the Title and URL that you want. The description field is optional -- it will create a mouse-hover pop-up when you hover on a link. (I leave that blank for most of mine.) For the "target" section, instead of target_top I have target_blank so they launch in a new window. If you prefer to change top to blank, check the box that says "set as default target". Otherwise, just leave it as-is. Make sure to use the pull-down menu to set your priority between 1-9, and then click the "Add Link" button. As long as you want to keep adding links, keep the "add another link" radio button selected, and it will take you to the same "add link" page all over again.


By the way, you can also do multiple lists if you want to break your links up in chunks -- for example, here's my link list page:

http://www.tobynopoly.com/robyn/links.html

Each one of those is a separate Blogroll list (all under the same account).


When you're ready to add one (or more) of the lists to your site, click the "get code" link for each list. Select the radio "alphabetic", "random", or "priority" bullet depending on which way you want your list to display. Leave the "recently updated" box checked if you want sites updated on weblogs.com to display as recently updated. Then you fill in either/or/both the prepend and append fields with how you want the update to show up on your site. (HTML is ok if you want this to be a little icon image like mine. Or you can just take the easy route and type an asterick.) Just note that it takes 20-30 minutes after you create the code and install it for the weblogs.com updates to appear on your site. More information here:

http://www.blogblogbaby.com/archives/2002/003347.html


Ignore the table attributes section if you prefer to use CSS. Link goodies is also an optional section. Click how you want the blogrolling.com link to display as well (short version or long version). And then click "Generate my Blogrolling code" and paste into your site. If you want to customize your CSS, check out the instructions here:

http://www.blogrolling.com/css_documentation.phtml


That should be all there is to it!



Hey boy take a look at me...let me dirty up your mind...



YOU ROCK!!! I loooooove you! Thanks for sharing it!

¤ ¤ credit: Christine | 06.11.02 at 07:46 PM | link--this ¤ ¤

Oh I love you! I'll be linking to that in the FAQ until I get mine written. Unfortunately I've got new user sign-up down for the next few days until I can get all the stuff fixed and re-written. The blogger.com new engine was eating people's templates and my code was the culprit. Actually their engine was the culprit, my code was just the catalyst. I'll have new sign-ups open again soon I promise.

¤ ¤ credit: Jason D- | 06.11.02 at 07:56 PM | link--this ¤ ¤

Many will thank you for it, Rob! You rawk!!!!

¤ ¤ credit: meryl | 06.11.02 at 07:59 PM | link--this ¤ ¤

Hey, cool! Way to simplify that! Luckily, mine's already up and running, but if it wasn't I'd come here first!

¤ ¤ credit: Lisa | 06.11.02 at 09:24 PM | link--this ¤ ¤

Robyn, you save my day. I've just finished adding in my links to blogroll, and was trying to figure out how to stick them up on my site.

Now all I have to do is follow your well-written instructions, and badabing badaBoom! You rock!

¤ ¤ credit: annessa | 06.11.02 at 10:05 PM | link--this ¤ ¤

I have to admit that when I first read you were writing this I wondered who on earth would need it, but as a former tech writer I can tell you that this is a beautiful piece of explaining you've written. No assuming, no condescending, just great enthusiasm and this is how to get it done-ness.

Thumbs up. (Plus I'm all for anything that brings more attention to the best thing since MovableType, aka Bloggrolling.com)

¤ ¤ credit: Cis | 06.12.02 at 01:19 AM | link--this ¤ ¤

Now I feel like a schmuck for bad documentation :-( Oh well, I don't know any programmers that take joy in documentation.

¤ ¤ credit: Jason D- | 06.12.02 at 11:36 AM | link--this ¤ ¤

That's a great tutorial! I've been using Blogrolling for a little while now (and I love it!), but I hadn't thought to make up a page of links using separate blogrolls.

¤ ¤ credit: Meredith | 06.12.02 at 03:17 PM | link--this ¤ ¤

Don't feel bad at all Jason! Sometimes it just takes a blonde to blonde it down for the masses... ;-)

¤ ¤ credit: robyn | 06.12.02 at 05:21 PM | link--this ¤ ¤

Thanks for sharing your tips!

Now all I have to do is get up the nerve to make the switch! :-)

¤ ¤ credit: Kiril | 09.18.02 at 04:19 PM | link--this ¤ ¤




URLs that have pinged me for this entry:



All old ping links have been removed from this blog. Die spammers, die!




Hey pretty, don't you wanna take a ride with me through my world?


Psssssst...pass it on!
email this entry to:


your email address:


additional message (optional):