Putting the Purple Coo widget on your blog

Here is today's tutorial; I really enjoy doing these, though I always feel slightly guilty about the time it takes to do when I no doubt could and should be doing something else - pity I can't do it for a living.

So, if you want to put the clickable Purple Coo link like the one at the right on your blogpage, you will need to add the appropriate code to the right place on your blog customization page - DON'T PANIC! Here are the steps to take - I suggest you read it through first then try it.

1. You will need to copy the contents of the box of code below and then paste that code somewhere else.

2. To copy the code:
Either right-click in the box, choose Select All if available, right-click again and choose Copy,
Or left-click in the box, then CTRL-A (to select all) then CTRL-C (to copy) - can't remember the Mac route, but Mac users will know.

<a href="http://www.purple.dreamhosters.com/" target="_blank" title="Come on over to Purple Coo"><img width="208" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/x/blogger2/1388/655686403497433/1600/z/805720/gse_multipart48162.jpg" height="42" /></a>

3. Now open another browser window (so you can refer back to this one) and open up your own Blog. Click on Customize (top right of your screen), then the Layout tab, and it should open up the page with the Add And Arrange Page Elements option, as below (click picture to enlarge):

4. Your blog's layout may be different, but at the top of one of the sides there should be the option to Add a Page Element, as pictured above - click that and you will get the page pictured below. Again, click to enlarge:

5. When you click on the blue ADD TO BLOG button for the HTML/Javascript option shown above, you will get to the Configure HTML/Javascript page, as shown below:

Once you paste in the code that you've previously copied, click on the Save button and then view your blog - if things have gone according to plan the clickable Purple Coo banner should now be on your blog's side column. If it's not, try again or email me and I'll try to help.

Fake links in emails etc

If you have arrived here from the Purple Coo Common Room post "Interesting website", you have obviously clicked on one of the links I gave in that post.

Chez nous we have had several spoof PayPal emails, with the subject line along the lines of "Problem with your account", "Account temporarily suspended" and "Security alert on your account!". I spotted them as fakes because one of the things one of the emails asked me to do is to click on the link they give to activate my account, ostensibly to verify the credibility of the email they have sent; however, when I hovered the cursor over the link, I saw a completely different address in the Preview Pane status line - see the image below:

All they have done, which is what I did in my Common Room post, is type an 'apparent' link, or make a 'button' link, with the 'actual' link being to somewhere completely different to where you think you'll be going if you click on it. Bad grammar and misuse of Capital letters in the body of the email message is also a clue.

If you DO get an email purporting to come from Paypal that you think might not be from them, the address to forward it to for verification is: spoof@paypal.com. They will get back to you to say whether it is bona fide or not.

Putting links in your blogs

Make sure you're writing in the Compose section of your draft post (click the Compose tab to make sure). When you're ready to make your link, find the link you want, copy it, then write the words you want to be the link text, highlight that text, then click on the little symbol with the bit of chain ( this icon - 2 symbols to the right of the italics symbol above where you're writing); in the space/window that pops up, paste the link you've copied, making sure there's only one occurrence of http:// at the beginning, then click OK. The link will appear in your draft post, in blue, with blue underlining, which you can then publish. Here's one for Purple Coo. However, if your site is on a blue background, and the typeface of your site is blue, the link won't show up as a link until you hover over it, in which case, highlight the link in your draft post and change its colour, using the symbol just to the left of the link symbol. Then it will show up as an underlined link in the colour you've chosen - in this case, red.

Putting an Email link on your Blog, not on your Profile

If you want to put an email link like the one at the right on your blogpage, as opposed to on your profile, in case people come directly to your page without going through your profile, here are the steps to take.

1. In the box of code below, type the email address you want to use in place of youremail@whatever

2. Copy the code: either right-click, choose Select All if available, right-click again, choose Copy, or CTRL-A (to select all) then CTRL-C (to copy) - can't remeber the Mac route, but Mac users will know.

<br><a href="mailto:youremail@whatever"><span style="font-weight: bold; font-family:verdana; font-size:130%; color:red;">EMAIL ME</span></a>

3. Now open another browser window (so you can refer back to this one) and open up your own Blog. Click on Customize and it should open up the page with the Add And Arrange Page Elements option, as below (clcik picture to enlarge):













Your blog's layout may be different, but at the top of one of the sides there should be the option to Add a Page Element - click that and you will get the page pictured below. Again, click to enlarge:




















Once you click on Add to Blog on the Text element option, you'll get this page:














Click Save Changes at the bottom and you'll see the final page:









And you should be done.

Slideshow tutorial

At bottom right of mountainear’s slide display (or mine) click the little button marked 'slide' ringed in red:

That will take you to the Slide website’s opening page, as below (click on image to enlarge, then Back to return):


Down the bottom of that, browse to photos you have on your computer and upload one at a time. Each time you upload one the display above will show how it will appear (click on image to enlarge, then Back to return):


As you add photos, they will appear down at the bottom of the Slide window, so scroll down and see what you can do, be it adding Captions to each image, changing the size and colour of the Caption text and background or even choosing to have no captions at all, and the changes will take place as you make them (click to enlarge, Back to return):


When you’ve uploaded as many photos as you want, click on either of the green SAVE buttons, and you will be taken to the Sign Up page (click to enlarge, Back to return):


It’s probably a good idea to sign up so you can edit later, and remember to tick, or keep ticked, the box marked Remember Me, Then click the blue Sign Up button and you will be taken to the Share your slide show page, which is probably the most awkward part of the procedure (click to enlarge, Back to return):


Below the bit I’ve been able to copy are the instructions for copying and pasting the code into a blog post, so it shows up on your blog – I tried the 'Automatically add' section but it didn’t seem to do anything, so the second section, copying the code (which is all explained on the page) is a better route to follow, I think.

It took me several times to suss it out, but I'm sure you, like me, will get there in the end. Have fun, particularly with the Customize option, shown below, which allows different ways of presenting the photos.

Loufoque slideshow

Here's one I made earlier. Why not have a look at the instructions for making one yourself?

Putting Avatars/profile pictures on Blogger

It takes much less time to do than to type, so don't be put off.

To get the photo online that you want to use as your avatar/profile image in your Photo URL on Blogger you first need to upload the photo/s you want to a website -the one I use is http://photobucket.com. On the opening page, click on the red join now button and it takes you step by step through the (free) signing up procedure and tells you what to do. Only two stages, then click the I accept. Sign me up! button and you're done and ready to upload. There are helpful popout tips that tell you what you should do the first time.

For the photo you want to upload, click on Browse, then (if you've got a PC, I can't speak for Macs, but it may be similar) navigate to the photo you want, click it to make it go into the File name box of the File Upload dialogue window that opened when you clicked Browse, then click on Open to put it onto the Photobucket upload screen. A green tick will appear and you can click in the white space beside it to give that picture a name. Now click Upload and the photo will be uploaded. When the screen refreshes, your photo will be down the bottom in your album, so scroll down to see it. See image below.


(Click on image to get larger size, then Back to return to article)

Click on your photo to give you options for what you can do with it. One of those is Resize,


(Click on image to get larger size, then Back to return to article)

click on that and then click on Avatar


(Click on image to get larger size, then Back to return to article)

- you will be asked if you're sure you want to do this (it can't be undone, but the original photo is still on your computer, so it won't be changed), click OK and it will be resized to the right dimensions.

Once the screen refreshes it will say Image resized, and down on the bottom right are three text fields: URL Link, HTML Tag and IMG Code.


(Click on image to get larger size, then Back to return to article)

The one you want is the first, URL Link, single left click in that text field and the code will be copied to your clipboard. Open up Edit Profile in your Blogger account and in the Photo URL box rightclick and Paste, the code will go in there (or CTRL-V for PCs, apple/function-V for Macs). Save the profile changes and you're done. Next time your profile is opened, it will have found the picture at Photobucket and put it on there.