#cam23, Extra Thing1: beautification

Having completed all of last year's 23 Things Cambridge programme, this year I'm just going to do each week's 'extra' Thing except for the odd Things that is new to the programme (and to me) this year. There might also be some overlap with Things from the 23 Things for Professional Development programme, too.

A favourite colour combination

The first Extra Thing is making your blog beautiful. As I commented (probably more than once) last summer, I am an inveterate tinkerer with things, and the very first things I did when I set up this blog was to start tinkering with the CSS of the template to try and get it to look how I wanted. To be honest, I never really succeeded, so spurred on by #cam23, I've changed to a Blogger template customized with some purple and yellow.

Gadgets-wise, I've had quite a few for quite a while, but I've swapped things about a bit to include a subscribe by email option and an RSS feed of recent #cpd23 posts. My favourite Blogger gadget is the 'html/java' box, because it let's you do almost anything you want to - the 'Recently registered' box over on the #cpd23 blog is created using that Gadget with some code from Delicious (to create a 'linkroll') pasted in.

Another good way to customize your blog is to make use of the 'pages' option to add a fixed pages. I've got two: one for the basics, and one to show some some things I've proud of having done.

RSS feeds for specific tags (labels) in Blogger

By Phan Văn An

Apropos nothing in particular at all, I've found that you can get RSS feeds for specific tags (or labels, as Blogger calls them) on Blogger blogs by using a URL of the following form:

http://blogname.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default/-/labelname

Change 'blogname.blogspot.com' to the URL of the blog in question, and 'labelname' to the name of the label you want, thus:

http://maedchenimmond.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default/-/I only listen to radio 4

http://misscrailsruminations.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default/-/gin

Here ends the public service announcement.

Posted by...

Over a lovely picnic lunch with some other Cam23-ers today, it was mentioned that it wasn't clear how to change the 'posted by' name at the end of Blogger posts.  I've dug around a bit, and think I've worked it out, so here are some instructions for anyone who's interested (feel free to share the link).

1) Go to http://www.blogger.com/ and log in, or navigate your way to the Blogger dashboard in any other way you like.
2) Look for the 'edit profile' option on the left-hand side, and click on it. (Click on any of these screenshots to see them bigger.)

3) Scroll down a bit on the new page until you reach the 'identity' section, and then look for the 'display name' option.

4) Type in the display name you would like, and then scroll right to the bottom of the page and click 'save profile'.

Hope this helps!

Thing 4: "Proceed, Moon"

So, for this blogging-about blogging post, I seem to have an awful lot to say, so I've split it up under a number of headings.

What makes a good blog?
I can do little more than recommend two excellent posts on this topic from Magistra et Mater and Andy Priestner on this subject. I'm going to use this blog, I think, to record and reflect on things I've done. Comments are very welcome, but I'm not writing just to get reader responses. I think I'll also be trying to highlight posts and resources that I've found interesting and/or useful.

Blogger

Whilst setting up the blog was very straightforward, customising a Blogger template takes a bit of know-how and good luck. With a bit of previous CSS experience, I've managed to bully this into a shape and style I'm more or less happy with. I've tinkered about with the gadgets in the sidebar as well, most notably to add a feed of all the latest Cam23 bloggers' posts (see also below). The Add gadget window is frustrating because the search box doesn't seem to search the 'Basics' list of features - so if you're looking for a particular gadet, make sure you read through that list first!

The photo-editing tools in Blogger also seem to leave a little be desired. Alt and title text can't be edited in the 'compose' view, it seems, which I assume will mean that most people don't bother with it. It also doesn't seem possible to chose a picture direct from a Picasa album, without so to include a picture that's already uploaded I've been copying the URL of the full-size pictures and using that. This seems a bit fiddly - can someone tell me an easier way? For arranging images on the page, it's worth following Marsh's advice and using the updated post editor.

Getting social and creating content
I've enjoyed commenting on blogs, although I think I've mostly been saying "that was interesting" and "I found the same thing", which doesn't necessarily generate interesting discussion.  I've found out some useful things from Blurtmetry and 23 Criminal Things, and had some feedback from post authors.  I think that libraries starting a blog for readers will have to consider that they'll need to set aside time for responding to readers' comments.

I've taken the plunge and created a tool for other people to use.  It's was very rewarding to find out that other people were wondering the same this as I had been - "is it possible to have a feed of all the Cam23 bloggers" - and that the solution I created was useful.  I can see that combined RSS feeds like this might be a useful service that libraries could provide for their readers, perhaps tailored to different subjects or interest groups.

Library blogs
The 23 Things blog suggested that we investigate other blogging libraries and librarians via the UK Library Blogs Wiki, but I haven't got round to that yet. It's on my to do list, though, as is also a reminder to investigate archives and museums blogs and rss feeds (tip o' the mouse to Adventures in L-Space, who notes that the Fitzwilliam museum has RSS feeds) as I'm interested in collaboration and common ground between across the 'MLA' sector.