Our next posts in our “blog makeover” series provides an excellent opportunity to respond to Dina Strasser suggestion to do:

a follow-up post on how to (and the limits to) customizing widgets. For example, I’d like to include on my sidebar a simple link to my Twitter page (no updates).

It is recommended you read the previous post on Getting more out of Widgets prior to reading this post.

Basic knowledge of HTML provides greater ability for customizing text widgets; means you can embed photos in your side bar, link to pages on your blog or other websites, write text using bold and italics.

What is HTML?

HTML is a bit like RSS, for bloggers there is no need to fully understand it but helpful if we learn the basics of how to use.

HTML is short for “Hyper Text Markup Language” and a language used to tell a browser how to organise the layout of a web page it has downloaded from the WWW e.g. influences if text is bold, italics, a heading, bullet points.

When you write a post or page inside your blog dashboard you don’t worry HTML because the Visual Editor does it for you. If you click on the Code tab it shows the HTML code in your text.

html.jpg

Basic knowledge of HTML is really helpful for tasks like customizing widgets and writing comments on blogs.

Examples of HTML used to highlight text include:

  • <strong> tag makes text strong e.g. I <strong>really like</strong> this idea produces I really like this idea.
  • <em> emphasizes text e.g. I <em>really like</em> this idea produces I really like this idea.

Notice you must use the < and > symbols around the HTML Tags and the tag is closed using a ‘/’ (slash) in front of the tag keyword e.g. </strong>

Here’s how you can use HTML to add your photo to your Blog Side Bar

<img src=”http://theedublogger.com/files/2008/01/question.jpg” alt=”question mark” />
producesquestion mark

This is how I embedded Larry’s photo on his blog. Personal connection is important for readers — adding Larry’s photo means his readers now know more about who he is i.e. they can visualise him.

imagehtml.jpg

Final Thought

As Kevin pointed out:

if you doing a blog maker make sure you write a post to invite your readers to comment on your changes. Readers who read your post via RSS won’t be aware of the change because everything will look the same in their feed reader.

Remember to pop past Larry Ferlazzo’s Website of The Day blog and give him feedback on his makeover!

Dina Strasser request for tips on adding “a simple link to my Twitter page (no updates)” will be covered in my next post.

It does take time to get used to using HTML; the key with technologies is willingness to experiment. As you become experienced with using HTML you will recognise opportunities that can be enhanced with it’s use.

Other posts in our “blog makeover” series include:

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