Friday, February 23, 2007

How do I get my blog to Explode?

Thanks to Stephen Downes, I found Explode. I thought it looked like an interesting way to encounter like-minded people. So I duly created my profile, and I've made a few friends - some of whom have befriended me in return. Since then I've noticed that some people are Exploding onto their blogs - that there is either a widget or a container on the blog linking to Explode. The good folks behind Explode (and Elgg) have created the means to do this.

If you have "MySpace, Livejournal, Wordpress.com, Vox, or similar" you go for one option. If you own your own blog, use Movable Type, Wordpress, an account on an Elgg system, or run your own custom site, you go for the other. So I have a Blogger blog - which kind is that? I've tried both options, adding the code to the sidebar of my template, but nothing changes.

Aargh! The frustrations of tech-ignorance!

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

OK - I wailed for help, and got a couple of responses, and the downside of the online-only contact became immediately apparent. The knowledgeable people who were trying to help me couldn't see what the problem as and my ignorance was on so grand a scale as to prevent me from being able to explain the situation.

Anyway, I spent a little time throwing my toys out of the cot, experimented with inserting the code in different places and, as you can see, finally succeeded.

What I would really like is to position the friends container on the empty right hand side of my blog, but there is nothing on that side in my template, so I don't know how to switch it over. Nevertheless - it's in! First victory.

Anonymous said...

At least it's working! There's always a sense of achievement when you figure out these little web problems, like a school kid getting 100% in a maths test.