Update: The code snippet I share in this post is revised as of 2025 to reflect changes in Blogger.
The "Followers" sidebar gadget allows your readers to follow your blog on their blog dashboards. (No luck if they don't have dashboards.)
The gadget is worthwhile, but I don't use it.
Sidebar real estate is precious, and the standard gadgets are too big for my taste (and there are other issues).
I use a smaller button and link that I cobbled together myself:
this blog
Here's how to do that, if you like.
Smaller
- a link to the log-in screen for Google Friend Connect (that's "following" to you) for my blog (that is, it has my blog's ID number in it)
- a button that says "follow" linked to the above
- the words "this blog," part of the hyperlink.
The only thing you need to change is the blog ID number (in red). You can copy your number from your dashboard. Be sure to get the right one.
If you forget and use my blog ID number, your readers will end up following my blog and nobody will be happy.
Put the corrected code in a html/Javascript widget. To save even more space, leave the gadget title blank.
Update: Those who used this hack before February of 2025 should replace the old code, which no longer works, with the new.
Don't forget to substitute your own blog ID number for mine!
It is possible to stick little things like this straight into the template. I had a paypal button in my profile for a time. The 'back to top' code I put in the template html (I think it's in the pagelist div, not sure now)..
ReplyDeleteSaves adding heavy loading gadgets....
=o)
Al, that is a reasonable approach, and if you want to describe how to do it on your blog or web site I will link to that.
DeleteFor this blog I have a bias against telling people to crack open the template code and all that entails.
It's not a hard and fast rule, but if I can help people to do something another way I prefer that way.
This does lead to a heavy reliance on HTML gadgets and all that entails, but I think it is a lot easier for many people to manage things that way.
I just put your button to replace the default follow button thinking oh its from Google it would do more stuff. I am new to blogging and coding so please forgive me, I was wondering 2 things: 1) does this version of follow send push notifications when posts go live? 2) I kind of liked it having the members pictures under the button (granted I am the only one at the moment😔) is there a way to get that back with this new button?
ReplyDeleteHi OA: (1) All your followers get push notifications in their Reading List. That is what "following" does! (2) If you want the full followers display, use the regular widget. I hope that helps!
DeleteWhere in the html should I add the code? Sorry, new to this.
ReplyDeleteIt's really up to you, anonymous person. Some likely places are in a sidebar widget (HTML/Javascript) or a post.
DeleteThere is an example of the former in the sidebar of this blog. There is an example of the latter in this post—two examples, actually, since there is also a direct link (with no button) in the paragraph that begins "You could use...."
When pasting code into a post, use HTML mode.
Just a word of caution about sidebars in Blogger:
Delete--
Sidebar contents are not included when site is viewed in mobile (in 2nd generation & earlier themes). That is, for ?m=1 entire sidebar with everything in it just doesn't show up.
Newer themes like Soho, Emporio, Contempo, Notable, make sidebar elements to show up inside the hamburger menu when screen width is narrower (that is, on mobile, and irrespective of whether there be ?m=1 or not).
But earlier themes than those simply make sidebars non existent on ?m=1. I checked HTML and the sidebar div doesn't even exist when ?m=1 in earlier themes, despite the widgets in them are being registered by _WidgetManager._RegisterWidget with 'displayModeFull' on ?m=1 also .
So these days when visitors via mobile devices outnumber those from desktop, one has to be careful not to place important widgets in the sidebar, especially when using older themes.
Also, in case of newer themes, those widgets would be inside the collapsed hamburger menu and won't be visible until the menu is opened.
An odd thing in newer themes is that there is only a back button shown in place of hamburger menu on pages except for homepage, and hamburger menu icon is seen only on homepage. (It can be made to be shown on every page instead of back button but one has to find out its location in template and edit that).
So, I'd suggest using the sidebar with caution and provide alternatives to mobile users with similar widgets placed in the footer too, along with the ones in sidebar.
Note that in case there are too many comments for a post, there is a chance that user may not scroll down all the way till the footer and they might be missed. However, in such cases they can still be seen easily in footer on homepage and other non post pages.
@Pradeep, I've written about the newer responsive themes elsewhere. (And I've shifted to using one on my other blog.) Clearly their big advantage is being mobile friendly.
DeleteBut there are strict limits on the mobile experience imposed by the size of the screen, period. The best you can say about the new themes is that they improve that experience.
(But they do retain a search option across page views—at least, some of them do.)