Adding A Flickr Slideshow To Your Blog

Adding a slideshow of images to your blog is easy to do. In the TypePad forum, Simon and Avery have shared their preferred tools for creating a rotating slideshow for your blog. We've also provided you with information on rotating the images in your blog's banner.

One of our favorite photo sharing sites, Flickr, has some built in tools which make it easy to share all or some of your Flickr photos on your blog.

Flickr's slideshows can be embedded in a post or page. If you have a set of photos at Flickr for Thanksgiving, for example, you can embed a slideshow of the set or tagged photos directly in a post on your blog describing your holiday festivities.

When viewing your Flickr photostream or set, click the slideshow button. In the upper, right corner, click the Share link to open the link and embed options. The default width is 400px. If you have a 500px wide main content column, you can click to Customize this HTML to change the width of the slideshow to 470px wide to fill the column. Then copy the embed code.

In TypePad, create a new Post or Page and click to the HTML tab. Paste the code for the slideshow within your post. To see how the slideshow will appear on your blog, click Preview. Please note the Rich Text view should not be used after the slideshow code is added to your post. Finally, click Publish.

To share a preview of all your Flickr photos and link to your full photostream, a Flickr badge can be placed in your blog's sidebar. Go to badge generator at Flickr to configure your badge. An HTML badge or A Flash badge can be added to your site. For your sidebar, we recommend the vertical and thumbnail configuration for the HTML badge. Choose colors which will stand out against your blog's background.

Copy the code provided by Flickr for your badge. In TypePad, go to Design > Content, select the Embed Your Own HTML module, and click Add This Module. Paste the badge code in the pop-up box and click OK. After rearranging the sidebar content, click Save Changes to update your blog.

If you are using the Chroma Theme, use the Custom Sidebar module to add the badge code. With a Mixed Media Layout, you can add the badge with a Notes TypeList.

Other photo sharing sites have slideshow creation tools as well. You can find out how to create a slideshow with your Photobucket photos here.

What's your favorite slideshow creation tool? Let us know in the forum.

The TypePad Shop is open!

Ready to do a little shopping? The TypePad Shop is up and running, so please take some time to head over and support your fellow TypePad bloggers. They're a talented bunch so putting this directory together was easy! If you'd like to be included, just submit your info and we'll take a look. Happy holidays!

Weekend Project: Featuring Images with a One-Column Layout

This Weekend Project is perfect for anyone who wants to display images in a gallery-like format, where the images are wide and don't have to contend with other design elements.

In the example below we've made use of the One-Column Layout, combining it with the Theme Builder and Custom CSS. You can setup something similar with only the Theme Builder.

Remember that images, by default, will be restricted to 30px less than the width of the column. Keep in mind that the current max-width of the Theme Builder post column is 500px. The widest an image can be, without using CSS to increase the column width, is 470px.

Knowing that, and knowing we wanted to display much larger images, we setup a custom column width for our One-Column Layout by using the following CSS:

#container { width: 900px !important; }
#alpha { width: 900px !important; }

This means our images can be shown at a max-width of 870px!

We also chose the following Content settings at Design & Content to limit the design elements:

• no date-header
• no navigation bar
• no module content
• minimal post footer content (we kept it to just the permalink, comments link, and a few buttons)
• no blog footer

You can choose your own preferred settings for what appears in the blog, but we really love the simple design that doesn't distract from the image.

Latest Updates to the TypePad Knowledge Base

New articles are added to the TypePad Knowledge Base regularly. When you visit the Knowledge Base, check the Fresh! section for the latest articles. Some recently added articles:

• The How To Display Recent Blog Posts On Your Website article gives you tips for using your blog's feed to add your blog posts to your website.
• In the How can I give feedback on other blogs? article, you have information on submitting comments, marking a post as a Favorite, and sharing a post using the reblog feature.
• The Edit TypeLists article provides details on adding, editing, and deleting items from a sidebar list.
• Check the Getting Started Tasks article for details on the recommended tasks.
• Find out How To Link To An Email Address.
• See the How To Add A Link article for general information on adding links to other websites and your own content to your blog.

For those in the US, we hope everyone is having a wonderful holiday! The TypePad support team is working during the long weekend. If you have any questions, you can reach us by clicking the Help link in your TypePad account or using the online form.

A New Look for Gone with the Family

Lisa travels a lot with her family and has a lovely blog that chronicles their adventures, Gone with the Family. She was looking for a new banner and to make sure her blog has all the most important features, so she contacted the TypePad blog services team and we set her up with a Tune-Up Service. We set up social media sharing tools on her blog, optimized her sidebar content, and even added a custom favicon for her, among other things. And, of course, we created a wonderful banner image for her blog, using photos that she provided. Lisa loves the new look and functionality of her blog.

Want to take your blog to the next level but aren't sure how? With the Tune-Up Service, we evaluate your blog, make a series of recommendations, and then implement the recommendations for you. Plus, you get a new banner as part of the service. Interested? Sign up now! And don't forget to check out Gone with the Family to learn more about Lisa's travel adventures.

P.S. You can view this and many other great blogs in our portfolio.

Did You Know?: Filtering on the Posts Page

Last time we gave you a tip on making it easier to add categories to your posts. This week we’re providing a tip on how to filter your posts from the same Posts screen.

If you need to find a post within your blog, you can use the search box from the Posts screen by typing your search term and clicking the Search button. What if you need to locate more than one post or, as a Pro-Unlimited user, only posts by a specific author? In those scenarios, the filtering option has you covered!

To filter your posts, simply go to the Posts page and click the drop down.  You can filter by status (like draft or future posts), authors, or specific categories.

Using this simple drop down menu can save you lots of time and effort when searching for posts within TypePad.

We hope you found this useful! Check back every other week for more "Did You Know?" tips to help make your blog even better!

Featured Friday Roundup: Parenting Blogs!

Lately on Featured TypePad, we've been focusing on parenting blogs, including everything from personal blogs written by moms and dads, to blogs with awesome kid product reviews and even parenting how-tos! Check out our favorites from the past couple of weeks:

Got a favorite TypePad blog that you'd like to see featured? Click here to recommend it!

Utilizing the Blogside Toolbar

Do you notice the gear icon which appears in the upper right corner of most TypePad blogs? That little icon reveals the Blogside Toolbar opening the door to manage your blog and share your favorite posts directly from the blog.

The Blogside Toolbar is beneficial to both TypePad members and non-members.

When viewing your own TypePad blog, the Blogside Toolbar gives you quick links to:

• Blog Stats
• Edit Post
• Dashboard
• TypePad Profile

When viewing other TypePad blogs, the Blogside Toolbar allows you to:

• Follow the blogger to see updates from the blogger directly on your TypePad dashboard.
• Reblog the post on your own blog.
• Favorite the post.
• Go directly to your TypePad Dashboard.

Visitors to your blog who are not signed in to TypePad will be able to quickly sign in to their TypePad account to Reblog your posts or Follow you without even leaving your blog. Anyone who is not already a TypePad member will be able to create a free TypePad Micro blog in one click to share your posts.

To take advantage of the Blogside Toolbar, enable it for your blog at Settings > Basics.

Congrats, Crappy Pictures & DadCentric!

via crappypictures.typepad.com

A hearty "congratulations!" go out to Amber of Crappy Pictures and Jason of DadCentric for being named the readers' pick for funniest Mom Blog and the Editor's Pick for Best Dad Blog, respectively. Good to know we weren't the only ones snarfing our lattes and applauding out loud while reading Crappy Pictures and DadCentric. :)

We've got some great bloggers here on Typepad. If you win an award, please let us know so we can brag, er, tell everyone about it. 

Have You Voiced Your Opinion on Get Satisfaction Lately?

We’ve mentioned before that we’re looking for Get Satisfaction Champions. A great way to shine and be noticed as one is by participating in one of our “Who Do YOU? Recommend” threads.

Two of our current threads are asking about recommendations for poll widgets and calendar widgets.

Do you have any you’d recommend? If so, head over to Get Satisfaction and speak your mind! You might become a Get Satisfaction Champion and win yourself some free TypePad time and a Marc Johns SAY Media shirt!