Tips for adding and updating your Twitter Widget

As we recently discussed, the folks at Twitter made some changes to their API that affected how Twitter interacted with different sharing platforms, including Typepad. For many people, this means that you will need to replace your current code to ensure that your widget works again, and continues working in the future.

The old Twitter API will be retired on March 15, 2013, so if you're not using the new Twitter widget by then, your tweets will no longer be displayed on your blog.

Ready to get the new Twitter widget? Here are some tips to easily configure your new widget and add it to your sidebar:

1. Go to https://twitter.com/settings/widgets and sign in.
2. Click the "Create New" button.
3. Enter your Typepad blog address in the Domains field (i.e. example.typepad.com or www.example.com). This is very important - skipping this step will cause your tweets not to display.
4. Adjust the other available options.
5. Click "Create Widget," and copy the code provided.
6. Log in to your Typepad account.
7. Open the Blogs menu and select the blog you want to add the Twitter widget.
8. Click to Design > Content.
9. If you currently have Twitter code installed, click into the appropriate module and replace the code there with your new code. If you're adding the widget for the first time, select the Embed Your Own HTML module from the center column, click Add This Module, and paste the code for your Twitter widget into the pop-up box.
10. Click OK, rearrange the module in your sidebar, and click Save Changes to update your blog with the new widget.

Please note if you are using Advanced Templates, Mixed Media Layout, or Chroma Theme for your blog's design, you will not have the Embed Your Own HTML module option. Instead, you can use one of the other options to add content to your sidebar described here.

Important notes about the width of the new Twitter widget:

The width of the new Twitter widget is controlled remotely by Twitter, and is designed to automatically fit your blog's sidebar with a minimum width of 220 pixels. Therefore, the widget will appear cut off if your blog's sidebar column is not at least 250 pixels. At this time, there is not a way to manually change the width of the widget.

If your sidebar width is less than 250 pixels, you will either need to update your column width or switch to a newer Theme with wider columns, like Chevron, Chunky, Metropolitan, or the Theme Builder, which allows sidebars up to 300 pixels.

Bloggers at the Pro Unlimited level who are using a Pre-Defined Theme can increase their column widths by using some Custom CSS.

Bloggers at the Pro Plus level or below will either need to switch to a theme with wider columns or the Theme Builder, as mentioned above. If you want to keep your current theme but need access to the Custom CSS feature to increase your column width, you'll need to upgrade to the Pro Unlimited level. We're happy to provide bloggers who would like to upgrade to Pro Unlimited to take advantage of Custom CSS a discount to offset the increase in price. Just open a Help Ticket in your Dashboard after you've upgraded and let us know!

As always, be sure to check our Knowledge Base for more information!

Comments

[Rachel Anne]

Followed the instructions....still doesn't work.

[Account Deleted]

Got to say I'm getting more and more upset with Twitter as time goes on, am I the only one who just wants pure text from my twitter feed?

[Will Kenny, Best Consulting Practices]

Doesn't work for me, either. I just get a link to my Twitter account, but no display of any Tweets. So I've dropped the Twitter widgets from my blog from now.

Kind of a pain ...

[Will Kenny, Best Consulting Practices]

you're right, I just want the text feed, not a profile picture, not photos, etc.

[The Typepad Team]

Hi Rachel! What happens on your blog? Are you sure you've added the Domains? If you've followed all the steps and it's still not working, go ahead and open a Help ticket in your Dashboard and the support team will get on it! :D

[The Typepad Team]

Hi Will. That usually happens when you've left the Domain off during the set up process. If you added the domain and it's still not working, please open a Help ticket in your Dashboard and we'll be happy to help!

[Will Kenny, Best Consulting Practices]

Thanks for the quick reply. I didn't get that you need to add both versions of the domain if you are domain mapping. So I did get it to display on my main blog, but immediately took it off -- it is just too bulky, with the profile photos, width, and all those elements that Twitter doesn't let you control. Too bad.

Now, I was only able to get tweets to display on the default blog of several blogs I use on the site. (I use multiple blogs to get different sections of my site with somewhat different layouts -- which would be a heck of a lot easier if I did not have to give them all the same name so they would have the same title, something I've wasted time bringing up before). I couldn't get the tweets to display on a blog that was in a different folder from the "home" blog on the site. (I wanted to test there first.)

But again, given that this widget is too ugly and inflexible to use, that may not be a problem.

[Following Ideas]

i have to make a post for publish my domain, where is the section?

[The Typepad Team]

Hi Will - I agree, the widget is just not aesthetically pleasing and we're really hoping that Twitter eventually starts allowing people to use the new API to design their own and modify the widget like we're used to doing. Only time will tell! You should be able to display the widget on any blog - perhaps try adding the blog folder name after the forward slash? Let us know which blog you're trying to add it to if that doesn't work!

[The Typepad Team]

Hello! You can publish a post at Blogs > Posts > New Post or by clicking the Compose button. Can you elaborate on the issue if that's not what you needed to know?

[Account Deleted]

I just use the code that one gets directly at Twitter--not the TypePad twitter widget. I tried that long ago and wanted more control of sizing and colour. It's here: http://www.foreverafangirl.com/

[kantice26]

Im having problems with this also :(

[The Typepad Team]

Hi Cyn!

It looks like you're using Twitter's older widget, which allowed for more customization with color and size. We're not recommending a Typepad Twitter widget - that doesn't exist. All of Twitter's older widgets will be disabled by March 15th when the old API shuts down, so you'll need to switch over to the new Twitter widget then, if not before.

[The Typepad Team]

Hi there,

What kind of problems are you having? We're happy to help.

[Account Deleted]

OK. Thanks for the update!