Harvest Sunset (Just wanted to share)

I’ve tested a lot of Twitter widgets here at the Lab. This is the latest. I like it quite a bit. For one thing it incorporates Twitter Lists. It also lets me totally customize the colors, look and feel of these widgets.

Twitter Goodies Widgets is Plural because you can have more than one of them active at the same time.

You can create multiple themes. Create 10 different themes, name them so you know which is which. Add a new widget to the sidebar and pick your theme and what kind of twitter widget it will be, List, Search, Fav, Profile.

Put your Twitter id in and it auto populates your lists.

It is quick to setup and I like the way it integrates with the Magazeen theme here at the Lab.  This theme is hard on Widgets.  Most don’t appear right because of all the graphics involved in the sidebar widgets.  But these widgets jump right in with no special code necessary.

Post from: Real Estate Blog Lab

Twitter Goodies Widgets

This is a Call Out Box

I Don’t know what they are actually called.
I’m calling them a call out box.
You shape the size by where you
place the returns. If you want the
width fixed add a width
add: width: 250px; to the CSS
or however wide you want the box to be.

Ever wanted a box in which you could put text for emphasis?  You know like you see at the Real Estate Tomato.  Well this isn’t as fancy (though it could be) this will provide you a quick way to include a call out box in a post.

Add the CSS to your style sheet.

#calloutbox {
float: right;
font-size: 16px;
padding:  0 10px 10px 10px;
border: 4px solid #ccc;
margin: 1px 0 10px 10px;
}
#calloutbox h3 {
font-size: 18px;
text-align: center;
}

Add the call out box to a post

Once you have the CSS added and modified to be what you want it is pretty simple to add it to a post.

Type the text you want in the box.  Give it an h3 tag for the header if you want.

Switch to the HTML tab and place it inside a div id=”calloutbox”  with an /div tag at the end of the box.  Save as Draft

It won’t show up  as a call out box in the visual editor as a call out box.

If you haven’t complete writing your post, type below the text in the box to continue the post.  But I would suggest you do at least the first sentence from the HTML tab after you use the /div tag.  Otherwise the visual editor might put your added text inside the call out box.

If you want to see how it will look (I know you do) then Preview the post.  It will appear.

Add a background color

background-color: #F5F4F3;

Make it stand out even more with a background color for the box.  By using a call out box you don’t have to put the text in a graphic and loose the SEO benefit.  The text inside the box can be read and the h3 tags get full weight inside the box.

There is no limit to the uses or options for call out boxes.  You can create as many different styles, color and sizes as you want.  And once you have created it you can call that box into any post any time you want.  Get creative and have some fun.

So think outside the box and use a call out box.

Post from: Real Estate Blog Lab

Add a Call Out Box to your Posts

If you can’t see anything here you probably have to log into your wave account even if you are invited to the wave.  Remember Google Wave is very Beta at this point.

I’ll write a review about the plugin Wavr later.  There does appear to be a few bugs in it if you have tried it and not gotten it to work hang in there I’ll be doing a post on it shortly.

Post from: Real Estate Blog Lab

Google Wave Test

Blogging with Training Wheels On sean dreilinger via Flickr

Here is my follow-up post on Zemanta plugin.  I didn’t think it would be this soon.  I thought I could live with it and try it a little while longer to give it the benefit of the doubt.  I’m glad Tilly has been providing some feedback the past couple of days.  I still  keep finding more things I don’t like than I do.

I found out by accident that I could get back some control over captions if I removed the zemanta div tag in which the images and captions were imported.  The one you see to the right on top is one I removed the div tag from and the caption shows up and the entire caption frame is visible.  The second one is leaving the zemanta div tag in place.  Notice the frame is cut off on the bottom and the caption won’t show up till you mouse over the image.

Images Always inserted at the top

Here is another annoyance.  With the media insertion from WP I put the cursor where I want the image to be inserted into the post.  With Zemanta it always put the image at the top of the post.  I have to go into the HTLM tab and cut and post the code where I want it.  Most new blogs aren’t comfortable doing this. So they will leave it at the top.

Why is this bad?  Because unless those bloggers are filling in the excerpt the image code starting with Zemanta div tag will be the text under the indexed link in Google.

Is this what you want to appear under your post title?

divclass=”zemanta-img”
div dl class = wp caption alignright dt a href=”http://www.flickr.com/photos/8306673@N02/3867153187″><img title=”Cycling with Training Wheels” src=”http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2652/3867153187_b5ec958b1a_m.jpg”

Or do you want your excerpt under the link to be like this?

Here is my follow-up post on Zemanta plugin. I didn’t think it would be this soon.

Zemanta should change the code so insertion is where the blogger sets the cursor.

Make the Zemanta Edit Panel Collapse able

If I don’t want an image, or have already selected one to use for the post I don’t need the images suggestion section open.  And if I’m not using latest updates or previous updates, I want to collapse those, but I can’t.   This means my save draft and preview buttons are pushed down where I have to scroll down to select either.  This is annoying.  Make those sections so I can opt to collapse them and keep my buttons for publishing where I don’t have to scroll down to use them.

Zemanta is Intrusive

Zemanta is to intrusive.  It really is like riding with training wheels on a bike.  I never had a pair.  (Unless you call my banged up knees training wheels).  But I know the kids that did have them relied on them way to long.  They prolonged the learning period for really riding a bike.

Then once you take off the wheels and experience the full freedom of bike riding can you imagine having to put them BACK ON YOUR BIKE?

I’m sorry, but that’s what it is like for Zemanta on any of my blogs.

1. It is intrusive.
2. It makes suggestions I would never use.
3. It displaces my much used save draft and preview buttons in my editing sidebar.
4. It always inserts images at the top of the post
5. It puts that crappy reblog thingy at the bottom of my posts. (You can remove with preference settings but the link back code is still inserted)
6. And it adds those zemanta class codes all over the place.

Maybe a new blogger will find it useful. Yet as I’ve pointed out the way it is now there is a price to pay for using it. You might think it is free but it isn’t. It isn’t as much a symbiotic relationship as it is parasitic. It provides some tools and resources but it does so in such a manner that it intrudes upon you to do things “IT’S Way” NOT how you want to do it. 

So off with the training wheels.

Goodbye Zemanta, I wish I could have loved ya, but it’s okay because you didn’t break my heart.

Post from: Real Estate Blog Lab

Zemanta Blogging with Training Wheels – But Worse

Every year I come back from REBlogWorld and BlogWorld with new ideas and toys tools to try out here at the Lab.  This year one of them is Zemanta.

Last year it was Apture.  I’ve had that installed here at the Lab since I got back last year.  I’ve used it a couple of times.  I’m wondering if I won’t find the same issue with Zemanta I did with Apture.  The issue: I’m not struggling for content.  I know what I want to write, what I want to say and where I want to link out to for you the readers.

Maybe it is different here at the Lab as a tech blog.  So I’ve installed it on the Tucson blog as well. (Had Apture there to till it started slowing up my load times).

Therefore, this is an introductory post which will require a follow-up.  (It might be a short one)

Zemanta Plugin

The plugin itself is pretty straight forward.  Use the New plugin search, “zemanta”  it pops up, install it.  The API is automatically inserted.  Register on Zemanta website and set up some preferences there.

If you want to include third party images on your post then you can do that as well with image suggestions.

There isn’t anything to see till you open the editor and start typing.  As you do, it refreshes suggestions along the bottom of the editor.  Highlight where you want a link and select the link you want from the dropdown lists provided.  As you select links to include the dropdowns turn Orange to indicate there is a link on the post.

Zemanta Adding Links

I’ve used it to add links to REBlogWorld and BlogWorld in this post.  I have to admit, I like this feature.  I didn’t have to open either of those sites on another tab and copy paste the links.  Zemanta Link Suggestions [x] I Like it.

It did insert some class code in the links which I  see no need for it.

Zemanta Image Insertion

This plugin selects images which might be associated with content in the post.  It makes no distinction between copyrighted images and public domain.  It does indicate if it is public domain or “need to check with owner”.  (Yeah, I don’t think that’s going to happen very often.)  It also uses the image caption field for it’s own link to the image which you can’t seem to override.  Every time I change the caption it changes it back.

I want to write my own captions, thank you very much.  This is a “feature” I DO NOT LIKE.

Zemanta Reblog

It also added a div tag and code to “reblog”  I’ve not read about this “feature” but I don’t like anything that adds code to my posts without my asking.  I’ll look into this more on another post.  I deleted the div and it has been added back in as soon as I saved.

For some reason they think you want to have others blog your content. (This is a feature I wish I could turn off).  I’m leaving it on this post for your review/perview.

First Impressions of Zemanta

Overall, I give it a D.

I like the links suggestion and ability to insert them directly by highlighting.  But most of the other “Functionality” has too much overhead and too many restrictions.  I’m not sure it is worth keeping it installed on a blog.  I’ll give it a little more time.  But I doubt it will change my mind much with use.

If you are using Zemanta drop by the Lab and let me know what you think of it.

Post from: Real Estate Blog Lab

Zemanta Plugin and Content Suggestion Tool

Related Posts with Thumbnails

I’m a nut for photos, I love graphics and they way they catch the eye better than words alone. WP Thumbie caught my eye about a month ago. I love it.

If you put photos on most of your posts and use contextual related posts you will LOVE Wp-Thumbie.

Here is a screen capture from a recent post.  The forth one down is the default thumbnail if there is no image on that post.

I like the way they are reduced on the fly and they do grab your attention more than just a list of related posts.

I don’t have any stats on how often they get clicked or if they get more clicks than a list.  My personal opinion is images grab attention more than words.  (I said that already didn’t I.)

This plugin adds more color to my posts and site pages.  If you don’t use photos in your posts then stick with contextual related posts plugin, but if images are a regular part of your posting try WP Thumbie.

Post from: Real Estate Blog Lab

WP-Thumbie for Graphic Impact of Contextual Related Posts

1. Because Hootsuite is very popular and lots of people are sending tweets with Hootsuite and the Hootsuite toolbar
2. Because I like Hootsuite and I would like them to find a way to do this without using Frames.

Not just Hootsuite, but all toolbars that frame in results are not what I want. Some are very bad, others like Hootsuite not so bad, but annoying.

I have been seeing these links with headers on them so I can retweet (RT) or in some other way share information about a blog post. But not until today did I take a closer look at what is being done.

Maybe it is being a Geek.

• I don’t like having my site framed.
• I want to see the PR of a site in the toolbar.
• I want to see the title tags and URL address change as I navigate the site.
• I want to look at the page source and not see framing information and meta-tags
• Framing in someones site without getting permission from that site has unethical connotations

I sent a tweet about this and should have said “Hootsuite distorts traffic instead of takes traffic”.  It does take the traffic since your site is framed in but it passes on the clicks.  However, it does more than just pass them on.

Putting Hootsuite and Woopra to work at the same time

I decided to see if Hootsuite was passing through clicks to analytics.  None of the clicks were showing up on screen since the Lab was inside a frame.  The title Tag and URL never changed no matter where I clicked.

I was surprised to find that the clicks WERE being passed through to Woopra analytics.  So maybe being framed this way wasn’t so bad after all.  But then something strange started showing up in Woopra.  Clicks were being reported that I wasn’t making.  In fact double the clicks were showing up.

Showing more traffic than you are receiving is in many ways worse than not showing the traffic that you are getting.

Below is a screen capture of the Woopra results coming in from the Lab

Woopra is showing 12 clicks and pageviews. I only made 6 clicks and pageviews.

I came to the site on the post at the top, then clicked on About the Author, I did not click back to the original post, I clicked on the Sitemap page followed by the Comment Policy page.  I did not click back on those three pages a second time.  I did click home, but only once and did not click on the Archive page.  I’m not sure what was going on with the Hootsuite toolbar in control but it wasn’t me making those clicks.

The end result.  I’m showing 6 more pageviews from my visit to the site than were actually made.

If you like having a distorted number of pageviews reported then I guess you should tweet link all your posts on Twitter with Hootsuite.  But if you want to know what your true traffic is for the day.  I would honestly avoid using Hootsuite to send post links in Tweets.

In Defence of Hootsuite

Hootsuite does one thing very well when framing in a site. If the link is activated from a mobile browser it passes the visitor right through to the site. Toolbars like Twit-O-Matic simple leave you hanging. (Twit-O-Matic is one I would really stay away from)

I like Hootsuite.  I often recommend it to clients and friends as a great browser based way to manage your Twitter account.  I really like the way you can schedule tweets instead of tweet bombing your stream.  I’m not a fan of the green and blue interface.  Too pastel for me, I want to be able to pick the skin.

I like a lot of things about Hootsuite.  I don’t like my tweets framing in my links when I include them in a tweet made from Hootsuite.

I like the way TweetDeck handles this.  It shortens the url, makes it easy to RT and it sends them directly to my site.  Short and sweet.

What is a Frame

Framing in another site is how some IDX maps are put some sites.  Framing of a competitors site on your site is Taboo.  Framing makes it as if the content is yours when it isn’t.  Framing in a site means when you right click and say view source you don’t see the information for the site being framed, you see the information for the site doing the framing.  Framing is a form of embedding, not really but if you have ever embedded a video on your site you understand how content from one place is being viewed on your site while existing somewhere else.

This isn’t very elegant and it is obvious that it is framed in, but you can see how it works.

Here is the Lab inside the Hootsuite Frame  http://ow.ly/w0DK If you look at the Page Source (right click and select view page source in FF or view source in IE) you won’t see the Lab, you will see Hootsuite meta tag and the framing code.  Even though you can move around on the Lab you won’t see the Address bar change or the Title Tag change as you do so.  If you have the Google Toolbar showing PageRank it won’t be displaying anything because you aren’t really on the Lab even though you are viewing the content of the Lab.

The decision is yours. But I thought you should know what is going on when you see those “helpful” toolbars at the top of a site. A quick right click will tell you if it is a frame. Now you can make an informed decision.

The wibiya toolbar I have on the Lab lets any visitor retweet, the tweet this button lets you retweet. Neither of these use frames or interfere with site analytics. If they did, I wouldn’t use them.

Post from: Real Estate Blog Lab

Site Framed in by Hootsuite

Fire Ants Don't Use Firebug they are one

I use this almost every day of my life.  It was back in July of 2008 that Brad Carrol left one of those “golden egg” comments.  It changed my life.  Debugging a blog has never been the same since.   Here is Brad’s Comment:

Hi Dave,

I put together a quick video overview of Firebug I figured it was easier than typing out lots of instructions. You can check it out here – http://www.dakno.com/dave/ (I am not one to leave links in comments but in this case, I thought it may be acceptable).

Let me know if you have any questions.

If you are not familiar with Firebug.  Stop and view this video Brad made.

I met Brad in person for the first time at reblogworld in Las Vegas this past week.  Oh I suppose the hashtag should be included here as well #rebw09.  We have worked together long distance on the reblogworld blog.  He is doing some great video things for the site.  “Video things” being a technical term.

Mana Tulberg and Ventura County Real Estate

A couple days ago Mana put out a tweet about how frustrated she was with her blog formatting.  I figured it was a css issue and with the help of firebug I was able resolve all the issues with her over the phone in about 10 minutes.

I looked up Brads comment with the link and decided it was time to share this little Geek Gem for those who might have missed it back then.

Great to meet you Brad and Thanks again for sharing this great tool.

Post from: Real Estate Blog Lab

Firebug for Firefox

WP 2.8.5 all clear to proceed

It was late last night when the upgrade notice to 2.8.5 started to appear on my blogs.  (You didn’t know this wasn’t something that showed up all at once everywhere?)  The notice showed up first here at the Lab.  A couple of my test blogs didn’t have the notice when I retired for the night so I put off doing the upgrade till this morning. (Retired for the night, do you like the sound of that?)

This morning there were other pressing issues across town early.  Now I’m back in the office and upgrades on four of my blogs using automatic upgrades have gone without incident or hiccup.

Most of these in between upgrades are to the core files and not a major restructuring of the database.  Typically the only database update is to the field containing the current version of the WP install.  I think that is the case here.

Removing Support for Old Tagging Systems

One thing to note.  This upgrade will remove the support for importing old tags from plugins that are no longer supported.  While the documentation doesn’t specify which I would guess Ultimate Tag Warrior is one of those.  If you still have those tags and haven’t for some reason imported them into your blog that won’t be possible any longer after 2.8.4 from within core WP import routines.

I Love Automatic Upgrades

I have to say, even with as many upgrades as we seem to have with WP.org  I don’t mind them near as much as I used to when it was the old:

1. download the files
2. unzip the files
3. ftp the files
4. www.myblog/wp-admin/upgrade.php
5. pray all went well

Those days are not missed in the least.

Post from: Real Estate Blog Lab

Wordpress 2.8.5 Upgrade All Clear

It is a Weird Day on the Web

Does everything seem to be going hay wire for you on the web today?

Membership disappeared from the REBlogWorld site.

Formatting disappeared from The Real Estate Zebra

Mana Tulberg has a formatting issue with her Ventura County Real Estate.

Most of my sites have been really slow to access, edit and post from today.

I thought a reboot of my computer might take care of it, but no such luck.

Microsoft Updates Pushed

I decided to do a cold boot, shutdown the computer and reboot.  When I went to do this Windows informed me it had 21 updates ready for me and would do the install.  DO NOT SHUT DOWN OR TURN OFF THE POWER.

I’ve seen this before and anecdotally  noticed before that whatever Microsoft does when it sends these updates to be installed slows down all my computer functions and web access till I do the update.  Once I did the install (which took over 15 minutes to perform) and restarted.  All of my slow connections were gone.

The ReBlogWorld membership was back.  (I think that was a javascript conflict) but it was back once I rebooted and before nothing was showing up for that one.

My computer is back running very fast.  When I logged in to write this post everything came up quickly.

If you are having crazy internet and computer issues today and Microsoft pushes update to your computer for install on shutdown I would recommend you do it now.

If it makes a difference Let me know.

Post from: Real Estate Blog Lab

Weird Day On The Web