The most common question asked of me by ActiveRain members is, "How do you get all of those widgets in your sidebar?"
So, let's get this ActiveRain Video Tutorial about the Sidebars out the door.
This video covers two areas:
- copying and pasting into your sidebar from outside sources, widgets,
- and creating your own html for your sidebar.
There are lots of widgets you can add to your sidebar, like LibraryThing, which is one of my favorites. There are literally thousands to choose from at Widgetbox. Getting those into your sidebar is as simple as copying and pasting the code they give you when you set up your widget. It's pretty simple, once you know where to paste it!
What is not as easy, for most, is creating your own "widgets" for your sidebar.
The example to the right shows what I mean. What if you want your logo to point to your bog or to your website and you don't know how to write HTML? There may be a widget generator out there to help you, but you don't need it. This video should clarify how to create your own and give you a simple way to customize your sidebar to your heart's delight.
Here's the video:
Jeff Turner aka respres

William... none off the top of my head, but you know I will give it some thought. :)
Mana... the upper level courses are only for tenured professors. The AR Gods have not bestowed that on me yet. :)
Jim & Maria... well, it's certainly not day and night, but enough to be glad I have a link I can send now. :)
Bryant... thanks.
Sam... my pleasure.
Steven... from one bald guy to another, you're photo looks great.
Bill & Barbara Jo... so do i. :)
Jeff,
We worked on it but don't see how adding content to our profile page boosts points to that 1790 number you talked about in this video. Did I misunderstand that?
Matt... my pleasure.
Lisa... I can't get mine past 1580 either, but I can take a brand new account to 1790 without any effort at all. I'm wondering if something changed over time? Anyone of the Rain gods know the answer to this?
Jeff,
THANK YOU! It took me a long time to redo the stuff I needed to redo, but it worked!
You ROCK OUT LOUD!!!!!
I feel like doing a happy dance like Snoopy!
I am so so so happy that I've just learned how to create a widget to put on my sidebar.
What nmakes me want to dance is the fact that I just learned how to empty lines so I have spaces between my comments in the side bar!
Jeff - YOU ARE THE BOMB!!!
This is great! It took me awhile to get the hang of it and 215 is indeed the important number to remember. I used 250 and it was a really weird fit. Now, how do your get the Amazon books into the sidebar?
Inquiring Minds want to know!
Jeff,
Than you....I will attempt right now. I need to spice things up!
Continued Success!!!!!
Ted... hey, why write the code if you don't have to? :)
Nick... my pleasure.
Hi Jeff....I'm so glad I stumbled on this great tutorial of yours. I have learned how to copy and paste widgets but I didn't have any Idea I could create my own. I've gotta go try it now! Also you addressed the spreading out issue with <br><br> I have to go look at that again. Thanks so much.
Super cool. This is the kind of things that really helps.
Bonner
Vicki... my pleasure and good luck!
Judy... I'm about to get rid of a couple of things as well!
Bonner... glad to help.
Are there points on the profile sheet that can only be received on the first day of activation ? - you mentioned you were going to check with the AR gods on this...
Also - I am at 1366 and don't really see what I missed to increase that point count..
Thanks again as a newbie - your time and energy spent on those videos make you an exceptional person.
Jeff - I saw your video - great job... when watching and missing something is there a way to have the rewind button activate, or just watch the video again?
When I went to MyBlogLog.com to get the sidebar widget - I saw them but then I thought I had to create an account, and I did. But now when I sign on I go right to my newly created account home page, and can not see a way to get back to where I wanted to be in the first place - to get a widget... Help! With a click I am off and lost..
Richard... no response form AR gods yet. Still haven't figured it out. And, yes, you are right, the VEOH player's controls don't work as advertised when embedded.
What happens when your site stop displaying correctly in the browser (and all across other browsers) and AR technical service cannot reset your site but advise you to take out the widgets in order to have your site working and displaying correctly???
I had to strip out my right side vertical bar from the custom widgets I had. Not happy!
All I have now are the simple widgets... I wish I could have more flexibility in designing my blog. Any suggestion?
Jeff,
Thanks for the concise tutorial. I'll be in Saugus over the holidays. Would like to meet you if possible. You gonna be around for the holidays?
Very insightful Jeff... as usual!
Thanks,
Hey Jeff,
Thanks so much! I'm an old code monkey but could not for the life of me figure out how to load up the sidebar.
Aloha from HAwaii,
Biz
Hey Jeff!
Thanks again....you are reviewing everything we need to know to get started in AR. Not sure at this point what type of information will be important to me in my sidebar....too many other things to do right now. But, I am sure once I start posting my blog....things will soon come to me. Thank you for your continued help and support.
Hi Jeff,
Thank you so much for your video tutorials. You make the rest of us look like wiz's.
Thank you Thank You Thank you! I will have this done today!
I'm so glad I can do this on my own and I don't have to call my 25 yr old and say - how do I....
Jeff
Thanks for the great information
Jeff, thank you so much for this very useful video. I'm off to update my side bar!
Jeff:
Thanks so much for the great tutorial. It's very well presented and easy to understand.
Lisa
Aloha Jeff,
Thanks for the great tutorial, your an excellent teacher, and it's not even your primary profession.
Best wishes
Jeff,
If you were not on the other side of this country I would personally give you a big kiss.
Thank you
Dottie
Jeff, Thanks! So glad to be able to do this! I am really suppose to do my tax right now..
You are awesome! I bookmarked this so I can share it with my agents. Great tutorial, thank you:)
It's a Good Life!
Fran
Excellent! I was starting to lose track of my widgets. Thanks for the tip on how to keep track of them!
We have new widgets than the one in your video (I noticed that you're running the latest one on your sidebar, the black, Recent Visitors widget)
It's even easier to add this widget to your ActiveRain blog. Just click "Grab This" on the widget, enter your blog's URL, and it'll then give you the code you need to add to your Settings page.
Save, and then you're good to go!
Ian Kennedy, MyBlogLog product manager
http://www.mybloglog.com/buzz/members/iankennedy/
Thanks, now I will have to blow an evening picking out some widgets!!!!
It took me forever to figure this out by myself! Wish this video had been here when I was clueless...I would have saved a lot of time!
Thanks Jeff...this is a must read for anyone who blogs on AR...you Rock!!!
WOW.... thank you I did not know that can't wait for an extra minute to update mine~
~ ~ ~ ~~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~~
Lynn 911 Dallas Top Real Estate Agent Team
Dallas homes for sale, Dallas home foreclosures, Dallas home rentals, Dallas houses for lease, Dallas condos for rent.
Visit our website http://www.lynn911.com over 4,000 Dallas home foreclosures
972-699-9111
Lynn
911@lynn911.com
Absolutley what i've been looking for....thanks so much for your help....now i know how to use widgets.......
Thank You, Thank You, Thank You I had spent hours trying to figure out how to put the widgets and custom content on the screen. how simple can it get copy and paste html. I'm going to go through your other video tutorials also, big time saver
This is so great ! THANK YOU tHANK YOU!!
Thanks, I was so confused about this until I found this tutorial!
Thanks for the tips, by the way I love the Real Estate Shows and I can't wait for the new features to come out! It just keeps getting better and better.
Thanks for another great post!
Thanks very cool just created my own with my co. logo have fun in West by - GD Virginia - used to live near Charletown but on the Virginia side.
Thanks, I created my own widget in a minute!! Great help!
Your video is great- clear and easy to follow. I am more curious than ever to see what I can do to jazz my blog up!
Jeff, thanks so much for this video. I watched it three times, but finally got it! Some of us are slower than the rest.:)
Pat, all of us are slower at some things than others. Don't hand me a wrench, for example. I'm lost.
This is great information! It's definitely something I'll keep around for reference in the future!
DM
Jeff - the video stops at 31 seconds, I'll be back to try again tomorrow. Thanks!
Virginia, I just watched the video again and it's running fine. There may have been an issue with your connection.
Jeff, this is GREAT! I think I can do this! You make it look so simple. I must confess I stumbled on how to grab html last week from our web site's html editor to put in a post but this is so much easier. Thank you, thank you!
I may have read it before , but did not do anything yet. I will bookmark this and try it soon.Thank you for the great post.
Jeff-
Great post. I was wondering how to do that. I love the fact that everytime I get on AR, I learn how to do something new.
Thank you for this easy to follow video. I love when posts are written clearly and simply...very effective and informative post!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
LUV IT, LUV IT, LUV IT!
Video is soooonice and easy to understand.
NOW I am going to go and DO IT!
Thanks you so much,
Debbie
Thanks Bunches Jeff, you made it super clear.
Bill
Jeff: many thanks for the very detailed blog. Super as usual.
Jeff, thank you, very helpful!
Jeff-
Thanks so much for your excellent tutorial. I've already added my company logo to my sidebar and now I'll make a widget and add that, too.
A whole new world has emerged for me here at ActiveRain. I'm doing things technically I always saved for someone else. Thank you again!
Leslie Hampton
great info, going to use it now
Just recommended the video to a member. Thanks for a great tutorial. Keep up the good work.
Outstanding information. A great use of 8 minutes. Thanks for making it simple.
Thanks Jeff! You are a saint! I'm a newbie and really wanted to add retaggr to my sidebar! Great information! I can't wait to share with the agents I'm working with!!!
I learned a ton in just a few minutes. Thanks a bunch!
As a newbie all this info is priceless...thanks!
As a newbie all this info is priceless...thanks!
Does anyone know how to add widgets(besides the pre set ones) to your outside blog?
Nice...thanks for this...definitely saved me some time.
Sweet! While listening to your video (I even bookmarked it) I just added my Google voice to my blog page. Thanks
thank you for this--- just what I was looking for!! kathy
Thank you so much. I have been wondering how to do this. I'm going to update my page right now.
Hey Jeff,
Great video, easy to follow. But ...
I can't get this script to work.
<script type="text/javascript" src="http://forms.aweber.com/form/98/1559872098.js"></script>
I do it just like you script from mybloglog, yet it does not show.
Thoughts?
Thanks.
Joe
I'm new & you anwered about 10 questions an 8 minute video. Thank you
This was so helpful! Thank you!!! -Ingrid
Awesome! I was wondering all about this - thanks for giving us this great tutorial!
Awesome! I was wondering all about this - thanks for giving us this great tutorial!
I was not going to ask i was going to figure it out on my own and I had no choice but to give up thank you
:) !!! Thank you!!! I have spent hours trying to contact someone about this exact thing, & now I can do it myself! I'm ready for my 1st blog... yeah!
Thanks for the help! Great post!
Well that was easy enough. Only took me 27 months to get up the nerve to give it a shot.
Awesome tutorial man!! Thanks for sharing.
Jeff~excellent tutorial-you saved me a tremendous amount of time. Best.
Great information! Thanks for sharing.