Saturday, January 31, 2009

Get Your Own Blogger Gadget!

I found this link to a file that represents a Blogger Gadget. It was on this page that explains how to create a gadget that has access to some of the blog owner's own data. I was trying to find a page that explained how to create a gadget from scratch, but stopped when I found this one. It assumes you know something about creating a gadget: "First things first, we need to tell the gadget to use OAuth. To do that, add the element in the gadget's <moduleprefs> section..." ModulePrefs? Whatever. So I took my usual route which is start with an example and modify it in baby steps (so that when it breaks, you know why). That's how I got the gadget displayed to the right (at the bottom). If you want to help promote Litmocracy, you can add the gadget to your own blog by following these steps:
  1. Right-click the [[Gadget Link]] in my Litmocracy Gadget and copy the link.
  2. Click "Customize" on your blog (you have to be logged in).
  3. Go to the Layout tab of your blog.
  4. On the page elements sub-tab of the layout tab, click one of the "Add a Gadget" links.
  5. At the bottom on the left side, select "Add Your Own" from the gadget adding page.
  6. Paste the link you copied in step 2 into the URL field and click Add.
  7. Move the gadget wherever you want in your blog layout.
Thanks to StarLizard for the idea to make a Litmocracy Blogger Gadget!