ADDING A TABLE USING LIVE WRITER

Copyright-free image Tack-o-Rama

Sometimes, you want to add a lot of images in a block – but you also want people to be able to click on each one independently, so that they can bring up a larger image. And not want to have to write a lot of code.

The answer is to put those images in a gallery or a table, and here I am using LiveWriter as the simplest method.

Adding a Gallery




Here’s the Gallery view I chose:

		Books VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

I’m not so sure about this ‘download all’ option – so make sure you have copyright signs on those you are worried about. Having said that, there are so great choices in gallery designs, to give your blog an uplift.

You can create a table instead…. 

Click on the Insert tab, then Table.



While in picture view you can still edit your image: change colour, size, add a frame etc, add a copyright… I always add the picture first, then change the size (top left on the toolbar – mine add as Small, so I change that to Medium) then set position (top right) if you want text to wrap, etc.



I originally chose 3 columns (3 pictures going across the table) and 4 rows, for a total of 12 pictures. I then changed my mind (pic below) and removed two rows, so I now have 3 columns x 2 rows = 6 pictures.



How many pictures you can include in a table depends on the width of your posting area, so you can check this by going into your blog:

Design > Template Designer > Adjust Widths

Nothing is permanent until you click ‘Apply to Blog’, so check via the Preview before you save anything, in case you knock out your blog design altogether. I keep saying it, but it really is a good idea to download a copy of your blog before you start messing around in Template Designer. It will keep your background design and header, but any customisations like a signature, numbered comments etc, entered into the html, will all be overwritten if you press the wrong button by accident.

In tables, you have a much narrow choice of appearance although you can still customise (add borders, change colours etc) so it’s up to you how fancy you want your table to look. Pictures or text will appear in regular intervals, unlike the Gallery views, where they are very varied (layered, fanned out etc).
I’ve chosen 650pixels wide, 3 columns and 2 rows, so I have space for 6 pictures. I’ve also added a 3pixel border. Notice how the columns have adjusted to accommodate the width of the images I chose.

Cherry Blossom – Pink	Cherry Blossom – Jade	Cherry Blossom – Black
Winter	So Pretty accordion tag book	So Pretty Accordion tag book

So what’s the verdict? MAGIC! This is so easy, it’s unbelievable…

Finally, if you are really unsure how it’s going to look – or you want to add a link later, you can post the draft to your blog, then go in and edit in Blogger as you normally would.

So now I have the option of lots of little pix, a scrollable gallery or putting in really big images – and choice on how they appear. Live Writer has come a long long way.

NOTE - Added while in Edit Post view in Blogger... 

Editing a LiveWriter post in Blogger you will find the paragraph spacing disappears - so you will need to reinsert breaks etc. If you post directly to your blog, the post will be EXACTLY as you've written it in LiveWriter.

TECHNO GROUSE - SORTED!

I sorted out my colours! Hooray!

I bet you are wondering what I did... and how I did it! I'm giving you the full bit-by-bit scenario, hoping this will be a great help to anyone else in the same position.

First off, I spent hours looking up solutions on Blogger (I never did get a reply from the Forum) and I found this link which sounded exactly like the problem I had.

The culprit was Word! Writing your posts in Word, or copying&pasting sections of Word documents (which have tons of messy code not compatible with Blogger) is what was causing the problem. In particular, my having put in links which were in a Word document. These always default to blue - and override any Blogger commands. Word fonts also override Blogger - but I had noticed these and sorted them out at source before I posted my articles. Shame I didn't notice the links thing at the time. Who would have thought?

SO... I now knew I had cut&pasted some Word documents into Blogger (to save retyping them all). I knew Blogger didn't like the coding, and I kept getting error messages when I hit the Publish Post button. I was getting round this problem by hitting the Delete button, then hitting Publish Post again - then Blogger highlighted more unacceptable code - I deleted it, hit Publish again... etc etc ... and eventually the post would publish. Everything looked fine on screen - then suddenly all my Links turned brilliant, strobing blue (aaargh) and the Visited Links purple (eurgh).

Having spent many a happy hour trying to find out what to do, I came across the post in My Blog is Broken in the Help Section (as mentioned above) which outlined the problem I had - the solution being that I had to find out which post was causing the problem. Which entailed hours of tedium and eyestrain as I had to look at each post's html code, one by one.

HOW TO DO THIS

Go to Edit Posts, then tick the box beside the suspect post and click on Edit. This brings the post back up onscreen. Click on the Edit Html tab. This lets you see all your code.

To find out if this particular post has the fault, click CTRL + F on your keyboard, which opens up a toolbar just above your bottom toolbar (at the bottom of your screen).

You'll see a white box with Find: beside it. Type in a:link and hit Enter. If your post has the problem I had (ie: the colours kept defaulting to blue & purple, and overriding the colour codes you typed in in Settings) the section will highlight for you (see below). This only works if you are already in the Edit Html view.

Right - you found it. Now what do you do? Take it all out. You'll find you have a ton of Word code in there. Click over to the Compose or Preview views to see how it looks,and whether you have deleted anything important. If you did, hit Edit Posts again and when prompted to Save or you'll lose your work, don't save it (because you DO want to lose it) then go back into Edit Post and have another go.

You'll find the Word stuff is very obvious - a whole chunk of code, and in there is the font: blue etc stuff. There will also be some code immediately after about underlining, which you also don't want. As per the link I gave you at the top of this post, your code will look something like this (notice the highlight:

a:link, span.MsoHyperlink {color:blue; text-decoration:underline;
text-underline:single;}
and
a:visited, span.MsoHyperlinkFollowed {color:purple; text-
decoration:underline; text-underline:single;}

Once you have got rid of all the code you don't want, hit the Save Now (blue button) which saves as a draft, then view the blog - all your link colours should have changed. If you are happy with everything, you can now go ahead and Publish Post, and your link colours will be back to what you want them to be.

CUSTOMISING THE LINK COLOURS

The next issue I had was that I didn't like the colour choice I was offered. To go with the blog skin from TheCutestBlogOnTheBlock, I wanted my links to be more of an olive and a khaki.

To do this, I changed the colours in Layout, Fonts&Colours, by clicking on Links - you'll see a block of colours o the right, and to the right of that is a box titled Edit Colour Hex Code. The colour code will have a hash symbol: # and some numbers and/or letters. Do not delete that hash symbol!

Find your colours on this chart and follow the directions carefully. To change the colours in html you would type in the numbers individually. For example, the colour might be #000000 (this is that awful blue default colour).

I wanted to change to olive, so typed in #999933. (For example, on the BladeRubberBlog, one of the colours is #a9501b which is a deep russet).

In the Hex box, I have #999933, the colour value, which is in effect the title of the colour. In the html code in the body of the post, you would see it as (153, 102, 51) which is the red, blue, green mix used to obtain the colour. This would be particularly applicable if you want to create a tag/label cloud, as I have on both blogs, as you have to edit the colours yourself (see my post further down).

This is how my Labels cloud looks on the BladeRubberBlog:

var maxColor = [204,102,0]
var minColor = [255,204,153]

This is telling the cloud that the most hits will be the maxColour, fading to the minColour for the least number of hits.

All this is completely do-able, even if you haven't meddled with your html before (I hadn't)! Always, always, always make sure you did a backup first, before you meddle.

Comments, champagne, chocolates and large amounts of praise graciously received, LOL.

Whew!

RANSOM NOTE GENERATOR

I just found a new fun geeky gadget to play with, the Ransom Note Generator.

Whoever thought this up is a genius: type in your message, press Generate and you get a printable ransom note. Waaaay cool!

I love stuff like this!

TECHNO GROUSE

I'm fed up & frustrated!

Copyright-free pic from Tack-o-Rama



You all know me by now, pretty determined in the face of total NON co-operation by machinery in general, and this bloody computer in particular, which can be very defiant. You heard how it fights me tooth and nail at every turn (read the Computer Woes posts if you are really interested in me droning on) ... and now my blog is turning against me too!

As you all know, we can change our colours etc in the Settings menu ... but... I cannot change the Link and Visited Link colours! Don't you just hate hate hate that screaming strobing blue and purple! But it seems to be set in stone, and I can't change them. I have even emailed Blogger (no reply) and the The Cutest Blog on the Block people (who I notice now have a "change your link colours" section on their web) so they listened, which is brilliant - but unfortuately the advice didn't work.

So somehow the colours keep defaulting to those you see. No idea why. I have changed the blog template, which should have fixed it (but didn't) then deleted the TCBOTB skin, which should have fixed it (but didn't) and then went into the html and typed in the colour codes, which should have fixed it (but didn't). Ditto deleting cache & cookies. Aargh.

Yet, as you see, I managed to change to a 3-column blog, put in a signature (on the BladeRubberStamps Blog) and a Tag/Links Cloud section (I put the link here for you as I can't remember how I finally got to that page... it took some tracking down!) so I am getting more computer-savvy, except I hit yet another brick wall.

So if anyone has any brilliant ideas, email me! Please!

MORE LINKS, ART-E-ZINE, FABRIC PAPER

I've put up some more Links categories - scroll down till you see something you like. I had a very happy afternoon blog-hopping, finding new artwork to drool over.

Has anyone seen Art-e-zine lately?
http://www.art-e-zine.co.uk/newstuff.html

Gillian Allen has run this fabulous site over several years and it just keeps getting better! If you don't know this site (I already put it in my Resources links) then make yourself the hot beverage of your choice, a few biscuits or whatever for sustenance and prepare to cosy up to some of the most fabulous artwork on the net for the next hour or three. I just found this little link of Gillian's personal Final Solution for what to do with all those bits & pieces of paper we just can't throw away:
http://www.art-e-zine.co.uk/box.html
Start now in time for Christmas is all I'll say. Perfect for putting little gifties in (earrings, brooches, miniature books).

Spread it out into a sheet and you have another version of Fabric Paper! If you pile it all too high and you are worried about bits coming adrift, what about adding yet another layer: NET (I'm thinking net as in ballet tutus). Or wide organza ribbon. Sew it down - use a machine (a simple zigzag stitch would be safest - the thread will be less likely to break and the needle to snag). Try a ballpoint needle - or a leather needle if the paper is very thick.

OR... forget the machine. Hand sew it! Use embroidery floss - at least 3 strands, or the full thickness, and try these stitches: cross stitch, herringbone stitch, running stitch, blanket stitch (same as buttonhole but more widely spaced) & chain stitch. Here's how to do them:
http://vintagesewing.info/19th/1892-sn/sn-03.html
Throw in a couple of French Knots (also in the link). You'll get great texture and a brilliant substrate for whatever else you might want to throw on top.

Gluing? I recommend PVA glue (white glue) and I really like ArtAttack
http://www.laoffice.co.uk/search/show_product.aspx?Pid=623953
which is sold in most stationers in the UK. It's very fluid, has great slip, dries clear and is washable so you can get it out of clothes and brushes (I often forget and the brush has dried solid overnight - if this happens to you, leave the brush to soak in COLD water,then wash out under the tap, working a little dishwashing liquid into the bristles. It will dry good as new.) Berol dries rock solid on brushes (as does Mod Podge) and you have to throw them away... unless you keep them for making designs in paste papers.