Using Serendipity

This one is for Harald, but any Serendipity user will be able to use the code so keep reading. The Add This Bookmark and Share Widget is the little box you see under my entries that pops up and let's users stumble or bookmark my entries.
[Hint] press the friggin' button right now! [/Hint]

So, the code needs to go into entries.tpl of the template you're using, just open this in your favorite text editor, and find the entry footer code for plugins which will look like this {$entry.add_footer}. Now add an HTML breakline <br /> then paste the following code;

{$entrydata.url|escape:url}
<!-- AddThis Bookmark Button BEGIN -->
<script type="text/javascript">
addthis_url = '{$entry.rdf_ident|escape:url}';
addthis_title = '{$entry.title|escape:url}';
addthis_pub = 'carlgalloway';
</script><script type="text/javascript" src="http://s7.addthis.com/js/addthis_widget.php?v=12" ></script>
<!-- AddThis Bookmark Button END -->

You need to replace 'carlgalloway' with your own 'Add This' username, so make sure you've created an account. Once you've done this, upload the new entries.tpl to your blog server and enjoy the rush of stumbles and bookmarks you'll get. Don't forget to press my button!!

In this video tutorial I show Serendipity users how to install the HTML Nugget plugin and then use it to add a network badge to their blog sidebar. The same technique can be used to place Adsense advertising into a sidebar, or a counter.

This video complements the video I prepared a few days ago on plugin management and is aimed at new users.

I'm still looking for ideas for other s9y screencasts so please add your comment below to give me ideas.

This is my first video tutorial for Serendipity and it's all about plugins, specifically how to move sidebar plugins from one column to another, changing the order of s9y sidebar plugins, adding plugins to sidebars, installing Spartacus, and installing plugins using Spartacus.

Plugin management with Serendipity is so much easier than some other Blog software and this 10 minute video shows how powerful it is. Many new bloggers automatically choose Wordpress or Blogspot simply because a friend uses it, or because 'everyone' uses one of the other packages. I'm a passionate supporter of Serendipity for my blog and if you're one of those people who hasn't used it, and want to try it out, sign up for a free Serendipity blog over at Supersized.

Over the last couple of days I've had the great pleasure of experimenting with version 1.8 of the contact form plugin for Serendipity, which has been recently updated by Matthew Groeninger to include the ability to alter the default textboxes by simply checking a box 'Use the Dynamic .tpl?', and then entering your chosen fields into a text box, clicking save, and voila, your site instantly displays your new fields.

What I love about this is that users of Serendipity no longer need to edit the actual php file to get the result they want. Specifically, small business users are now able to change the contact form so that their form includes input boxes for phone numbers, addresses, gender, even checkboxes to subscribe to a mailing list.

The following snippets can be used to configure the new dynamic contact form, all you need to do is copy and paste them directly into the 'form field string' text box. The lower case (r) means that these are required fields. Enjoy!

Basic contact form with first name (r), last name (r), email (r), homepage, and message.
require;First Name;text :require;Surname;text :require;Email;text :Homepage;text :Message;textarea;

Ideally suited for a small business or entrepreneur where the site visitor simply wants to make contact. They are asked for first name (r), last name (r), company, telephone number (r), email (r), homepage and message.
require;First Name;text :require;Surname;text :Company;text :require;Tel;text :require;Email;text :Homepage;text :Message;textarea;

This one might be more useful for generating sales leads where the client needs a followup phone call to set an appointment, and includes first name (r), last name (r), gender being Mr, Mrs or Miss, company, telephone number (r), mobile (r), email (r), homepage, and message.
require;First Name ;text:require;Surname;text :Title;radio;Mr,Mr|Mrs,Mrs|Miss,Miss :Company;text :require;Tel;text :Mobile;text :require;Email;text :Homepage;text :Message;textarea;

I hope these help, good luck.

Every few days I go through my site logs to see where my visitors are coming from. Its a big task, since this site is now getting over anywhere from 100 to 200 new visitors per day, in addition to all the regular visitors. When I go through my logs I often come across other blog sites where one of my Serendipity templates has been tweaked or customised.

Take a look at Diana's blog Pocahontasia [Sadly Diana's site is no longer operational] to see an example of some excellent work modifying the andreas08 template for her needs. The colors have been changed from the original blue to red, and the header has been significantly expanded to make room for a rotating image. Also, a new background image has been added to the main content so that a red gradient sits behind the sidebar. I love this design and obviously a lot of thought has gone into making this design work for Diana.

The next site, Brannekes Online, uses the artisitic template and whilst most of the original work has been left alone, the simple act of changing the header graphic seems to make the design look totally different. Also this is a multi-author site which you don't see very often.

Almost every business these days has a website, but the maintenance and upkeep of a custom designed website can be very expensive, unfortunately this means that many business owners either pay for their first website and then let it languish, or they get help from friends or schoolkids who don't really understand their product and just use the experience to show off.

Sadly the website becomes an embarassment containing out of date information or branding that doesn't suit their image. And worse yet, when new information should be put onto the website, it isn't. There is a solution, use a blog engine, and by using Serendipity, I'm going to explain how any regular small business can quickly build a website, then maintain it, and all for the princely sum of $0, sorry, apart from your monthly hosting costs. Read More

Another user of Serendipity, Jay Bertrandt, has created an autosave plugin for Serendipity for those of us who type very long posts. Actually anyone could use his plugin and is designed for those times when you lose track of time, don't realise your session is about to expire or something terrible happens and your browser crashes. Using Jay's autosave plugin you can be sure that at least some of what you've written will be saved. Jay has also added a configurable timer so you can set the number of minutes between saves. Give it a go, and be sure to let Jay know your thoughts.

Well this is exciting, really really exciting. Matt Brett has released a full set of feed icons including source files for bloggers and theme designers to use.

Forget all those ugly xml or rss icons we used in the past, get the real deal, then read about MS adopting them as well. Did I say it before, this is exciting.