New Links widget/Blogroll block sucks. Help! Need alt. idea
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Ok, I like I lot of the dashboard changes, but not the fact that you can only use the links widget once. Yes, I know you can have numerous link categories within that widget, but it fuses all the link categories into only one moveable block. =/
My page currently has, in this order:
Catch Up With Me (links to my social networking pages)
My Blogroll of Favs (links to other blogs)
Recent Posts (self explan)
Categories (of blog posts)I want “Catch Up With Me” at the top visibility spot. And because I plan to add to my blogroll and it will become quite long, I want that at the bottom.
Ideally, my sidebar order would be:
Catch Up With Me
Recent Posts
Categories
My Blogroll of FavsBecause all the link categories are fused in one widget block, this is not possible like it was before the dashboard remodel.
I tried to use the WP Text widget as an alternative and tried to use the Bloglines feed/share function (Blogroll Wizard) to add the javascript code and then tried the html/url code in the Text widget (it says it takes html), but neither worked.
How else can I keep the Catch Up With Me links at the top of my blog sidebar and get the blogroll at the bottom?
This is such a pain in the ass it’s making my butt hurt.
Anyone have a solution for me?
TIA.
Annette
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The “links” widget has not changed. There always was only one “links” widget available. You can add categories to your links by using the chain icon in the menu on the left of your dashboard.
To move the links widget to the bottom:
Go to “Appearance” -> “Widgets”
and drag your “links” widget to the bottom of your list of other widgets.
Be sure to save. -
Tess,
Thanks for the suggestion, but the problem is not that I don’t know how to add categories (I have two currently) or that I don’t know where or how to move the link widget. The problem is that there is no way to separate the categories into separate, moveable widget blocks; it’s fused. Wherever I put one category, the other one is stuck right directly beneath it. It doesn’t allow for other widget blocks in between, as I explained in my original post.
I can’t believe how much time and frustration this has caused and it still isn’t remedied. =( It’s not like the functionality I’m asking for should be an issue.
Thanks for trying. =)
Annette
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Ok, just thought of something… Prior to the dashboard change and prior to my template redesign, I now remember I had the Recent Posts and Categories widgets in the left-hand sidebar. The Catch Up With Me and Blogroll link categories were in the right-hand sidebar.
That mental image confusion is now solved, but still doesn’t help with my current problem.
Does anyone know of a way to use a different widget to put the two different categories of links where I want them? One link category at the top and one link category at the bottom with the Recent Posts widget and Categories widget in between?
Annette
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Sure. Use a text widget and put the links in manually. You can have as many as you like and put them wherever you like.
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No, I don’t know of a way to split a widget. But if it’s really important to you, you could take one of them and place it in a text widget. If you’re gonna do that, I’d take the one with less links, so that it’s less work for you. The easiest way to do it is just copy the links displayed on your blog. Paste as if you’re writing a post. Click on HTML tab on top left. Copy the coding, and paste it into a text widget. Then title the text widget as you wish. I have the same issue on my blog. I don’t like the way it’s organized cuz the link widget is fused. But I just kinda got used to it. :)
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Catch Up With Me (links to my social networking pages) My Blogroll of Favs (links to other blogs) Recent Posts (self explan) Categories (of blog posts)You have only one “Categories” widget. WP lets you have 2 but they are both the same so there is no point in having a second one.
This is your “Categories” widget with
Audio/Video/Media, Blogging, Promotion etc
The categories you assign to your posts stay in a list in the “Categories” widget.This is your “Links” widget with
Connie Briscoe’s Page On, How Not to Act Old, Inky Girl: Daily Diversions for Writers, MaNiC MoMMy and so on
The “Links” widget lets you have categorize your links. You could have a list links to Art Friends, and a list of links to Cooking Blogs. The “Art Friends” and “Cooking Blog” links all stay in a list inside the “Links” widget.To move your “Links” widget to the bottom of your list of widgets:
Go to your dashboard and you’ll have your menu with icons on the left of your screen. Choose the one named “Appearance” and choose “Widgets.” That will take you to your widgets page. On the left is a list of all the possible widgets you can add to your sidebar. On the right are blue bars with white lettering: Text, Links, Recent Comments, Recent Posts, and Categories.
Put your cursor over the Links bar and click-drag it down to the bottom where you want it.Does this clarify things?
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Thanks, Ros. =)
Diamond, YAY! I’m doing the Snoopy Dance! I did it, thanks to your explanation about the new post/html tab technique! I couldn’t get it to show up correctly last night when I was just entering the link strings directly into the text widget. (I don’t know html.)
Another question…if you know (and don’t mind). I’d like to populate my blogroll using the Blogroll Wizard at Bloglines, so I don’t have to enter each link individually into my WP blogroll.
I copied the both the javascript and html/url strings Bloglines provides to set that up, (and tried both) but when I add it to the web address section of the Add New Link, nothing shows up on the blog.
Do you know what I’m doing wrong?
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Actually, just realized that HTML is on top right, so I meant ‘the other left’ :P But glad you got it to work. I know nothing about the functionality of bloglines. But, I know that wordpress can’t accept javascript for security reasons.
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Tess,
I think you might be misunderstanding what the problem was. Diamond had the same problem and explained how to remedy it. I used his step-by-step and got it to work. My Blogroll is no longer on my page anymore because I was trying to redo it by populating it with a Blogroll Wizard connected to Bloglines. I just deleted the old Links (Blogroll) widget on my blog until I can figure out how to populate it (with an aggregator?), but what Diamond suggested worked for me to separate two different categories of links. Does that make sense?
Annette
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Diamond, thanks for all your help. =) I was so stoked when it worked! Now, all I need to do is figure out how to get the blogroll populated “remotely” through Bloglines and I’ll FINALLY be finished getting my blog all set up! =)
Maybe I’ll post a support question about the Bloglines issue…
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Makes sense. I was thinking that you were confusing the “Categories” widget with the categories in the “Links.” That’s happened to some people.
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