Stupid Newbie Widget Question
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I changed my theme to a 3-column theme, which I like, but it doesn’t seem to have an RSS feed widget and I don’t know how to add widgets. I’d like Facebook readers to be able to link my blog to Facebook, and stuff like that (Twitter, I guess, too). I looked through the other themes and some seem to have more of these link widget things than others. Do I have to change themes to get them, or can I add them without knowing anything about technical stuff? So frustrating–I just want to write, but if no-one gets to read what I write . . . Does a tree fall in the forest . . .
Obviously my Ph.D. isn’t in technology! speaking4baby.wordpress.com
The blog I need help with is: (visible only to logged in users)
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You can use this:
http://support.wordpress.com/widgets/rss-widget/Or this:
http://faq.wordpress.com/2006/10/23/put-your-feed-in-your-sidebar/
Note this advice:
https://en.forums.wordpress.com/topic/rss-feed-for-my-blog?replies=8#post-360098To add twitter, facebook, etc buttons (as on my blog) use GetSocial. In my opinion it’s the best service, although some people are using Add This or an old-fashioned copy/paste method explained here:
http://raincoastermedia.com/2007/07/15/social-bookmarking-links/GetSocial is explained here:
http://hillelstoler.com/2009/02/26/getsocial-103/And tips on GetSocial:
http://teckline.wordpress.com/2008/07/19/how-to-use-get-social-for-wordpresscom/
and a video on how to use it:
http://teckline.wordpress.com/2008/09/05/getsocial-video-tutorial/That should keep you busy for awhile. BTW since implementing GetSocial, my hits have gone up 20%. No lie. Just be sure to use it yourself in your Twitter stream and your Facebook page.
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All widget aware themes here have the same widget available. Go to appearance > widgets and you should see the same widget there in the available widget area as you had with the other theme. If some of your widget disappeared when you made the change in themes, check the “inactive widgets” section at the bottom of the widgets page. They should be there and you can just drag them back up and into the sidebars. You can collapse the top “available widgets section to bring the inactive section up by clicking on the right end of the available widgets blue title bar.
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I don’t think I had any widgets in the previous theme. I just wanted to add them but I don’t understand which ones I need. I tried moving the RSS widget and when it got there it said “There are no options for this widget” with “remove” or “close” as the options. What is the name of the widget that allows people to link from the page to Facebook, etc.? Also, I moved the Gravatar widget into the links box but it doesn’t seem to do anything. I’m baffled!
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Probably the best thing to do is look here at this support page which lists all the widgets and you can read up on each and find out what they do and how to use them. Then once you have a basic familiarity with them we can help you if you get stuck or don’t understand something.
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Actually, in the blue section to the right in this support document are links to the support pages for each widget: http://support.wordpress.com/widgets/using-widgets/ .
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I have read about every widget on the above pages. None of them seems to offer a way to share a post with Facebook. I guess that’s really all I was looking for, but I haven’t found this anywhere. I mean, I know there are other places people want to share blogs/posts with, but I don’t see those, either: usually on a web page/blog there is a list of them.
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WordPress has a facebook application that can be put on your facebook account to share your posts: http://www.facebook.com/apps/application.php?id=2373049596 .
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Here is the wordpress announcement on the app: http://en.blog.wordpress.com/2007/07/18/facebook/ .
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GetSocial exists to share your posts on many different services, including Facebook. You just hit the first button in the row and a link to your post is sent to Facebook. This also allows your readers to share it to Their facebook page, twitter readers, delicious subscribers, newsvine followers, etc, etc. You can see the buttons below every post on my blog. I’m not understanding the difficulty you’re having; did you want the entire post to be posted to Facebook, instead of just the link?
In my experience the Facebook app for putting your blog on your page is buggy.
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Hi, I must be the biggest idiot on the planet. I have gone about 7 rounds now using the wordpress link to add the application to facebook and each time it said that my blog posts were now visible on my profile page, or something to that effect. But there is absolutely nothing on the profile page referencing WordPress. I have logged out of Facebook, thinking that might do it, but it doesn’t. And when I click the link in the above posts, I go straight to the FB page that asks if I want the stuff on my Profile and I say yes, and click the button and it says it’s now on my Profile, but nothing is there. Even logging out and logging back in. I went to the walkthrough and couldn’t read the little illustrations, but I don’t honestly know what else to do. What a wasted day!
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Why don’t you try to use Getsocial? Once you add the buttons to your post, you just click on the Facebook button and it adds it automatically. Honestly, I don’t get any money from them, I just recommend them because Getsocial works and the Facebook app doesn’t seem to.
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Hi raincoaster,
I have downloaded Getsocial–I had never heard of it. I have the code saved, but don’t know how to “add the buttons” to my post (actually, I was going to just add the whole blog for now, and once I know how, I can add the buttons to the next post. I’d really appreciate the plain English version of how to add the buttons, I really have no clue and never seem to go to the right place to find such instructions.
Thanks! -
Did you read the tutorial and watch the video tutorial I linked to above? GetSocial is a program that stays on your computer. You copy your post link and title, open the program, plug them in where it says, and it outputs code that you paste in your post (on the HTML editor, not the visual editor).
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I read and watched the tutorials about WordPress/FaceBook. Then you suggested GetSocial and I downloaded it. When I used it, it advised me to save the code, which I did, and add it to a widget. When I look in WordPress at the Widgets I don’t know which one I should be using to add the code to. I know how to insert a link in a post, even how to make words into a live link (wow, that was big, for me!) but I thought Iwould put the GetSocial button in one of my two outside columns, since I don’t have a new post and only have four major ones so far. Then, having learned how to do that, I could put it at the bottom of the next post. I was just confused because the GetSocial box told me to paste the code into a widget and I have no idea, of those listed, which one I am supposed to use. I understand from you that if I want to add the GetSocial code to a post, I just paste it into the post, but what if I want it in the left column? Doesn’t that require a widget? And if so, which one?
Sorry to be such a dummy, but I did read the WordPress facebook stuff, and don’t really grasp GetSocial. Having downloaded it, I can’t find it on my computer. I guess I have to put a shortcut on the Desktop, since it’s not listed in Programs even though I’ve already opened and run the .exe file.
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Ignore the tutorials about WordPress/Facebook. They have nothing to do with GetSocial. Follow these tutorials:
http://teckline.wordpress.com/2008/07/19/how-to-use-get-social-for-wordpresscom/
and a video on how to use it:
http://teckline.wordpress.com/2008/09/05/getsocial-video-tutorial/Don’t paste the code in a widget. Put it in your posts, after you’ve written them; copy the title and the link to the post, then paste those into the program where it tells you to. Click over to the HTML tab and paste the resulting code in to the bottom there. Update your post and you’re done.
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Thank you so much for your patience in sticking with me. I did it only a little bit wrong: thinking I was just going to put one “share” button in the blog I used the blog’s title, instead of the post’s, but I can fix that another day. I succeeeding in sharing a post with Facebook, so now I know others will be able to use it. It’s a wonderful little program. I’m a little confused as to how to get the GetSocial box working each time: do I run the .exe file each time?
Thanks again!
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Great! And yes, you run the file each time. I use it so often I just open it up when I start the computer and use it every time I make a post.
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