Entrecard Top Droppers Widget

I'm going to give you a very different kind of post today. I am frequently asked questions about some of the things here on my blog such as the sidebar widgets or the design of the site. It has never occurred to me to write about some of these things until yesterday when I was asked about my Entrecard Top Droppers Widget.

For all of you that are looking for some Nature, I posted some pictures right below all of this geek stuff.

I actually put this widget together myself, and it was very easy to do. It can serve many other functions besides being for top droppers. What about a latest posts widget? Or anything else you want involving an RSS feed. So today, for anyone interested, I'm going to explain how to create this Top Droppers widget so anyone can do it. This one works strictly for Blogger blogs. Others that use javascript might also find it useful.

The first step is to find the RSS feed for your top Entrecard droppers. Go to your Entrecard dashboard, and look for the Statistics button along the top of the page. Click that button to go to your statistics page. About halfway down the page is the Tables section. The first list in that section is your Top Card Droppers. You'll see the orange RSS icon there. Right click on that icon and copy that address. It's your Top droppers RSS feed.

Next go to this site: Feed2JS. This is the place that makes it all happen. There are other similar sites, but I use this one right now. Now paste your Top Droppers RSS feed into the box towards the top of the page. Don't worry, they tell you where to do it right on the page. There are several options you can choose now to customize the look of your widget now. Go ahead and try what you want.

When you think you have what you want or you just want to know what it will look like, click on the Preview Feed button at the right of the page. It will pop up a window that shows what your widget will look like. You can close this pop up window at any time. If you don't like the way it looks yet, keep adjusting the settings.

When it finally looks the way you want it, it's time to generate the script for your widget. So, click on the Generate JavaScript button that's right below the Preview Feed button. That will create a new box that is titled Get Your Code Here above where you entered the RSS feed. Copy all of the text that's inside that box. That text will become your Top Droppers Widget.

Now we will move on to the next step. Head on over to your blog, you know, your Blogger blog page. At the Blogger bar at the top click on the word Customize. Most of us know where this goes, but I'm still going to take you through this a little bit. You are now on your Layout page. Click on Add a Gadget at your sidebar section to go to the list of sidebar widgets. Choose the HTML/JavaScript selection in the list. Now paste the text you copied right into the Content section. Pick a title for your widget. Click Save, and you're done.

All you have to do now is decide where you want to place the widget on you sidebar. That choice is up to you. If the widget doesn't look the way you want it, you can always go back and do it all again. You can potentially create all sorts of lists on your Blog with this little RSS list builder. It's all up to you. If you have any questions about my instructions, all you have to do is ask.

Now, for all of you that came here looking for my usual nature post, here are some of my latest pictures. I'll be back doing my usual nature stories tomorrow. I just had to let a little bit of the computer geek out to relieve the pressure. Now it won't explode all over everyone. Here's those pictures.