48:064 – Alternative Forms
November 2, 2006
Hack Attack: Creating Categories in Blogger
Here is a very easy method to create categories on Blogger using del.icio.us tag rolls.
Del.icio.us is a social bookmarking site that allows you to tag links that can then be displayed publicly. Essentially, what you will do here is tag the permalinks to your videos on del.icio.us so all your blog posts will be organized according categories (tags) that you assign. Then, del.icio.us will provide code that you can place in your Blogger sidebar to display all these tags. You will then have categories that will link to all the posts you have tagged in that category on del.icio.us. Viola! Categories, del.icio.us style.
The advantage of this “hack,” obviously, is that you end up with categories so users can more effectively browse your videoblog. The disadvantage is that the categories link off-site, to del.icio.us, so the user temporarily leaves your site. However, when they click on the link you’ve tagged, they’ll navigate back to your Blogger site.
The steps to this are as follows:
* Sign up for a del.icio.us account. Even if you already have a del.icio.us account, sign up for another one with a different user name to be used just for this purpose.
* Log into your del.icio.us account
* Tag each of your posts (be sure to use the permalink) with a suitable tag or category.
* Go to http://del.icio.us/help/tagrolls. You will come to a page that will allow you to customize the look of your tagroll for your sidebar.
* Adjust the size, max font, min font to the size you desired. (Be careful not to make the font size so small that some tags disappear.)
* If you wish, change the TITLE to something more suitable, such as CATEGORIES. Uncheck the icon box if you don't want the del.icio.us icon to be displayed.
* Select whether you want to sort alphabetically or by frequency.
* Select whether you want the tags displayed as a list or as a cloud.
* Tick tag counts if you want the number of tags shown.
* Highlight the script generated in the box below, then copy and paste it into your template in a suitable position along with your other sidebar elements (in Blogger Beta, use the “Add HTML/Javascript” Option under “Add a Page Element”).
* Preview, and if you are satisfied, save and republish.
Adapted from Blogger Tips and Tricks:
http://blogger-tricks.blogspot.com/2006/05/blogger-categories-easy-method.html