I have had some questions/seen some questions about Mr. Linky. Let me tell you what I have learned.

First of all, you need a Mr. Linky acct. It is free, unless you want to display more than 1 Mr. Linky at a time - then it is only $5 for the basic subscription for a whole year. Not much for the meme addict, huh? ;)

Alrighty, the big question has been, "How do I get it onto my post??". Well, my experience has been with using the HTML Linky. It is simple, and it's what works with hsb. There are an abundance of different ones, though, to accomodate the different blog forums. I'm pretty sure that they work pretty similarly, since it is javascript.

Here on hsb, there is a little button on your Add Entry/ Edit Entry page. It is in the taskbar of the entry. See it? SOURCE. It turns your post into html. When you push that button, you open a whole new world of post design, lol!

To add Mr. Linky to a post, you simply push the Source button and scroll to the bottom of the page and paste the Mr. Linky code. If you need to hit enter to paste it on a new line, go ahead and do that. Be sure to paste both of the codes that were generated on the Linky Wizard. Push the Source button again. You're done. Mr. Linky will NOT show up on the Edit Entry page. It will show up on your Preview though, so you can check it there.

So, getting the Mr. Linky is pretty easy. After you sign up, you can go to the Wizard and start getting codes to paste into your entries.

To join a meme and put the linky on your post, it must be a shared meme. You subscribe to the meme on the linky by pushing the Suscribe Link. After you subscribe, you go to the Linky Wizard and get the code. It will have the meme id and your name on it. Paste it into your post, Voila! You now have a linky of your own for that meme.

If I have made an error in typing any of this up, please email me and let me know. Feel free to add any other info in the comments, too, as I have not used all facets of Mr. Linky!

.....Off to find out how to use it on Blogger!

 blessings! -Jacque

UPDATE: 10/04/07

Mr. Linky is now formatted for Homeschoolblogger (though I am not sure it is any easier than what I have been doing). You have to add something to your template... I knda' freaked out at that at first, but we re-do ourtemplates all the time, and it really isn't that big of a deal.

The only thing I found is that what you put into your template is just the header, and you still have to enter the javascript into your Source on your Edit entry page. So, if you don't mind copying (Cntrl+C) and pasting (Cntrl+V) both codes, just use the HTML only button. Otherwise, use the Homeschoolblogger selection and change your template.

Ok... I think that's all for now.

Here is a Mr. Linky for my Saturday Psalm & Praise meme for this week... just as an example!

   I am an Algebraic HTMLer.... I made that up, of course. What I mean is, I figured out how to do everything to my template by finding what HTML did what and trying it all out over and over and over....

   Also- as you probably know, all HTML is NOT the same. My template lingo may not work for yours --- just ask Myrtle! (If anyone can figure out how to get her pics on her sidebar from overlapping, I am sure she is all ears...) Myrtle's HTML is coded different than mine, and I have not spent enough time with hers to figure it out yet -go figure! Also, she has done the trial and error 'HTMLing' without knowing why, so some of hers is , well,... I just don't know.

   This is also a really wonderful medium for you and/or your children to learn a little about HTML and graphics and such. You can play with it and not save it....

A HINT OF IMPORTANCE: You should save your template onto a wordpad or something before you do this! You should back it up every so often, depending on how often you play with/change it.

   So, if you are interested in a third column, here goes (according to MY HTML, of course):

1. I actually copied my HTML for my first sidebar, which was .sidebar; Then, I renamed it.
2. You can rename it .Sidebar2 or .SideLeft or whatever, as long as you know what it is.
3. Then, I took that name and used the HTML code to put it where I wanted it on my template. If you want 2 smaller columns on each side of your blogjournal, then put it after your .main ends.
4. I used the same HTML to put it into my template as it was for the other sidebar - i.e: !--BEGIN SIDEBAR--
5. I put: !--BEGIN SIDEBARrtside-- for my new sidebar.
6. I also had to change the td class to: td class='sidebarrtside'

   I had to fiddle with my column sizes quite a bit. JUST DON'T SAVE it, until you have previewed it, and it is what you want!

   I also had to replace and replace the Left margins of each column, so that they fit and I liked them, without them overlapping.

(I also changed my HEADER - if you are interested - , so I had to make sure they were the same at the top, but I will post that later, so as not to interfere with this)

There are about 800 or so pixels total in my template...

Here are where I set my pixels, so you have some point of reference:

.sidebar {

background-color: #F9F6D9;

width: 200px;

padding: 15px;

position: absolute;

left: 13px;

top: 440px;

 

.main {

background-color: #F9F6D9;

padding: 1px;

position: absolute;

left: 255px;

top: 440px;

width: 45%;

 

.sidebarrtside {

background-color: #F9F6D9;

width: 210px;

padding: 0px;

position: absolute;

left: 740px;

top: 440px;

NOW, I also went ahead and put border around mine...

and, that looks like this.....

border-top-width: 1px;

border-bottom-width: 1px;

border-right-width: 1px;

border-left-width: 1px;

border-top-style: solid;

border-right-style: solid;

border-bottom-style: solid;

border-left-style: solid;

border-top-color: #33338D; bold;

border-bottom-color: #33338D; bold;

border-right-color: #33338D; bold;

border-left-color: #33338D; bold;

   Did you know that you can take a look at all of this on your own??

   A FRIEND of mine told me that you can go up there to your VIEW button and go down to View Source, and you can view the HTML on a web page.  She also gave me a color site that you can choose all different colors from for your template: Zoicks.  Thanks, Denise!!

   And, finally - if this is just WAY TOO MUCH information, and you would rather leave it to the experts... I have Another FRIEND you may know.... She FIDDLES around with this stuff.... SHE is making a business of it, and I know she could help you!!

Toodles all... ( :