How To: Q&A Edition

How To:

The Q&A Edition

Your questions answered

In every How To post there is a link to a form where you can submit questions for future How To posts. Sometimes these questions require lengthy responses and so I have answered them in a full post, but others are shorter and don't really need a long post explanation. For these shorter questions I've decided to compile a few and answer them all in one post.

Q: How to just do plain borders around text.  Thank you :)

I'm not sure I understand the question exactly, but if you want a plain line around your text then you would use the following code:

<div style="background: none repeat scroll 0% 0% ; border:3px solid #000000; padding: 5px 8px; text-align: center;">
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><b>Plain borders</b></span></div>
</div>

This will give you something that looks like this:

Plain borders

For a more detailed explanation on how you can adjust the thickness and color of the borders, you can refer to the post How to Make Colored Boxes.

Q: I know this should be really obvious, but what's the best way in blogger to change font size, color, etc.? I write mostly in HTML editor. Is it better to use text editor for stuff like this?

I guess "obvious" and "better" really just depends on your preference. The HTML editor is a perfectly fine way to change these features and preferred by a lot of people. Personally, I like writing my posts in the "Compose" tab located right next to the "Edit HTML" tab. 

In Compose you'll see a bunch of pictures that resemble what you'd see in a text editing program like Microsoft Word. I find this easier because I don't need to think about code and instead I can just click on pictures to do what I want. For me, the only time I use the HTML Editor is when I need the greater flexibility when doing things like borders, certain colors, etc.

Q: Is there a way to tell when followers don't follow you anymore? I thought I saw a post where someone said they knew a person quit following them, but from what I can tell, unless you have your followers memorized, it's all about numbers. Am I wrong?

As far as I can tell, you're right. The only way I can tell if I've been unfollowed is by looking at the number.  I'm pretty sure you can see who unfollowed you on Twitter, but I don't think Blogger has a similar application. 

If anyone knows if there is a way to see who has unfollowed through GFC, then please share!

Q: I've been thinking to add buttons to my blog - like from the blogs I love!  - I usually just have them in my blog roll, but I would like to display their buttons - when available - too. 

And I've seen some blogs were they have this automatically rotating thing, sort of like a slide show, and I was wondering if there was an 'easy' way to do this. Thanks!!

Go to your dashboard and go to Design --> Page Elements --> Add a Gadget

Select the HTML/JavaScript option

Copy and paste this code: 

<div class="textwidget"><marquee direction="up" width="205" onmouseover="this.stop()" scrollamount="2" onmouseout="this.start()" height="200" align="center">
PASTE BUTTON CODE HERE
PASTE BUTTON CODE HERE
PASTE BUTTON CODE HERE
</marquee></div>

The 205 in red sets the width. You can change this number to adjust the widget to fit your sidebars. 

The up controls the direction the pictures scroll. You can change this to "left" "right" or "down"

Where it says "Paste button code here" delete that and paste in the code bloggers have on their sidebar for you to "grab" In my case it would be this code: 

<a border="0" href="http://smallreview.blogspot.com/" target="_blank"><img src="http://i51.tinypic.com/34gwkm9.jpg" /></a>

You can paste in as many button codes as you want.

Q: How do you make the GoodReads, Facebook, Twitter, etc pictures bloggers have on their sidebars?

These are essentially buttons and you would make them the same way you would make a button for your blog. You can see detailed instructions on how to do this in the post How to Make a Button.

Basically you will need to find a place to host the picture you would like to use. Then you will copy the url for the picture and paste it into this code: 

<a border="0" href="http://smallreview.blogspot.com/" target="_blank"><img src="http://i51.tinypic.com/34gwkm9.jpg" /></a>

The part in red is where you will paste the link you want the button to lead to. If you're creating a button to go to your Goodreads page, then you will paste your Goodreads link here. 

The part in blue is where you will paste the link to your picture. Here are a few pictures you can save to get you started:

 I hope that helps! Let me know if you need anything clarified. If you've submitted a question that I haven't answered yet, rest assured it will be answered in an upcoming post. I have posts scheduled for every question I've received so far.

Click here to make a request for a future How To post.

The form is anonymous, so please don't feel shy at all!

I'm certainly not an expert, but I'll try my hardest to explain what I do know and research what I don't know.

Click here to read previous How To Posts 

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