DQ #7 Kick start your blogging – Your sidebar
Sue Waters has mentioned those widgets for the professional blogger and educator, but I find it is important to also have the ‘recent comments’ widget visible on student blogs, preferably set with last 10 comments.
Students also love having the avatar widget with their creation visible to their viewers. Another important one for students is a map or flag counter – this allows them to see how they are connecting around the world.
In order for students to become networked globally, they need to learn about tags and categories.
I am also helping with a ‘Blogger’s Cafe‘ and we have different widgets yet again. Notice you can often change the title for the widget to suit the purpose of your blog.
Where can you find widgets? Use Google or head to the widgetbox.
What do you think are some of the most important widgets to have in your sidebar? Why choose those widgets over others?
msz1011, 
dskalski, 
LisaB and 16 others are discussing. 
loriemoffat 8:49 am on January 31, 2011 Permalink |
I had only one sidebar option in my theme. When I changed the sidebar widget, I lost all of the Edublog defaults that were there. How can I get them back?
Miss W. 4:18 pm on January 31, 2011 Permalink |
Lorie,
All the Edublog defaults are still there under appearance > widgets. Just drag them across to the sidebar area, configure their settings and they will again be on your blog sidebar.
mshitzges 12:10 pm on March 6, 2011 Permalink |
I think the categories widget makes it easier to navigate through your blog. The avatar is a good way to represent you. The search widget is great way to make findings things on your blog easy. Widgets really add a lot to your blog.
Miss W. 5:11 pm on January 31, 2011 Permalink |
For those people using Blogger, Richard Byrne wrote a great post on how to add widgets to your sidebar. Here is a link to his post.
Judy McLaney 9:21 am on February 4, 2011 Permalink |
I liked the step by step approach in the Richard Byrne link. I also learn well from the YouTube videos. Guess that makes me a more visual learner/auditory? I added two sidebar widgets to my blog in hopes that they will help me stay more organized and informed. Testing
Dorene Bates 7:34 am on February 1, 2011 Permalink |
I added a Search box and a Labels box to my side bar. I deleted some other widgets; I may put them back, I will have to see. I have an image for EDU Glogster Ambassador that I am proud of, so will leave that. I think the Search box, RSS feed, and Labels are probably the most important thing to have in the sidebar. The search box allows people to search your blogs for something specific, the same with labels. RSS feed is important to grow your readership.
Ms. B is Online 5:33 am on February 2, 2011 Permalink |
My widgets work like my mind: an educator with a mild undiagnosed case of ADHD. I put everything and then change them to everything else I didn’t have the 1st time. It is important that we have informative things on our sidebars: widgets for visitors, comments, pictures, badges, etc. but it is important that we do not overwhelm wisitors with lots of confusing items. I generally lean towards the confusing end but hope to change that soon, hopefully, maybe.
Anna Bring 7:24 am on February 2, 2011 Permalink |
I have done some work on my sidebar, but after looking at a few more blogs and recieving comments from some of the other participants, I think I will have to do some more work eventually. Well, it is always a work in process – both teaching and learning. I think it was a very useful activity as always!
mrssarno 10:17 am on February 2, 2011 Permalink |
I found out a couple of uses for the text box widget! I had no idea what it was before. I was surprised to learn that I could type html code in there and have a Clustrmap. I tried the spinning globe map, but didn’t like it because it showed how many times I logged in! It was embarassing!
But, I love widgets!
Mrs S 3:49 pm on February 2, 2011 Permalink |
I think that the widgets on my blog will change over time. Some are there always to help with navigating around my blog while others are there as a bit of a curiosity and maybe motivation as well. Watching the little red dots grow can be quite an addiction. I like the flexibility of the text/HTML widget and the generosity of the internet where others offer such useful widgets for us to use. A time widget is one I may add as I did find this very useful with my students.
Joanne Selig 8:14 pm on February 2, 2011 Permalink |
My favorite widget has been the cluster map. It is very cool to see where visitors are from. Yep, the world is flat.
kshay 9:14 pm on February 2, 2011 Permalink |
I like seeing the cluster maps or the world turning around on other blogs Those are really fun. I don’t have that widget,yet. I might not be able to because of he level of blog I have. I will need to see what other widgets people are enjoying on their blogs. I don’t want it to get overwhelming. At this point of my blog doesn’t have that problem. It just seems…boring. I mentioned on my post that I will need to work on my theme to see if it makes a difference with the appearance. I’m glad I put my avatar on the sidebar.
I created a few categories and tags. I placed those on the sidebar. I did put an archive up. I don’t know if that make a difference. I wasn’t certain about some of the other widgets. When the need a rises for them to be used I will.
Reba Gordon Matthews 6:33 am on February 3, 2011 Permalink |
Before I placed any widgets on my blog, I had to think about who would be my readers and would they even be interested in my widgets. So first I embedded the common ones Twitter and the subscription option. But from my Twitter, I learned of two interesting websites and embedded their widgets.
The first website was “Let Say Thanks” http://www.letssaythanks.com/Home1024.html
This site provides visitors electronic Thank You Cards, created by children, which you can personalize and they would randomly send the cards to individual U.S. Troopers.
Badge link: http://www.letssaythanks.com/BlogBadge.aspx
The second site is “FlyLadyTools” which is powered by BlogTalkRadio. These are daily humorous and informative podcast episodes of helpful hints on how to get your day moving and organized while being being busy with your families and/or careers. You have three widget choices in which you can embed a player into your blog: Single Player, Multi-Player, or Add a Button. Widget link:
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/promote.aspx?HostID=19199
Reba Gordon Matthews 6:38 am on February 3, 2011 Permalink |
Sorry forgot to give the link to the funny “FlyLadyTools”.
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/flylady-tools
My blog; http://techielabteacher.blogspot.com
Shawn Urban 1:59 am on February 4, 2011 Permalink |
I think the most important function of the sidebar is to help the blog reader to navigate both the blog and beyond. The sidebar in fact is a navigation bar. It is therefore important to have category widgets, tag widgets, recent posts, past posts, a blogroll or other resources (places to go) list, and recent comments.
The sidebar also should help the reader access the blog and its contents easier. It should have RSS and e-mail feeds, a search widget, and icons to find other places the blogger has public material hosted. It should also provide blog stats to give the reader (and blogger) a feel for how popular the blog is.
Finally, the sidebar should introduce the reader to the blogger in a way more that is more voyeur and less formal than an About page. It should therefore have an about me widget and any other material, such as badges and a unique Web-wide avatar to help the reader decide whether the blogger is worth paying attention to and therfore whether the blog is worth reading.
The blogger needs to balance blending the sidebar into the blog, where it mediates between the background and the posts or pages, and cluttering the blog with clashing widgets. The sidebar therefore should be visually appealing and yet unobtrusive enough not to distract the reader from the content of the posts and pages. Images should dominate the sidebar above the introductory pageline and text should be compartmentlized into sections and intraconsistent styles.
You can view my sidebar at Digital Subsitute and Stefras’ Bridge. Notice how the same sidebar creates a different play of sensations in the two blogs. The only difference between the sidebars is some of the information I wrote in the About Me widget.
Also notice the Teacher Challenge badge I created in my sidebar.
Judy McLaney 9:28 am on February 4, 2011 Permalink |
The feeling of exhiliration that I get when I finally figure out how to accomplish these tasks/challenges is surely evident that i am still a “newbie”. This is the link to my college, Lurleen B. Wallace Community College
shelmer 1:46 pm on February 19, 2011 Permalink |
I have completely falling into the trap. I happen to like most of the widgets that I looked at. I know that I will have to reduce the number, but for now I am still adding. My side bar includes a map and is itself “All over the map” It is amazing what is out there.
Paula Michalak 6:36 pm on February 26, 2011 Permalink |
I did make some recommmended changes to my sidebar. I moved the calendar to the bottom of the page, and moved the fish down too. I know that neither widget is particularly important. But, working with elementary students, I think they would enjoy the attention grabbing widgets. Also, they makes the page more inviting.
I tried, and tried, and tried to find a way to add catagories in blogger. But, the closest I’ve come is using labels (i.e. tags). I researched blogger’s website and their HELP topics and it appears that blogger does not use catagories. I would LOVE to have catagories. I think it would streamline the organization of various topics on my blog. But, I’ll start using labels as a way to help students locate information quickly.
I think navagational widgets are important. I want to makes sure visitors can move fluidly about my blog, and not get confused or lost. I also want to make it fun and interative.
Mrs. Michalak
chrischuck 11:10 am on March 12, 2011 Permalink |
I like having the search area in the sidebar of my blog so that my students can search topics in regards to content on my blog or in case they have to do some more research in order to complete a post. I also think that the Links widget is a good idea to provide links for more information.
LisaB 1:25 pm on March 12, 2011 Permalink |
I think for my class blog, having a search widget is important because the students can easily jump to another activity. I also like the Poll Widget. I can have teh students become accustomed to a blog with an easy response from them. I want to figure out how to use readthewords.com as a widget for blogger. Any suggestions? That would be “heaven” for the students in my class. I would want it to be able to read anything I post.
dskalski 12:47 pm on March 13, 2011 Permalink |
Well,… even though it is snowing here in Hamburg… I have already place several unused sidebars in the keep area of my blogstuff. Can you have ONLY 3 active sidebars in this blog account?
msz1011 10:04 pm on March 13, 2011 Permalink |
I added the categories widget which I think is important, because it lets the reader focus in on what they were looking for if everything is categorized. I like having a lot of widgets because it helps navigate people around your blog.