I'm sure you all know how useful I find the AddThis social bookmarking widget by now. Well, the makers have created a new version which features a drop-down menu when your mouse hovers over it. Try it here is you like:
To install this new version of the AddThis button, you will need to have an account with AddThis as the Javascript includes your unique username in order to function properly. Of course, the service is still free to use though!
This new style of AddThis button can be installed by visiting this page in the AddThis blog. Simply log in using your username and password (or create a free account if you don't already have one set up). On the next page you can choose your button style: this new version is lower down the page. Don't worry that it currently says "TypePad and Blogger widgets coming soon" as you inly need to copy the Javascript widget into your blog template, which should be present in the iframe below.
If you already have an AddThis button in your template, simply paste the new code over the top and save your template. If you do not already feature an AddThis button, you should take the following steps:
- Go to Template>Edit HTML and ensure the "expand widget templates" box is ticked.
- Find this section in your blog template:
<p><data:post.body/></p>
- Paste the AddThis code right after this line, save your template and view your new social bookmarking feature!
As Polyname suggests, it may be nescessary to wrap your AddThis code in <div> tags in order for it to properly display in your template, though for most templates I've found it works fine without these extra tags.
I find this new style to be more user friendly as you are shown the sites which could be used to bookmark the page rather than being taken to a seperate page to do your choosing. The only downside is that I can't include this widget in new templates due to the necessity of user ID in the code.
Thanks to Polyname for the email telling me about this great new style! I do appreciate the hint.
Technorati Tags: addthis | social+bookmarks | button | widget | add+on
.png)
