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
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My name is Amanda Fazani and I write Blogger Buster to help other Blogger users make the most of their Blogger blogs.
Post a Comment 9 Comments:
Thanks again Amanda! You're always aprising us of great things to improve our blogs. I love this new social bookmarking button. Much neater.
Thank you so much for this excellent hint. Why don't they promote this new version on their front page instead of buried in their blog? This is so much better than the standard button and link.
Forgot to mention...by giving the containing div a "float:right" attribute, I've been able to put it in the same bar as the date and comments information.
Hi Amanda,been learninr a lot of things from your blog daily.Just to say u are dong a great jod.i was wondering how do u setup the box in your post to holde the code.
@shirtsonsale: I've noticed on the main pages of AddThis that thie button doesn't yet seem to be available to Blogger users, just as a Wordpress Add-in. Apparantly, this widget is still in beta, but since it seems to work fine just by adding the appropriate code, I see no reason not to make it available to all users!
@Celong27: Do you mean the "What next" box beneath my posts, which holds the other links too? If so, I was going to write a post about this soon, which gives the code you can copy and paste into your template (slightly modified to be usable by everyone).
It's achieved by adding an extra DIV section beneath the <data:post.body/> section in the template, plus a little styling to make it neater.
I'll explain in full detail when I write the post. Hope this helps!
Hi Amanda! I love your site and already managed to change a lot on my blog. Perhaps you can also help me with my question: How can I get the "Add This"-Button in line with my post footer, next to the "Quick edit pencil" for example? My poor HTML knowledge doesn't get me that far. ;-)
Mega thanks!!!
Add this now gives you the code for the button and tells you where to put it specifically for blogger.
Very helpful now.
thanks amanda
but tell a friend is better than addthis i think