An Explanation Of The Comments In The Sidebar

I've had a couple of questions asked about the Recent Comments In The Sidebar hack. Here's some explanations.

Trouble in Shangri La said...
Is there a way to make only a certain number of comments show?

Yes...and no. From the Blogger help section:

Disclaimer: These aren't strictly the most recent comments, but just the comments for the post on the current page. Also, they will show in order by post, rather than by comment date/time. But in general, comments left on front page posts will tend to be the most recent, so this should be close enough and it still provides an overview of commenting activity.

So, I was wrong when I said it would be just 10. It's actually as many comments as are on your front page. Oh, but that's not all...

The Asian Playboy said...
That's a pretty good hack.

I get a nice round 10, but is there a way to display the title of the post that was commented on? I don't think displaying the time tag is particularly useful for those readers/commenters who are participating in a blog post discussion.

Unfortunately, comments in Blogger are like mini-posts. In fact, on a very large blog, they will take a long time to show up. Because of this, you can't put in any other template tags in there, like the <$BlogArchiveName$> tag.

Difficulty

★★★★

Used on this site?

Yes

Google Page Creator

Extremely simple right now, but this will be the evolution of Blogger: Google Page Creator. It's a simple web-page creator, with your own custom page. It's not as full-featured as Blogger, but it lets you customize your content right on the page. As soon as they integrate it with GoogleBase, it'll have the ability to create RSS feeds and multiple pages.

See the (very basic) page, with Site Meter stats to prove you can chunk custom HTML in there, here.

Difficulty

★★★★

Used on this site?

No

Typing this in the Blogger Widget

Found at Google Macintosh Dashboard Widgets

This is me getting back on the hacks bandwagon. 

Lasthalo HaloScan recent comments

For those of you who've always wanted to stick recent comments for your blog in the sidebar, but couldn't because you're using HaloScan for comments and trackbacks, there's hope.

The Lasthalo Development Weblog will show you how to put in your sidebar, then style it so it fits in with the rest of your site. Not easy to do, but looks really cool when it's working.

Difficulty

★★★★

Used on this site?

No

De-Hibernating

Well, seeing as how Blogger Hacks got linked at Freshblog today, might as well get back to hacking this thing, huh?

More almost daily hacks coming up.

Difficulty

★★★

Used on this site?

N/A

Javascript Next And Previous Stories

There may be a way to create a javascript that will but "Next" and "Previous" links at the top of your page. I couldn't get it to work here after 10 whole minutes of trying, so take it with a grain of salt.

Blogger previous and next date links

Difficulty

★★★★

Used on this site?

No

Blogger Templates

Tired of that same old drap look of a Blogger default template? Try Blogger Templates. Some are difficult to install, and will delete anything you've got in your current blog, so install them with care.

Difficulty

★★★★

Used on this site?

No

Add A Picture To Your Header

Ever wanted to add some hip, now with it graphics to the top of your blog? Here's how to do it.

First of all, you need a header image. Obviously, I used the one up at the top of this page. So, where to stick it? That's the trick. You create a draft in your posts, and save it.


When you save the story, not the HTML code for the pictures. You copy that code to stick in the Template. When you are editing the Template, you find this line in the code:

Then you replace this part of the code, and only that code, with the HTML for your picture:

Difficulty

★★★★

Used on this site?

Yes

Recent Comments in the Sidebar

From Blogger Help

Simply take this code:

<MainPage>
<h2 class="sidebar-title">Recent Comments</h2>
<ul>
<Blogger>
<BlogItemCommentsEnabled>
<BlogItemComments>

<li><$BlogCommentAuthor$> //
<a href="<$BlogCommentPermalinkURL$>">
<$BlogCommentDateTime$></a></li>

</BlogItemComments>
</BlogItemCommentsEnabled>
</Blogger>
</ul>
</MainPage>

And stick it in your template, save, and republish. Then, you'll see it in the side bar. I've changed the formatting on my comments to make it look a little more pleasing to the eye.

Difficulty

★★★★

Used on this site?

Yes

Create An Encoded Email Link

Everybody loves spam. Just loves it. I can't get through a day if I know I'm not gonna get me some spam.

Unfortunately, there are people who don't want us to get our yummy spam 230 times a day. Those evil people use encoding to filter out all that tasty processed meat product.



That's a picture of what it looks like when you use an Email Address Encoder. To stick it on your blog, just copy that code, and paste it in your template. You can see mine over on the sidebar.



Don't forget to stick <a href="mailto: before the encoded email address, and ">Mail Me (or whatever you want)</a> after.

Difficulty

★★★★

Used on this site?

Yes