Change your Laptop Processor Easily

It's is not difficult to changing a laptop processor once the laptop is disassembled. The most challenging thing about working on laptops is the small size of the components. It's also very easy to reassemble parts in the wrong order.

Most laptop manufacturers have detailed diagrams and manuals that explain how each component fits in the housing. The laptop owner's manual also has information about the kind of processor you need for your particular model.

1) Before start you need to refer your laptop owner's manual and assembly guide as you disassemble the laptop. Touch something metal periodically to remove static charge, and work on a large table with a bright light source.


2) Turn off the laptop and unplug it. Remove the main battery, CD/DVD drive and the hard drive. The hard drive is usually located in a slot on one side of the laptop. Remove the screw that holds the cover in place, and then pull the hard drive sled out.


3) Turn the laptop over and remove the screws on the bottom that hold the keyboard in place. Some of the screws may be covered with stickers or rubber plugs. Flip the laptop over, open it, and then lift the keyboard up and out. Unplug the flexible ribbon cable that connects the keyboard to the motherboard.


4) Unplug the heat sink fan. Remove the screws that hold the heat sink in place, and then remove it from the laptop. Release or unscrew the mechanism that holds the original processor in place, then remove it from the laptop.

To remove the CPU there will be a screw with a padlock symbol, or a bar that you pull up to unlock the CPU from the socket


5) Apply a thin layer of thermal compound on the processor. Make sure it is securely attached and properly aligned in the CPU housing.

Note: Be very careful with the pins, they can easily be bent, and match the pin set, there is a pattern and match this pattern to the socket. Also CPU should fall easily into the socket DO NOT force it.

Next lock that into place, and on top of the CPU put a small pea sized amount of thermal paste, Arctic silver is good.


6) Now replace the heat sink and fan. Replace the screws, then plug the CPU fan back in.


7) Connect the keyboard to the motherboard temporarily. Plug in the laptop, restart it, and then follow the instructions in your owner's manual to enter the system's BIOS. The new CPU should now be recognized by the BIOS. Turn off the laptop, unplug it, and then remove the keyboard. (BIOS will detect the new CPU, and windows will install the new drivers)


8) Do not strip or over-tighten the screws. Follow the guide carefully as you reassemble the laptop. Replace any round stickers or rubber plugs you removed to complete the upgrade.

Tips & Warnings:

1. Make sure your BIOS is up to date
2. Careful with the CPU pins

Bookmark & Share |

Guides to Buy a Laptop Online

Trying to buy a laptop online that’s perfect for you? First figure out what you are going to do with your laptop computer, you can find a great deal as prices are always dropping while technology improves.

If you're going to use your laptop for basic tasks like email and Internet, you can get a bargain price. If you’re a power user who needs more memory or a larger screen, you could spend a little more but still pay a fair price.

Whatever your needs and budget are, there are endless options for find a best and most suited laptop online.


1) First Figure out if you want a PC or a Mac. Used one or brand new? It'll be easier to determine if you already have a general idea of what you going to do with the Laptop.

If you don’t feel strongly about it, then you can start looking at all your options. As you learn more about the differences, it will become clear which one is a better buy for you.


2) Decide on the most critical features and prioritize them. How will you use your laptop? Do you have a budget or is something else more important?

If you hate looking at a small screen or do a lot of graphics design work, you might want a larger screen to work with. If you’re a love to watch movies on your laptop, consider a laptop with more memory and a decent graphics card.


3) Research and Compare at least a few laptops on one website or more. Review the specs so you’ll know what’s included in the price. Customer reviews are more important and always look for companies who have happy customers.


4) If there are a lot of places where you can research and buy online laptop but be sure to shop only at the trusted, known sites. Sites should be online for several years and should have satisfied customers and etc will always be safer to deal.


5) Narrow your search and figure out which laptop includes your most important features at the price you’re happy with. If you’re unsure of a specific brand/model, then read over the customer reviews to get another opinion and see what’s popular.


6) Read the online store’s policies. Buy your online laptop and avoid unpleasant surprises by simply checking the details. What’s the return policy? While most new laptops come with a warranty, you should review the return/exchange policy just in case.

Do you think you’ll need technical support? Many computers also come with optional technical support, which may be included, charged per phone call, or available under a renewable plan.


7) Pick out your top choice and buy online laptop. It’s simple to place your order online, just click through from the laptop page to the order page. Follow the form instructions to enter your credit card and billing information. To confirm your order was successful, you’ll get a confirmation screen and an email receipt.

Bookmark & Share |

15 tips to Maximize HP Laptop Battery Life

You can use following suggestions to make your HP Laptop battery live longer during the each charge cycle. It is always recommend to following instructions for the HP laptop battery, charging and storage that came with the battery or notebook.

1. Manage battery power more effectively in Windows

2. Power Options in Windows XP allow you to control the power management features of your notebook PC. Make sure the battery gives the power you need and when you need it.
Read more power options at Microsoft:

3. Reduce the brightness of the screen to the minimum readable level. Use FN and F7 or F8 keys to adjust the brightness.

4. Remove peripherals you're not using. External hard drives, CD-ROMs, Zip drives, PC cards, and other peripheral devices can draw power from your battery even when they are not in active use. Disconnect them when you have finished using them.

5. Reduce the speed of your processor. The faster your computer works, the more quickly it uses up the supply of power. By cutting down on processor speed, you can extend the charge of your battery. Methods for reduce processor speed vary from model to model, so you may need to refer your manual before going through this.

6. Turn off the Wireless On-Off button when it is not in use. If your notebook has one, press the Wireless On-Off button so that the light turns off.

7. Store Li-Ion batteries between 20°C and 25°C (68°F and 77°F) with 30% to 50% charge.

8. Do not leave batteries exposed to high temperatures for extended periods. Prolonged exposure to heat will accelerate the deterioration of Li-Ion cells.

9. Remove the battery if the notebook will be stored (turned off and not plugged into AC power) for more than 2 weeks.

10. Remove the Pavilion DV2000 battery if the notebook will be plugged into AC power continuously (via a wall adapter or docking station) for more than 2 weeks.

11. Short discharges and recharges do not fully synchronize the battery's fuel gauge with the battery's state-of-charge. This can result in the amount of power available in one cycle being less than expected or the laptop battery meter being inaccurate.

12. Under normal usage, batteries should be calibrated a minimum of once every 3 months.

13. Regular Laptop HD defragmentation can help you manage the data to be more efficient and make the hard drive (HD) a little faster to access the data. When HD works quickly, the more you can spare of laptop battery energy.

14. Suspend the Scheduled Tasks (virus scan) that uses more battery energy.

15. If you don’t use laptop some time, make sure that the laptop is 40% filled, pull the battery, and store in some dark place.

Bookmark & Share |

How to Reduce Noise in an Audio Recording

In studio they are using expensive microphones and noise reduction foams for eliminate noise in audio recording but this could be not identical for home use and also it is expensive.

Here I have listed some tips which I found for noise reduction using almost any microphone in your own home, even with the internal Mic in your computer. Article divides into two parts, naturally reduce noises while recording and as well as eliminate noise in audio already recorded.


1. Recording Environment

Before worry about anything else get rid all possible noise in your recording space. Pick the least noisy area to record. Turn off any fans, heaters, air conditions, and other non-essential applications. Even an extra laptop or idle gaming console makes noise, so if you're not using them shut them off. Close the doors and shut the windows.

Place your microphone away from any remaining noise sources. Don't record next to a window, even if it's closed. Remember that your computer makes noise too! Even non-audible sounds will become noticeable once you amplify your recording. Finally, turn off any cell phones. Not vibrate, but off. You don't want to get any GSM buzz while you're recording.


2. Get as close to the Mic as possible.

The closer the microphone is to the audio source, the less background noise will show up in the recording. Positioning for tonality and comfortability has to be taken into consideration, but beyond that you simply want to get the mic as close as you can. Speak louder, or if you're recording an electric instrument turn up the volume. If your levels start clipping, bring the volume down on the mixer.


3. Tweak the EQ.

Once you've got your audio recorded, you can often eliminate noticeable buzz or hiss using the equalizer. If your mixer has equalizer presets, try playing with those before you start recording to see what bands you can turn down to diminish noise.

If you're mixing digitally, you can record the audio straight in without any EQ and apply one during the editing process. Finding the right equalizer band to mix down is often trial and error.

If it's a hissing sound, it's going to be in the higher spectrum. If it's a buzzing sound, it's probably coming from the mid to lower spectrum. A graphic equalizer is a great mechanism to form a valley in the EQ and move it around until the noise is reduced.


4. Use a Speech Enhancer plug-in.

All good recording application has inbuilt Speech Enhancer plug-ins. If you couldn't find one, try searching the internet for a third party plug-in. The Speech Enhancer will let you apply some quick tone settings to make a speaking voice sound more professional.

More importantly, it will give you the option to dial back the more quiet sounds in a recording. This will help isolate the vocal and push everything out. While this type of plug-in is meant for spoken audio, it can be used (with mixed results) on any kind of audio.

Note: speech enhancer can deteriorate the quality of your audio. While it's fantastic for several minutes of audio, using it across an hour long podcast where levels and noises are frequently changing could have undesirable results. The more noise you reduce, the more likely you are to find additional compression noise.


5. Know your noise gate.

The noise gate is your key to absolutely silent pauses and crystal clean audio. What the gate will do is take all noises under a certain level and turn them down however much you tell it to. If you find that your desirable audio never gets any quieter than -20dB, you can tell your noise gate to turn the recording down any time audio is not exceeding -25dB.

You can even tell it how much to turn it down - all the way for a clean recording, or maybe just a little to allow some natural hiss in. The noise gate appears easy enough on the outside, but can be a little complicated to master. If your settings are too high, you will clip out parts of your recording making it obnoxiously unlistenable.


If the above steps don't eliminate the noise in your recording probably you have some serious noise issues. For the really tough jobs you can use a noise reduction plug-in (like the one in Soundtrack Pro) to take a noise print and eliminate that print from the recording. You can also try a denoiser plug-in. These tools will get the job done, but not without sacrificing the quality of your recordings.

Bookmark & Share |

Few Major steps to reduce the fan noise of your computer.

If you have any experience surly you know how fan noise is really annoying, here are some simple tips to make it reduce.

• Allow better air flow:

Always clear additional space around the computer so it allows for better airflow. Cooling fans will have to work less if there is enough airflow.

• Replace newer Model:

If your fans giving too much noise one thing you should consider is the model. Old fan models are make more noise also if your fans are too old then there can be some technical issues. So it is best to replace newer model fans for your existing cooling fans in the computer.

• Using soundproofing foam:

You can use soundproofing foam in the interior of the computer. Insert a thin layer to the inside of the computer case. Soundproof padding will help you to reduce fan computer noises.

• Upgrade the power supply unit:

Power supply unit one of the most important part you should consider and it can make noises for several reasons. You should be aware about those otherwise it can burn your some computer parts too. Old power supply units are often noisy and a newer one will run more efficiently and with less noise.

• Area between the fans and the computer case:

Cut a small cloth gasket to place between the fan mounting and the actual computer case. This will reduce computer vibrations and also computer noises.

• Have additional heat sinks:

Additional heat sinks draw air away from various areas that tend to heat the most. This will make the computer run better. Less overheat and run with less noise.

• New Computer case:

Buy a new case for the computer that is sound-resistant. Fewer sounds will escape the computer as it is running and you will automatically reduce the fan noise.

Bookmark & Share |

How to Add "Copy To" / "Move To" to Windows Explorer Right Click Menu

In other operating systems might you see there is an option available in right click menu for coping and moving files easily without navigating by opening windows.

When you right click on a file and select Copy to Folder or Move to Folder, there will be a window will pop up and let you choose a location to either copy or move the file or folder to.

With windows operating systems you can implement the same thing via simple registry hack, you can either do this by manually or downloading the files which I have given at the end.

1. First open the registry editor by typing "regedit" at run (Start -->run)

2. Then as we do usual, back-up your registry for just in case.

3. Next find the key in below.

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\AllFilesystemObjects\shellex\ContextMenuHandlers

Once you find that key, right click on it and choose "NEW" --> "KEY"

Name the new Key as "Copy To" and double-click on the (Default) value (Right side window) and enter the following.

{C2FBB630-2971-11D1-A18C-00C04FD75D13}

If you want to add "Move To" option same as "Copy To" repeat the above steps and once you create a new key name it as "Move To" and set its default value to given below.

{C2FBB631-2971-11D1-A18C-00C04FD75D13}

If you don't like to do this in manual way, simple download these registry files which make all above changes to the registry with one single mouse click.

Bookmark & Share |

Make your Blogger Post Images fancy with Border Styles

Using border style we can give extra look for images on your blogger posts. It can make images more attractive with extra beauty to the text.

I have discussed about wrapping text around images in my earlier post. We can do lot more with Style sheets.

Keeping or removing the border is depending on the template you’re using and you need to find the best suit for your site.

• DELETE, REMOVE POST IMAGE BORDERS IN BLOGGER

1. As we usually do Login into Blogger and Navigate to Layout and then Edit HTML
2. Before do any changes backup of your existing template.

3. Now search for the “.post img “this is the tag which applies styles for post images. Peoples, who are using blogger templates with external stylesheets, must do their search with external style sheets.

If you couldn’t find “.post img” then narrow the search for “img” and you should be able to find CSS portion similar to bellow.

.post img {
padding:4px;
border:1px solid #333;
}

Or

Img {
padding:4px;
border:1px solid #333;
}

4. “Border:1px solid #333;” This is the part which define border for post images, you can do either simply remove this portion or change the value to “border: none; “

• ALTERING THE BORDER STYLE OF IMAGES

Even though I have discussed about removing the border I do lot more concern about altering the border with many different styles. With ongoing text I have show you varies values which can apply with border property.

Bellow code and image demonstrate how styles are applied to images according to the code, change the code settings as you prefer and find best match to your site.

.post img {
-moz-border-radius-bottomleft:5px;
-moz-border-radius-bottomright:5px;
-moz-border-radius-topleft:5px;
-moz-border-radius-topright:5px;
-webkit-border-top-left-radius:5px;
-webkit-border-top-right-radius:5px;
-webkit-border-bottom-left-radius:5px;
-webkit-border-bottom-right-radius:5px;
background-color:#F7F5F7;
border:1px solid #E5E5E5;
margin:10px;
padding:5px;
}

We can do lot more changes simply altering the values of background-color and border of above code.

Replace these values with “solid” part of the “border:1px solid #E5E5E5;“. With first two values you don’t need to specify a color as they are removing and hiding the border of the images. 1px define the thickness of the border.

none --- Specifies no border
hidden --- The same as "none", except in border conflict resolution for table elements
dotted --- Specifies a dotted border dashed Specifies a dashed border
solid --- Specifies a solid border double Specifies a double border
groove --- Specifies a 3D grooved border. The effect depends on the border-color value
ridge --- Specifies a 3D ridged border. The effect depends on the border-color value
inset --- Specifies 3D inset border. The effect depends on the border-color value
outset --- Specifies a 3D outset border. The effect depends on the border-color value
inherit --- Specifies that the border style should be inherited from the parent element

“background-color” provides a frame for the images here, do experiment and find the most suited settings for your site. It is up to you.

Bookmark & Share |

12 Contextual Advertising Services Might you want to know.

• Google AdSense:

There is no doubt that the Google AdSense is the most successful and major player for contextual ad solutions. However, there are many other advertising services might you want to know and experiment since Google allows most of other party ads on same page with Google AdSense.

(There can be some restrictions also. So before go through other parties you may want read Google AdSense FAQ)

• AdBrite:

AdBrite offers numerous ad styles from the standard contextual ad units, but also offers rich media, inline, full pages and more. The system has one of the lowest thresholds for payment. It defaults to $100 payment, but you can set as low as $5.

Payments are issued on a net-60 system, I.e. Earnings made in April are paid in June.

• AdToll:

AdToll is a hybrid ad network that allows you to sell ad space on your site for a price you determine with you keeping 75% of the revenue. If you do not sell a space, the unsold inventory will be filled with “Run of Network” ads which are a cost-per-click solution.

Payout minimums are $20 for PayPal and $40 for checks.

• Chitika:

An interesting alternative to most ad solutions as it only shows to your search traffic. Chitika displays ads related to the terms that brought a user to your site and presents them with ads based on that term as well as the option to search more on the term without leaving your page. The ads do not show up to your regular visitors so you don’t have to worry about bombarding your regulars with too much advertising.

Payout minimums are $20.

• BidVertiser:

BidVertiser works a bit differently than others in the list in that advertisers bid directly against one another for your ad inventory. The ads look like the general context ads, so they will work with Flash-based sites and sites with very little content. Minimum payout is $10 and can be done by check or PayPal. One other definite plus for them is that they provide actual phone numbers for publishers to call and get assistance when needed.

• Clicksor:

Clicksor provides all of the usual contextual ad sizes you are used to (leader boards, skyscrapers and so on) as well as providing inline ads, rich media, graphical banners and more. Payment methods vary by style of advertisement, and there is a minimum payout of $50 by standard check or PayPal.

There is a minimum of 150,000 page views per month for this program.

• eClickZ:

eClickZ focuses on search engine sites and some content sites, and they guarantee their advertisers a higher quality of traffic.

If your site qualifies, you will be able to talk with an account manager, use a toll free number to call them and take advantage of payout minimums of $50 that can be paid by PayPal.

• Infolinks:

Infolinks focuses on in-text advertising, but is welcoming to web sites of all sizes and traffic so that there is next to no threshold to joining.

Payment threshold is $100 and can be made by PayPal or check.

• Kontera:

Kontera focuses mainly on inline contextual advertising and offers plug-in and one-click support for Blogger, Drupal, Joomla and WordPress. The service has the standard $100 payment threshold, but does offer negotiable CPM rates based on the amount of traffic your site generates.

There is a requirement for 500,000 page views to participate in the system.

• Microsoft pubCenter:

Microsoft’s advertising solution is still considered a beta product, but it is fully functioning and you can control what ads appear on your site by sorting out keywords or URLs.

Minimum payout is $50.

• WidgetBucks:

WidgetBucks CPC, CPM are referral options for making money, all of them are displayed in a widget you can place anywhere on your site.

Minimum payout is $50 by either PayPal or check.

• Yahoo Publisher Network:

The Yahoo Publisher Network will give you all of the standard contextual ad sizes and will allow you to filter out competitor’s ads. The payment system provides you with some extra payment options in that you can request payment via PayPal when you hit $50 in revenue and receive it the same day.

Same day payment on a $100 minimum for direct deposit or revenue transferred directly to your Yahoo! Search Marketing account.
Printed checks take 7 – 10 days to arrive after you request them.

Bookmark & Share |

How to Highlight the Authors Comments In Blogger Blogs

Under the blogger comment form modernizations, here I’m going to discuss about highlighting the comments posted by the author. By that author’s comments will be differ from the user’s comment.
Main benefit is by looking at once anyone can identify the author’s comments and follow on that.

Also I know many blog authors will love if their comments will be little bit differ from the user, including me :)

1. Go to Layout >> Edit Html.

2. Check the "Expand Widget Templates"

3. And place the code below before the closing ]]></b:skin>

#comments-block .comment-body-author {
margin: 10px;
padding:10px;
border:#EFC2D0 1px solid;
background:#EFC2D0;
}

Please Note you need to change these style codes according to your site. It's not possible to give default settings as there are lots of custom templates out.

Now search for the following lines of code "

" and replace it with the following code.

<b:if cond='data:comment.author == data:post.author'>
<dd class='comment-body-author'>
<p><data:comment.body/></p>
</dd>
<b:else/>
<dd class='comment-body'>

Next search for the code "<dd class='comment-footer'>" and replace it with the code,

</b:if>
<dd class='comment-footer'>

We are done with the editing and check how it works. All exciting comments also should appear with our new changes. :)

Bookmark & Share |

Tag-Cloud (Label) Widget for Blogger Blogs Method 3 Newest

Blogger newly release tag cloud widget for BlogSpot blogs which can be easily setup through there label widget.

With the new release of label widget there are two options available to choose either we needs traditional label list or their new Tag cloud widget.

For those who unaware tag cloud is list of labels in Alphabetical, random or frequent manner which we assign to our posts. With the tag cloud it is easy to find out similar type of posts as they grouped all together.

You can see the new tag cloud widget live in action in right hand side of my site.

• Tag-Cloud Setup:

Go to "layout" >> Click on "add a Gadget" and select "labels" widget. If already you have installed the label widget check it you can see new options which we going to discuss here.

Set the title and next simply select Show All Labels if you need to show all labels assigned to your blog posts or select ratio button "Selected Labels" to show only specific labels selected by you.

With the "Selected Labels" there is an “Edit” option, click it and select what labels you need to display and click done.

With the "Sorting" option we can decide whether we needs to display labels "Alphabetically" or "Frequency". As I love to frequency manner in my site I'm going with that but it’s up to you to decide which is most suited for your site.

Check "Show number of posts per label" to show post count which is assign with every label. Congrats you're done with your new tag cloud click to save and see how it’s working :)

• Spice up your Tag-Cloud:

K this is a little trick if you carefully check my tag-cloud you may notice every label is separated with a "|”, what I have done is edit the widget content in "Edit HTML" page.

1. Go to "Edit HTML" page check "Expand Widget Templates" and search for (Ctrl+F)

"<span dir='ltr'>(<data:label.count/>)"

2. There are two separate code sections you'll find. What you need to do is add a " | " end of the above code. Please remember as there are two code sections you have to add " | " twice.

3. After done with the editing save the template and check whether it’s perfectly working or not. Check twice and Leave me a comment if it is not. :)

• Advantages:

1. Easy to setup, no additional configurations.
2. No slowdowns.
3. No need to add external java scripts.
4. And last thing is it’s working perfectly ;)

Disadvantages, nothing find yet.

Bookmark & Share |

Flash Animated Label /Tag-Cloud Widget for Blogger Method 2

“Blogumulus” is an Flash based tag cloud widget which uses script converted from Roy Tanck’s WP Cumulus plug-in for WordPress. You need to move your mouse over the Flash object to see the animation is begin.

Mechanism
This widget uses a combination of JavaScript and Flash animation to parse and display blog labels. To see Blogumus in action, both Flash and JavaScript must be installed and need to be enabled in internet browser. However those who do not use JavaScript of Flash (including search engine spiders) still can see this and label links will be clickable though not animated.

Installation
You need to copy and paste a section of code to your Blogger template, though any tweaks for the style of display will require some manual editing.

Here are the steps required to install Blogumus in your Blogger layout:

1. Go to Layout >> Edit HTML in your Blogger dashboard, and search for the exact section where you want to install the tab cloud. Blogger section is the part which holds widgets (Gadgets) and it begins with <b:section.

You need to find the exact place which you need to be installed the tag cloud. Here I’m assuming in your blog has a section called sidebar and you need to install the Blogumulus before every other widget.

2. Find the sidebar section (normally every blog template contain sidebar however some are not, it is depend on the template which you use).

<b:section class=’sidebar’ id=’sidebar’ preferred=’yes’>

3. Immediatly after this line, paste the following section of code:

<b:widget id='Label2' locked='false' title='Labels' type='Label'>
<b:includable id='main'>
<b:if cond='data:title'>
</b:if>
<div class='widget-content'>
<script src='http://halotemplates.s3.amazonaws.com/wp-cumulus-example/swfobject.js' type='text/javascript'/>
<div id='flashcontent'>Blogumulus by <a href='http://www.roytanck.com/'>Roy Tanck</a> and <a href='http://www.tutoorials.com'>Vinoj at Tutoorials.com</a></div>
<script type='text/javascript'>
var so = new SWFObject(&quot;http://halotemplates.s3.amazonaws.com/wp-cumulus-example/tagcloud.swf&quot;, &quot;tagcloud&quot;, &quot;300&quot;, &quot;200&quot;, &quot;7&quot;, &quot;#ffffff&quot;);
// uncomment next line to enable transparency
//so.addParam(&quot;wmode&quot;, &quot;transparent&quot;);
so.addVariable(&quot;tcolor&quot;, &quot;0x333333&quot;);
so.addVariable(&quot;mode&quot;, &quot;tags&quot;);
so.addVariable(&quot;distr&quot;, &quot;true&quot;);
so.addVariable(&quot;tspeed&quot;, &quot;100&quot;);
so.addVariable(&quot;tagcloud&quot;, &quot;<tags><b:loop values='data:labels' var='label'><a expr:href='data:label.url' style='12'><data:label.name/></a></b:loop></tags>&quot;);
so.addParam(&quot;allowScriptAccess&quot;, &quot;always&quot;);
so.write(&quot;flashcontent&quot;);
</script>
<b:include name='quickedit'/>
</div>
</b:includable>
</b:widget>

4. Save template and preview if the tag-cloud installed correctly, you should see the tag cloud appear in your sidebar before any other widgets.

5. Customizing the Tag-Cloud
The default installation, Blogumulus includes the following preset variables:

Width = 240px
Height = 300px;
Background color = white
Test color = grey
Font size = “12″

And do not hesitate to change other variables until you get the most suited one for you. I love experiments.

Bookmark & Share |

TAG /Label Cloud Widget for Blogger Method 1

A tag cloud or label cloud is good replacement for form of regular labels widget in blogger.

1. In the Page Elements page, add a Labels Widget as you normally do there and (Add a widget>> labels)
Sort the labels alphabetically when prompted.

2. After Adding the Label Widget Go to Layout>Edit Html

3. Press CTRL+F for start browser search function and search for the code

<b:widget id='Label1' locked='false' title='Labels' type='Label'/>

or something similar.

4. Replace <b:widget id='Label1' locked='false' title='Labels' type='Label'/> with the below code.

<b:widget id='Label1' locked='false' title='Label Cloud' type='Label'>
<b:includable id='main'>
<b:if cond='data:title'>
<h2><data:title/></h2>
</b:if>
<div class='widget-content'>
<div id='labelCloud'/>
<p align='center'>
<script type='text/javascript'>
var cloudMin = 1;
var maxFontSize = 25;
var maxColor = [35,130,196];
var minFontSize = 10;
var minColor = [35,130,195];
var lcShowCount = false;
// Don't change anything after onwards
function s(a,b,i,x){
if(a&gt;b){
var m=(a-b)/Math.log(x),v=a-Math.floor(Math.log(i)*m)
}
else{
var m=(b-a)/Math.log(x),v=Math.floor(Math.log(i)*m+a)
}
return v
}
var c=[];
var labelCount = new Array();
var ts = new Object;
<b:loop values='data:labels' var='label'>
var theName = &quot;<data:label.name/>&quot;;
ts[theName] = <data:label.count/>;
</b:loop>
for (t in ts){
if (!labelCount[ts[t]]){
labelCount[ts[t]] = new Array(ts[t])
}
}
var ta=cloudMin-1;
tz = labelCount.length - cloudMin;
lc2 = document.getElementById(&#39;labelCloud&#39;);
ul = document.createElement(&#39;ul&#39;);
ul.className = &#39;label-cloud&#39;;
for(var t in ts){
if(ts[t] &lt; cloudMin){
continue;
}
for (var i=0;3 &gt; i;i++) {
c[i]=s(minColor[i],maxColor[i],ts[t]-ta,tz)
}
var fs = s(minFontSize,maxFontSize,ts[t]-ta,tz);
li = document.createElement(&#39;li&#39;);
li.style.fontSize = fs+&#39;px&#39;;
a = document.createElement(&#39;a&#39;);
a.title = ts[t]+&#39; Posts in &#39;+t;
a.style.color = &#39;rgb(&#39;+c[0]+&#39;,&#39;+c[1]+&#39;,&#39;+c[2]+&#39;)&#39;;
a.href = &#39;/search/label/&#39;+encodeURIComponent(t);
if (lcShowCount){
span = document.createElement(&#39;span&#39;);
span.innerHTML = &#39;(&#39;+ts[t]+&#39;) &#39;;
span.className = &#39;label-count&#39;;
a.appendChild(document.createTextNode(t));
li.appendChild(a);
li.appendChild(span);
}
else {
a.appendChild(document.createTextNode(t));
li.appendChild(a);
}
ul.appendChild(li);
abnk = document.createTextNode(&#39; &#39;);
ul.appendChild(abnk);
}
lc2.appendChild(ul);
</script>
</p>
<noscript>
<ul>
<b:loop values='data:labels' var='label'>
<li>
<b:if cond='data:blog.url == data:label.url'>
<data:label.name/>
<b:else/>
<a expr:href='data:label.url'><data:label.name/></a>
</b:if>
(<data:label.count/>)
</li>
</b:loop>
</ul>
<br/>Tag Cloud By : <small><a href='http://www.voothemes.com'> voothemes.com </a></small>
</noscript>
<b:include name='quickedit'/>
</div>
</b:includable>
</b:widget>

5. Last thing is defining some style to tag cloud. For that find the code]]> and put the below code just above it.

#labelCloud {text-align:center;font-family:arial,sans-serif;}
#labelCloud .label-cloud li{display:inline;background-image:none !important;padding:0 5px;margin:0;vertical-align:baseline !important;border:0 !important;}
#labelCloud ul{list-style-type:none;margin:0 auto;padding:0;}
#labelCloud a img{border:0;display:inline;margin:0 0 0 3px;padding:0}
#labelCloud a{text-decoration:none}
#labelCloud a:hover{text-decoration:underline}
#labelCloud li a{}
#labelCloud .label-cloud {}
#labelCloud .label-count {padding-left:0.2em;font-size:9px;color:#000}
#labelCloud .label-cloud li:before{content:"" !important}

• Change Tag Cloud Colors:

var maxColor =
var minColor =

You have to set the RGB values for these two sections in the script we replaced earlier. If you know the hex values then easily can convert it into RGB or find any web based color pallet to make it esiar

• Change Font Sizes:

var minFontSize =
var maxFontSize =
Change these two values as you desire.

Bookmark & Share |

Twitter Widget for Blogger Blogs

Twitter became one of the most powerful social media and widely spread. There are many benefits for web masters using twitter.

Adding twitter updates to a blogger site is real easy. You have nothing to do other than placing below codes as your requirement.

• Show Updates of Single Account:

If you need to display updates from just one twitter account then copy the below code and place it in your blog site using HTML/JavaScript Gadget.

Go to Layout > Page Elements. Click on Add a Gadget. Select HTML/JavaScript from the list. Copy/paste the code given below and Save.

Replace tutoorials with your twitter username.
count=5 shows 5 twitter updates on the sidebar. Change count number to whatever you want to show that much updates on the sidebar...

<div id="twitter_div">
<ul id="twitter_update_list"></ul>
<a id="twitter-link" style="display:block;text-align:right;" href="http://twitter.com/tutoorials">follow me on Twitter</a>
</div>
<script src="http://twitter.com/javascripts/blogger.js" type="text/javascript"></script>
<script src="http://twitter.com/statuses/user_timeline/tutoorials.json?callback=twitterCallback2&count=5" type="text/javascript">
</script>

Styling the widget: [Optional]

<div style="background: url(http://www.tutoorials.com/images/twitter-icon.gif) top left no-repeat; padding-left: 50px;" id="twitter_div">

Define any style attributes for about code and replace it with

<div id="twitter_div">

however this is not important.

• Show Updates of Multiple Accounts:

<div id="twitter_multi_div">
<ul id="twitter_multi_update_list">
</ul>
</div>
<script src=" http://all1js1files.googlepages.com/multitweet.js" type="text/javascript"></script>
<script text="text/javascript">
MultiTweetUsers = "Twitter_UserName1,Twitter_UserName2,Twitter_UserName3";
MultiTweetMask = "";
TweetsPerUser = 3;
getUserTweet(MultiTweetUsers, TweetsPerUser);
</script>

Replace Twitter_UserName 1, 2, 3 etc with real twitter usernames. You can add any numbers of accounts as you wish. Each user name is separated by a "COMMA" as shown above.

TweetsPerUser = 3; This define 3 twitter updates per user.

Bookmark & Share |

Add Twitter Followers Counter to Blogger

Placing a Twitter Follower Counter on your Blogger (BlogSpot) site, which displaying the number of followers you have on Twitter will encourage other readers to begin following you on Twitter. This is quite similar approach to feed burner subscriber counter on your site which is encouraging for new subscribers.

You can either embed the button code given below to your xml template via EDIT HTML or Using a HTML/JAVASCRIPT Gadget.

Using HTML/JAVASCRIPT Gadget:
1. Login to Blogger account

2. Navigate to page Layout > Page Elements

3. Click on the link to add a Gadget where you wish to place twitter counter, it can be either footer or sidebar.

4. Choose HTML/JavaScript from the gadgets list.

5. Paste any of the following scripts as you prefer.

• Standard Button:

<script type="text/javascript" language="javascript" src="http://twittercounter.com/embed/?username=Tutoorials.com"></script>

• Black Button:

<script type="text/javascript" language="javascript" src="http://twittercounter.com/embed/?username=Tutoorials.com&style=black"></script>

• White button:

<script type="text/javascript" language="javascript" src="http://twittercounter.com/embed/?username=Tutoorials.com&style=white"></script>

• Blue button:

<script type="text/javascript" language="javascript" src="http://twittercounter.com/embed/?username=Tutoorials.com&style=blue"></script>

• Big Bird Button

<script type="text/javascript" language="JavaScript" src="http://twittercounter.com/embed/?username=Tutoorials.com&style=bird">
</script>

6. Replace the Tutoorials.com with your Twitter username.
EX. username=USER-NAME

Embedding the twitter button code to your xml template:

For that you have to parse the html codes given above using HTML encoder and place it within the template where you want the button appear. Before that don't forget to backup your template.

If you prefer more Twitter Counter badges find at twittercounter.com

Bookmark & Share |

Add Email This Post Link / Form to Blogger Blog

The advantage of having "Email this Link" on each post of your blogger post is, this prompting users to share what they saw with friends or keep it in their mail box for feature reference. In both cases, we are getting advantage of a flooding traffic.

"Email this" is not nor quite similar to "subscribe by email link" which users subscribe to your feeds. Email this only emails the single post chosen by reader.

• Add Email This Using Blogger Own function:

So far, this is the easiest method to append an email button to the end of each post.

1. In Blogger "Layout" navigate to the "Page Elements" tab.
2. Click the Edit link on Blog Posts (Blogger Post Layout section)
3. A popup menu will appear, Under Select Items check the box "Show Email Post Links"
4. Click Save

• Using Add This Button.
  

Add this is one of my favorite all in one social book marking solution, which helped me lot to minimalist and reduce the clutter of having lots of buttons. You can see live example for this button at the end of my each post. Finally add this newest beta version really amazing. I love it.

• Using Tell a Friend Form

Tell a Friend form is giving straight forward way to users entering the email address of their friends and sends the mails with your post URL.

Here are some parts which you can edit if prefer.

This is mail Subject = Hay buddy, take a look at this.
The Mail Body = Hi:\n You may want to check out this site

<script language="JavaScript">

<!-- Begin

//Script by Trånn: http://come.to/tronds
//Submitted to JavaScript Kit (http://javascriptkit.com)
//Visit http://javascriptkit.com for this script

var initialsubj="Hay buddy, take a look at this"
var initialmsg="Hi:\n You may want to check out this site: "+window.location
var good;
function checkEmailAddress(field) {

var goodEmail = field.value.match(/\b(^(\S+@).+((\.com)|(\.net)|(\.edu)|(\.mil)|(\.gov)|(\.org)|(\.info)|(\.sex)|(\.biz)|(\.aero)|(\.coop)|(\.museum)|(\.name)|(\.pro)|(\..{2,2}))$)\b/gi);
if (goodEmail) {
good = true;
}
else {
alert('Please enter a valid address.');
field.focus();
field.select();
good = false;
}
}
u = window.location;
function mailThisUrl() {
good = false
checkEmailAddress(document.eMailer.email);
if (good) {

//window.location = "mailto:"+document.eMailer.email.value+"?subject="+initialsubj+"&amp;body="+document.title+" "+u;
window.location = "mailto:"+document.eMailer.email.value+"?subject="+initialsubj+"&amp;body="+initialmsg
}
}
// End -->
</script>


<form name="eMailer">
Tell a friend:
<input type="text" name="email" size="26" value=" Enter Address Here" onfocus="this.value=''" onmouseover="window.status='Enter email address here and tell a friend about this site...'; return true" onmouseout="window.status='';return true">
<br />
<input type="button" value="Send this URL" onmouseover="window.status='Click to send an email (with this page address) to a friend! Enter email address above...'; return true" onmouseout="window.status='';return true" onclick="mailThisUrl();">
</form>

Bookmark & Share |

Rank at Technorati Blogger Technorat Widget

Technorati is one of popular Internet Blog search engine.Technorati ranking is important feature that show off how popular your blog and generating traffic. This system is based on the number of references made to the blog.

This widget display technorati rank in a similar way as the feed burner displayed its subscription count.

It also included Add to Technorati feature which allows your blog readers to favorite your blog at Technorati.com and makes it popular there.


1. First get your Technorati API key from here ..
It should be something similar to "5915c97c4bcba50f5935e4c8e1aaa7d7"

2. add=http://voothemes.com , Find this code portion from below code and make changes with your site URL.

3. key=KEYHERE , find this part and replace KEYHERE with Technorati API key.

4. Use HTML/JavaScript Gadget to implement this in your blog.

<div style="background-image:url(http://simpletricksblog.googlepages.com/technoratirank.gif);background-repeat:no-repeat;height:26px;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<font size="1"><script type="text/javascript">
function addCommas(nStr) {
nStr += '';
x = nStr.split('.');
x1 = x[0];
x2 = x.length > 1 ? '.' + x[1] : '';
var rgx = /(\d+)(\d{3})/;
while (rgx.test(x1)) {
x1 = x1.replace(rgx, '$1' + ',' + '$2');
}
return x1 + x2;
}
function pipeCallback(obj) {
document.write(addCommas(obj.value.items[0].title));
}
</script>
<script src="http://pipes.yahoo.com/pipes/pipe.run?_render=json&_callback=pipeCallback&_id=0d02a870cc849bf82a56166abd0b7671&url=http%3A%2F%2Fvoothemes.com&num=10&api_key=KEYHERE" type="text/javascript"></script>
</font></div><br/><a href="http://technorati.com/faves?sub=addfavbtn&amp;add=www.voothemes.com"><img border="0" alt="Add to Technorati Favorites" src="http://static.technorati.com/pix/fave/tech-fav-1.png"/></a><br/><br/><span style="font-size: 80%">Widget by <a href="http://www.voothemes.com"> Voothemes.com </a></span>

Bookmark & Share |

Top Authors Widget for Blogger Blogs

Blogger allows you to add and work together with multiple blog writers in your blog.

This is one of most benefited feature in blogger. Adding co-authors and get there contribution will make it easy to build lager and successful blog site.

Top authors widget is purposely made for encourage all co authors by displaying there post count along with the name.

This statics based on the least 5000 posts in your blog.

1. Find "YOURBLOG.blogspot.com" in the below code and set it with your site name and make sure not to include "http" and "www"

2. num=10 , this part is for number of co-authors ,set the number of co-authors with the exact number of your site has.

<script type="text/javascript">
function pipeCallback(obj) {
document.write('<ol>');
var i;
for (i = 0; i < obj.count ; i++)
{
var href = "'" + obj.value.items[i].link + "'";
if(obj.value.items[i].link == "")
var item ="<li>" + obj.value.items[i].title + "</li>";
else
var item = "<li>" + "<a href=" + href + ">" + obj.value.items[i].title + "</a> </li>";
document.write(item);
}
document.write('</ol>');
}
</script>
<script src="http://pipes.yahoo.com/pipes/pipe.run?_render=json&_callback=pipeCallback&_id=0914c284eb9e2a1e7e1e903896990b6f&url=http%3A%2F%2FYOURBLOG.blogspot.com&num=10" type="text/javascript"></script>
<span style="gt;Widget by <a href="http://www.tutoorials.com">Tutoorials </a></span>

Bookmark & Share |

Breadcrumb Widget for Blogger

For those who unaware "Breadcrumb" is a navigation system that shows to the user where he is in the site. Unlike normal navigation it is doing some guidance by providing the current location of the user.

Wikipedia definition for breadcrumb

Breadcrumbs or breadcrumb trail is a navigation aid used in user interfaces. It gives users a way to keep track of their location within programs or documents. Breadcrumbs provide a trail for the user to follow back to the starting or entry point.

• Installing Breadcrumb

1. Go to Edit HTML blogger
2. Take a Backup of your template and Expand the Widget templates (check expand widget box).

3. Now find this piece of code.
<b:include data='top' name='status-message'/>

And replace it with the

<b:include data='top' name='status-message'/>
<b:include data='posts' name='breadcrumb'/>

4. Next find the
<b:includable id='main' var='top'>

Replace it with the code below.

<b:includable id='breadcrumb' var='posts'>
<b:if cond='data:blog.homepageUrl == data:blog.url'>
<!-- No breadcrumb on home page -->
<b:else/>
<b:if cond='data:blog.pageType == "item"'>
<!-- breadcrumb for the post page -->
<p class='breadcrumbs'>
<span class='post-labels'>
<a expr:href='data:blog.homepageUrl' rel='tag'>Home</a>
<b:loop values='data:posts' var='post'>
<b:if cond='data:post.labels'>
<b:loop values='data:post.labels' var='label'>
<b:if cond='data:label.isLast == "true"'> »
<a expr:href='data:label.url' rel='tag'><data:label.name/></a>
</b:if>
</b:loop>
<b:else/>
» Unlabelled
</b:if>
» <span><data:post.title/></span>
</b:loop>
</span>
</p>
<b:else/>
<b:if cond='data:blog.pageType == "archive"'>
<!-- breadcrumb for the label archive page and search pages.. -->
<p class='breadcrumbs'>
<span class='post-labels'>
<a expr:href='data:blog.homepageUrl'>Home</a> » Archives for <data:blog.pageName/>
</span>
</p>
<b:else/>
<b:if cond='data:blog.pageType == "index"'>
<p class='breadcrumbs'>
<span class='post-labels'>
<b:if cond='data:blog.pageName == ""'>
<a expr:href='data:blog.homepageUrl'>Home</a> » All posts
<b:else/>
<a expr:href='data:blog.homepageUrl'>Home</a> » Posts filed under <data:blog.pageName/>
</b:if>
</span>
</p>
</b:if>
</b:if>
</b:if>
</b:if>
</b:includable>
<b:includable id='main' var='top'>

And the final part, let’s make your Breadcrumb more stylish, you can define any preferred setting also. Find the ]]></b:skin> and place the code below just above it.

Bookmark & Share |

Back to Top (Scroll to Top) Widget for Blogger Blogs

Back to top widget enables the users to scroll up the pages easily. Doing this will make your blog more comfortable for the site visitors.

Here you can easily add this widget for blogger by clicking on the below button or you can easily integrate the code which I provided beneath manually into a HTML widget or xml template.

<br /><style type="text/css"><br />.backtotop a:hover {text-decoration: none; background:none;}<br /></style><br /><div class="backtotop"><a style="display:scroll;position:fixed;bottom:5px;right:5px;" class="backtotop" href="#" rel="nofollow" title="Back to Top"><img style="border:0;" src=" http://img19.imageshack.us/img19/1849/backtotop.png " /></a></div><br />

Instead of adding more and more widgets which will cause to messy around the layout page, you can add the portion of code below, into your template by going through the Edit HTML. If you’re some comfortable with blogger themes then this can easily integrate into blogger.

Before adding the code below, into xml template first make sure to parse the code using adsense ad parser which will make codes more compatible with blogger theme integration.

<br/><style type="text/css"><br/>.backtotop a:hover {text-decoration: none; background:none;}<br/></style><br/><div class="backtotop"><a style="display:scroll;position:fixed;bottom:5px;right:5px;" class="backtotop" href="#" rel="nofollow" title="Back to Top"><img style="border:0;" src="http://img19.imageshack.us/img19/1849/backtotop.png"/></a></div><br/>

Bookmark & Share |

Add Print Button /Link to Blogger Blog

Print button facilitates visitors to print a hard copy of a post and keep it for feature reference.

Printing the whole site along with side bars is disadvantage and inefficient.

So in here I was mainly concern on printing the article along with comments but not including sidebars.

• Add a Print Button.

1. In your blogger account goes to "Edit HTML" page and before make any changes take a backup of your template.
2. Check the box "Expand Widgets Template"
3. Find the code <p><data:post.body/></p> and replace it with the code given below.

<!-- Start Printer Button -->
<span class='noprint'><p><data:post.body/></p></span>
<b:if cond='data:blog.pageType == &quot;item&quot;'>
<a href='javascript:window.print()'>
<img src='http://img198.imageshack.us/img198/2360/vooprint.png'/></a></b:if>

<!-- End Add Printer Button -->

Note: May you need to change the printer icon to your own icon for doing that upload any preferred icon to blogger or any other image hosting site and replace it with the http://img198.imageshack.us/img198/2360/vooprint.png in above code.

• Add a Print Link.

This is quite simple, remove the <img src="http://img198.imageshack.us/img198/2360/vooprint.png" /> part of the above code and replace it with any text you need to be appear in your blog.

<!-- Start Printer Button -->
<p><span class='noprint'><data:post.body/></p></span>
<b:if cond='data:blog.pageType == &quot;item&quot;'>
<a href='javascript:window.print()'>Print this post</a>
</b:if>
<!-- End Add Printer Button -->

• Adding a Combination of Printer Button and Link:

For displaying a printer icon along with a link you need add <span style='background: url(http://i1020.photobucket.com/albums/af326/bookwise77/printer-button.gif) left no-repeat; padding-left: 25px;'> right before the <a href

Background: url(PRINTER IMAGE URL)
Padding-left: 25px; // seperator space between image and link.

<!-- Start Printer Button -->
<span class='noprint'><p><data:post.body/></p></span>
<b:if cond='data:blog.pageType == &quot;item&quot;'>
<span style='background: url(http://img198.imageshack.us/img198/2360/vooprint.png) left no-repeat; padding-left: 25px;'>
<a href='javascript:window.print()'>Print this post</a></span>
</b:if>
<!-- End Printer Button -->

Only the blog article itself will be printed along with any comments. The sidebar will not be printed.

Bookmark & Share |

Test Cross Browser Compatibility of Your Website

As there are many browsers available for the users to surf the internet it’s essential to sites look great across all modern browsers.

Different people use different operating systems and browsers to surf internet and we cannot control their preference and default settings of browsers. In most cases peoples tend to use their browser with default settings and sites which are not compatible with those settings and browser normally ignored.

As a designer/ Blogger/ Site Administrator we need to make compatible sites for many platforms, browsers and their default settings. For doing that it is important to test the sites across all available browsers, at least with most popular browsers.

By the way it isn’t possible to practically done by installing all the available browsers and check the site compatibility one by one. Mozilla and I.E are the most used browsers around the world. It is essential to check browser compatibility for these two by our self’s and while designing website web designers make it sure to check the browser compatibility of the website in all other browsers too.

Following websites are allowing designers to test the cross browser compatibility of their website across different browsers and operating systems.

• BrowserShots

Most comprehensive cross browser compatibility checker on the internet. It allows checks a particular site at once for a day.

• Browsrcamp
  

Browsrcamp allows you to test the compatibility of your design with Mac OS X browsers.

• CrossBrowserTesting
  

CrossBrowserTesting allows to test the cross browser compatibility of their website across different browsers and operating systems.Test AJAX and Javascript as well as the layout.

• Xenocode
  

Run any browser from the web

• Netrenderer
  

Allows you to check how a website is rendered by Internet Explorer 7, 6 or 5.5, as seen from a high speed datacenter located in Germany. IE8 engine has been updated to Internet Explorer 8 final.

• Litmus
  

Litmus shows you exactly how your designs look on every platform, across every popular web browser. (And the not-so-popular ones.)

• IETester (free WebBrowser)

Allows you to have the rendering and javascript engines of IE8, IE7 IE 6 and IE5.5 on Windows 7, Vista and XP, as well as the installed IE in the same process.

Bookmark & Share |