Had some requests this week that we post our lab notes/instructions for last term’s lab on widgets, maps, interactivity, and tagging. Glad to do it.

The full instruction is after the jump:

Lab: Widgets: maps, interactivity, and tagging

What is tagging? A way of labeling your posts using common, key search terms to maximize their findability on the web; a way to describe an item (in this case a blog post) and allowing it to be found again by browsing or searching.

How Tagging works in Wordpress:

1. Log on to your Dashboard

2. Create a new post or click “Edit” on an existing post

3. In your right sidebar, the second item down says “Post Tags.” Type all relevant Tags into the available text field, separated by commas. Tags are not case-sensitive.

4. Click “Add,” and your tags will now be attached to your post.

5. If you want to add more tags or remove certain tags after you’ve published your post, simply click the X next to the word you want to delete.

There are also additional Tagging plugins you can download onto your blog using Core FTP. One example is here.

Think of Tags as page markers for your favorite pages in a book. Some more explanation on Tags can be found here.

Widgets:

What exactly is a Widget? A portable chunk of code that you can embed into your blog to serve a specific function.

Widgets defined in full here.
One example of using Widgets to tell stories is Rap Maps.

Internal Wordpress Widgets:

You have several widgets already available to you in the dashboard of your Wordpress blog. How do you find them?

1. In your left column of options, click the drop-down menu under “Appearance,” and click “Widgets.”

2. You’ll see a list of “Available Widgets.” Find one you want, left-click on it, and drag it into your sidebar (some of you, depending on which theme you are using, may have multiple sidebars).

3. Fill out any necessary information requested in the drop-down menu for the widget, then click Save.

4. To remove a widget, simply left-click and drag it back to the left side, out of your sidebar. You can also open up the widget in the sidebar and click “Delete.”

5. Note: former widgets disappear when you initially start dragging widgets into your sidebar. You have to replace the original ones if you want them there.

External Widgets: Not embedded in your blog sidebar, but in POSTS or PAGES

External widgets are simply widgets that you download from another location or source onto your desktop, and then upload into your blog using your Core FTP. How do you do this?

1. Find a widget that you want (Wordpress.org has many. Look here), such as this Polling widget.

2. Click “Download” and save the file to your desktop.

3. Open up your Core FTP

4. Left-click and drag the saved widget file into the “Plugins” folder inside of your “Portfolio” folder in your FTP.

5. Let the files upload. This will take a minute.

Another example of an external widget is Google Maps

1. Need a Google account or a Gmail. Get one now. Log on and stay logged on.

2. Open up Google Maps (you should automatically be signed in if you are logged on).

3. Click “My Maps” then click “Create new map”

4. Will ask you to give your new map a Title and Description. Do this.

5. Click Done and then click Edit.

6. Your editing tools are in the top left portion of your screen. Create as many pin points on your map as you like.

7. When you’re done, click “Link.” This will give you both a URL for linking people to your map, and an Embed code for posting your map either in a blog post or as a widget in your sidebar (Using the “Arbitrary Text” widget option.

More External Widgets:

1. Cover It Live: Home page (click on Demos)

2. Former City student, covering the G20 using all widgets
3. Free charts and graphics from Fusion Charts: Click on Demos

4. WidgetBox Slideshow (and others)

Interactivity:

Twitter: Sign up for Twitter if you haven’t already.

1. Activate your Twitter feed plug-in/widget if you haven’t already into your sidebar.

2. Select three hash tags that are suitable for your portfolio tweets. These should be a mix of common hash tags in your topic area (eg g20) and unique ones (eg g20ct) so you are able to join conversation streams and create your own conversation streams for others to join

3. Explanation of Hash Tags is here.

4. Start a list on your Twitter feed and add at least five people to it that are useful Twitter feeds in the content domain of your portfolio.

Twitter Lists

5. Listorious: Useful resource for lists to join

Additional Resources

Mashable: the Social Media Guide