SyndicationMonday, October 10, 2005
Blogger HOWTO: Eight Easy Steps to a BlogMap
by Amanda
New Post
I added a blogmap to my sidebar a while ago, but I am disappointed that both of my blogs are the only ones that appear in the area. So, I have added a HOWTO below (even though there are others available - the more instuctions the merrier, right?)
Note: These instructions pertain to Blogger (Blogspot) blogs only, but if you know enough to edit your template you should be able to adjust the instructions to fit your blog.
Step One:
Log-in to your blog and click "Template" to edit your template.
Step Two:
Cut and paste the entire html code of your template to notepad (or a similar simple editor)
Comment: You don't need to use anything more hectic than notepad because you will simply be cut-and-pasting some html. If you have a nice editor with syntax highlighting, etc, great, but I would not recommend opening a Beast like Word or OpenOffice for this.
Step Three:
Go to the notepad document, and FIRST SAVE IT as a backup in case this doesn't work for you. Do not overwrite this file with the changes you make below (yes, I know, some of you may think this goes without saying, but I've dealt with the technically challenged, so bear with me). Then, just near the top, look for the header section of your html code. This will be some long bunch of text between the tags <head> and </head>.
Step Four:
Paste the following somewhere in the header section:
where latitude and longitude is your own, obviously. Don't forget to use negatives for the southern and western hemispheres. You can look up your geolocation easily by IP address (if you know your IP) here: http://netgeo.caida.org/perl/netgeo.cgi (note, this site has not been maintained for years, so may give incorrect information)
Other places you can look up your latitude and longitude:
Here is my code, as an example:
Step Five:
Cut and paste the entire notepad text back into your blog template form, replacing anything that was there with this new text. Save your changes and republish (full republish, not just the index).
Step Six:
Register your blog with FeedMap: Go to http://www.feedmap.net/BlogMap/submit.aspx and paste your blog URL into the submit box at the bottom of the page. If it fails, try again maybe with your site feed URL instead. (You will find your site feed URL by clicking on "Settings", then "Site Feed" in your blog).
Step Seven:
Go back to your notepad and paste your blogmap code into a spot in the sidebar (ie, look for a line that says <!-- Begin #sidebar-->.) You might want to paste it right at the bottom of the sidebar (ie, there is a line that goes <!-- -- this is an optional paragraph .... blah blah -->) or you can put it anywhere (I have mine at the top, just after my profile and hitcounter) - if you need help, just yell...: Don't forget to change the address from mine to yours (a link should be provided for you to cut and paste).
Step Eight:
Click "Template" again in your blog to edit your template. Select the entire notepad text and replace the template on your blog with this text. Save your changes and republish.
Note: These instructions pertain to Blogger (Blogspot) blogs only, but if you know enough to edit your template you should be able to adjust the instructions to fit your blog.
Step One:
Log-in to your blog and click "Template" to edit your template.
Step Two:
Cut and paste the entire html code of your template to notepad (or a similar simple editor)
Comment: You don't need to use anything more hectic than notepad because you will simply be cut-and-pasting some html. If you have a nice editor with syntax highlighting, etc, great, but I would not recommend opening a Beast like Word or OpenOffice for this.
Step Three:
Go to the notepad document, and FIRST SAVE IT as a backup in case this doesn't work for you. Do not overwrite this file with the changes you make below (yes, I know, some of you may think this goes without saying, but I've dealt with the technically challenged, so bear with me). Then, just near the top, look for the header section of your html code. This will be some long bunch of text between the tags <head> and </head>.
Step Four:
Paste the following somewhere in the header section:
<!--###################################################-->
<!--GEO AND ICBM LOCATION TAGS-->
<meta name="ICBM" content="latitude, longitude">
<meta name="geo.position" content="latitude; longitude">
<!--###################################################-->
Other places you can look up your latitude and longitude:
Here is my code, as an example:
<!--###################################################-->
<!--GEO AND ICBM LOCATION TAGS-->
<meta name="ICBM" content="-29.62, 30.39">
<meta name="geo.position" content="-29.62; 30.39">
<!--###################################################-->
Cut and paste the entire notepad text back into your blog template form, replacing anything that was there with this new text. Save your changes and republish (full republish, not just the index).
Step Six:
Register your blog with FeedMap: Go to http://www.feedmap.net/BlogMap/submit.aspx and paste your blog URL into the submit box at the bottom of the page. If it fails, try again maybe with your site feed URL instead. (You will find your site feed URL by clicking on "Settings", then "Site Feed" in your blog).
Step Seven:
Go back to your notepad and paste your blogmap code into a spot in the sidebar (ie, look for a line that says <!-- Begin #sidebar-->.) You might want to paste it right at the bottom of the sidebar (ie, there is a line that goes <!-- -- this is an optional paragraph .... blah blah -->) or you can put it anywhere (I have mine at the top, just after my profile and hitcounter) - if you need help, just yell...: Don't forget to change the address from mine to yours (a link should be provided for you to cut and paste).
<!--###################################################-->
<!--BLOG MAPS-->
<mainorarchivepage>
</mainorarchivepage><ul><div><center><script type="text/javascript" src="http://www.feedmap.net/blogmap/blogapi.ashx?method=blogmapbadge &feed=http://dreamweaver2005.blogspot.com/atom.xml%20"><br /></script></center></div></ul>
<!--###################################################-->
Click "Template" again in your blog to edit your template. Select the entire notepad text and replace the template on your blog with this text. Save your changes and republish.
Blogmapping:
http://www.feedmap.net
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/blogmap/
Find your latitude and longitude:
- by IP address:
http://netgeo.caida.org/perl/netgeo.cgi (note, this site has not been maintained for years, so may give incorrect information)
- other:
http://geocoder.us/ (For US locations only)
http://www.maporama.com (quite good, actually)
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At Thu Oct 13, 03:21:00 pm GMT+2,
Anonymous said…
At Sat Oct 15, 01:22:00 pm GMT+2,
Amanda said…
Otherwise, I would suggest googling for livejournal feedmap (or blogmap), or finding some livejournal user that is using this and asking them how they did it or viewing the source (Ctrl-U) of their webpage until their html makes sense?