Showing posts with label BlogTip. Show all posts
Showing posts with label BlogTip. Show all posts



§ Blogger Tip....


FIRST!! Before you attempt. BACK UP YOUR BLOG!!! Okay, a few blogger blog users have mentioned several times that they have a bit of difficulty placing a header image on their blogs lately. And since I figured out how to replace something blogger has done away with in the admin gadgets, I will now attempt to help if I can...

This will be a step by step to get a header on your blog as it was before the new 'standard' interface was changed recently:

  • Login to your admin on blogger
  • Click on "Layout" and then, "Add a Gadget"

  • Click on "Page Header"

  • Click "upload image from computer" [step1], Browse button [step2], click on "instead of title and description" [step3]*
  • *I make my own headers with title infused in the graphic.  You can choose to opt from the other two preferences!!  If you have a plain image with no text, I'd choose the option of "Behind Title and Description"
  •  When image is loaded, click "save".


  • It will look like this [with YOUR image, not mine]


    If you wish to change your header at any time, just follow the steps above. Lather, Rinse, Repeat. [lol] I'd also suggest that we don't abuse this trick by changing it daily or too often, to keep Blogger from changing it altogether again, or having NO option for a new header entirely. Just my opinion. Of course I could be wrong...that'd be a first. :::snort:::


  • THE LAST STEP - Go back to beginning and hard click and HOLD on the new gadget you just made! Drag it to the top of the page [or where you want the header to be placed]. Again, click SAVE.

    Hope this little tutorial helps those that are having difficulties.



    § Double Exposure Site & Tutorial....


    In my comments, Sandra asked for more info on how to do a double exposed photo.  First off she mentioned what program I used.  The only program [software] I have other than the Windows Paint which I never use, is one I installed with my disk...Paintshop Pro.  This I use for resizing my photos to have them small enough to load on my blog quickly and yet large enough to view details.  I also make my own photo frames, watermarks,  and my own blog headers, etc. etc.  with this installed program.   [by the way, each Windows 10 update, I have to reinstall it!  I hate that...Windows ALWAYS takes it off my computer upon updating!!!]  Just another glitch with Microsoft.  Makes life interesting, I guess.

    Okay then, moving on...
  • Chose a photo from your phone, computer, laptop, or any device of yours [don't steal from anything online because of copyright issues unless given permission is my advice].
  • Go out to the website that generates free double exposures. I'll use radio buttons to differentiate all the step by step process once you have the website opened and ready. Are you ready? The website is found here
  • Scroll Down to "upload photo"
  • upload [this is the first exposure]
  • find a 2nd photo for the double image and upload
  • scroll to the right to word "process" and click it
  • your photo will be generated
  • Download and save


  • This is free an unlimited. My result from taking you through the step by step 'tutorial' is this below. I chose a dragon fly and beach image...


    Hope this helps anyone interested in how to let the computer do the work for you. I could also tell you how to do your OWN version thru Paintshop Pro, with layers, but that's a whole 'nother process.



    § LIghtbox Slideshow Fix for New Interface


    With this new Blogger interface, I noticed while visiting other blogs and my own when I went in to check comments via my cellphone, that the lightbox slideshow feature didn't work. On ANY browser. Nor do the images size post correctly to my point of view. So, I went into blogger admin for Hootin' Anni and opened THEME from the left sidebar. After it opened, I clicked on customize and got the dropdown menu. From that point, I clicked on mobile settings and from the radio buttons, I opted for DESKTOP view on mobile phones and SAVED. I then went out to several blogs and my own to take a test run. Once again, the lightbox slide show works perfectly both on desktop AND my phone. I don't know if anyone else has this issue, but I thought I'd share the steps to fix it if you need it. I also learned to tweak the image size to fill out and show crisp and clear text, etc. But, that is a whole 'nother blog tip that involves knowing html coding. In the meantime, if you too have issues with lightbox, here is the 'fix'....







    § June 26th...and a New Blog Tip [Comment Notification Settings]


    With comments of popular demand left in my previous post, I show you my homemade cinnamon rolls!!! Sorry, my will power wasn't strong...  I had to bite into the one warm from the oven. Topping mine off with a little bit of 'healthy'...the shelled pecans from last year's crop.



    My most recent walk was along the Southeast Campus of Texas A and M. Being June, and most students have left for home, the trail along the bay on the campus grounds are more or less deserted...


    The bay looking toward NAS [naval air station] bridge and the bay.


    Looking through one of many gazebos along the trail, and campus dorms


    Dorm pool and church on campus along the trail.


    All total, with the entire trail, there are numerous gazebos at several intervals...one hidden among the tree-line. And, Palms galore.


    After walking this trail, I drove along the NAS highway and scouted for birds...here, I completed my 10K for the morning.


    Old fencing along the highway - looking toward the air station


    An egret and a heron - wildflower growing out of the cement!


    A hazy morning, looking toward the city skyline...from across the bay looking BACK toward the dorms.


    Sunflowers along the highway boulders


    ONE MORE THING! Here is a BETTER way of getting email notifications sent to your email inbox of comments left in your Blogger Blog.  A step by step tutorial...simple, easy, and only takes a couple of minutes....It works like a charm, and you don't have to leave yourself a comment each time you publish a new blog post...



    Go to Blogger Admin and click on Settings [on left sidebar]




    When the next window opens, find Email and click on it...





    On the right side of new window, find Comment Notification Email.  Where your email address is....highlight and delete ["Remove']...save. 


    Then redo steps one and two to re-open Email/Comment Notification Email and re-enter ["ADD"] your email address being sure it is CORRECT.
    DON'T FORGET TO SAVE YOUR RE-ESTABLISHED EMAIL NOTIFICATION!!!!



    § Hot Days of Summer?


    Facebook & Google...They're now facing lawsuits with Europe's new privacy/consent issues beginning May 25th of this year.
    In your best interest, read this (direct link above).  It's very long.  But, a must read.  It will inform you just what is happening.  After reading the entire article, I'm wondering...should I transfer my two blogs to another format?  Perhaps export them to Wordpress?  It's a huge concern.  I hate to think of losing my 12 years of blogging ...that is a lot of work.  Will Google (at least blogger/blogspot) go the way of MySpace from years ago?

    Another issue is Gmail.  I haven't received notifications on my smartphone in nearly a couple weeks ...notifications of new comments left on my blogs.  I've done all I can (including re-establishing & re-syncing)...still, nothing.  I read somewhere that Google is aware.  {{{shrug}}}

    Any comments or suggestions on fixing it all would be welcomed.


    - - -

    For days now it's been close to breaking 100 degrees here. When I get up from my nighttime sleep, the temps are still in the 80s. So, needless to say I haven't been taking day trips at all. And I feel more exhausted than if I'd be walking regularly. To think, December like temps are still months away. This is gonna be a long hot summer I think.

    What I've been doing is re-upholstering our dining room chair cushions. When our cats were with us, their toenails tore the seats and lots of claw marks. I took it upon myself and went and purchased some upholstery. I have two chairs done, but I'm not sure just when the other two will get torn apart and measured, etc. etc. etc.

    In the quiet times of the mornings I started to use my oil pastels again. A 2nd humming bird. This time on gray pastel paper.  I do know that the hummingbird's head is too large...it looks bloated!






    ... last, to beat the heat, I've been making a daily smoothie...

    Fresh frozen unsweetened fruit
    single serving of vanilla greek yogurt
    ice water

    this time it's frozen strawberries!



    § Mobile VS. Desktop Viewing...


    I can't recall which blog I read this from, but it was regarding what you see on a blog viewing it from a desktop vs. any mobile device. And, how they appear different [without any template theme on the mobile device versus viewing on a desktop WITH the template theme visible].

    Well, there are two options. One for the visitor:

    If, when you're on a mobile device such a smartphone and see only a white background on blogger blogs, you can scroll all the way down the page and find "View Web Version". Click on it and the page will reopen with the template theme and colors the blog administrator designed.


    Then, for the blog administrator:

    You can edit your blog preferences by following these two simple steps [in Blogger]:


    Once you are logged into your blogger admin, on the sidebar, click Theme...then, your Live on Blog and Mobile will show just to the right of the listing...Under the "Mobile" click on the gear cog icon.



    The new window will open and Click the Radio Button 'No. Show desktop theme on mobile devices"

    DON'T FORGET TO CLICK save!!!!




    § Ya, Whatever!!


    While we recently experienced a flooding downpour on Friday and part of Saturday morning, when I couldn't be outdoors, I took to the desktop and played with some of my sketches and photos with the application found online...Lunapic. Here are the results.  As always I add the original in a smaller inset:


    The Gannet [bird] sketch was enhanced with the art filter "Homer" and on the Poinsettia sketch I used Vignette/Christmas


    Behind the tree a Great Blue Heron appeared - I used the animation "water" but did not save it as a gif file.  Instead, for the water effect, I turned it into a reflection only and a jpg file.  The finch I used the art effect filter "Sadness".



    This photo of a loading chute on the historic ranch camp land on Padre Island, I used the effect "Scribble" and for my caricature of our now president, ready? I used the art filter "Fairy".

    - - -

    I learned a nifty trick with Firefox Browser. Maybe you know this already, but I didn't...so, I thought I'd share... Using tabs, have you ever deleted "x" a tab in error and "lost" it, only to have to go to your history and re-find it to install it again? Well here's the trick. Again, this is Firefox....if you want the tab to reopen, just click and hold SHIFT CTRL T - the tab reappears instantly. IT WORKS LIKE A CHARM

    Also, a couple of windows tips:

    To close a tab/window and return to previous page CTRL W
    As you browse, enlarge text CTRL + = plus key
    As you browse, make text smaller CTRL - =minus key
    Toggle Full Screen F11

    - - -

    Our kitchen is almost done with getting rid of  'junk' ...the last room in the house!  Then, we're DONE.  The job I did this weekend was to do the oven and stovetop.  Of course the oven itself is 'self cleaning'...so all I did was set the time and locked the oven door.  The stovetop is a whole 'nother thing.  It was all torn apart, and soaked what could be soaked in a grease cutter liquid - it now sparkles!!


    - - -

    Note to self:  Get oil changed in car.  I checked the oil life Sunday on the auto and it's down to 18%!!  Too low for me to be comfortable with.  I don't want any dash warning lights coming on if I can help it.



    § After Four Years Searching...


    Thursday I had a wonderful birding experience! I'll share the photos on my birding photo blog someday. I'm still on cloud 9, and the photos are still on the camera for safe keeping right now. It'll be a couple of weeks probably, before I get them off and readied for blogging. I can tell you this, tho....Bud and I saw a bird [three of them actually] that I have been searching for for nearly FOUR YEARS; putting 100s of miles on the car's odometer in hopes of spotting this one, adorable, special bird!!! Finally... As my sister said to me over the phone when we last talked..."It's a red letter day!" I must mark February 23rd on the calendar. lol

    Anyway, we went to the wildlife refuge in town first. Yes, to check on the anhingas and breeding plumage. [The male is the one with the darker neck, the female has more brown in the neck] To update my vigil: The couple was still there in the vicinity, but no special colors....yet. This was again, on Thursday. I'll probably go back either today or tomorrow to see what happenings, if any, are lying in store for me.



    After the walk around this area, we stopped to buy some wine for dinner, and then ventured forth to the Botanical Gardens. We had hoped their outdoor rose pavilion would be in full bloom. It was... And there was the wonderful scent of rose everywhere nearby!! Those photos I worked on. I even found this online website to turn my photos into antique oil prints.  As always I add the 'original' in the inset...




    After walking the trails and boardwalks, we drove out into the outskirts of the city and then turned off onto the county roads [The historic Chapman Ranch area] where another wind farm is going up to spoil the scenery. These roads, thankfully, are paved but NO TRAFFIC other than the farmers now and then...we can drive to a crawling 10MPH searching the drainage ditches and culverts that are here and there.




    The bird we've been hunting down is known to be a prairie dog den dweller and can also be found in culverts if dry. Creeping to a near stop speed, the crunch of the tires heard from the window as they slowly moved along the shoulder of the road could be heard, Bud said: "Wait, wait, wait". I stopped. He then said, "Back up....slowly". "There's one of the boogers!" I spotted it also. In a culvert. Of course our windows are tinted, so I had to sneak out of the car as quietly and stealthily as I could in hopes to not startle it enough to have it fly off before I could focus on it. The winds were blowing, no time for setting up the camera's tripod, so I attempted to hold the camera steady and snap as many photos as I could. Got several. I even walked down the road a bit, and found one on the opposite side of the road out in the plowed field!! FULL BODY views. I managed to get two shots before it flew off. I got back, put the car in gear, and continued down the road. Found a THIRD one out in full view, sunning. I didn't even have to get out of the car this time [Bud rolled his window down]. I think it was a juvenile.

    I AM STILL ELATED!!!

    Nearly four years, finally photographed.  Later that day, we went out to celebrate with a steak dinner with all the fixin's!!!

    PS...Marie, you asked me about photo watermarks.  I make my own with Paintshop Pro program I've installed from the software disk.  But, there are FREE online watermark generators.  Just do a Google search, "free watermarks" and you'll get a listing of ones you can choose.  Also, the photo inset is of my own making...not on any photo editing sites.  [that I'm aware of anyway].

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