Tutorial: Adding Badges Using WordPress

If you use WordPress for blogging, this tutorial will guide you in adding a badge (or any image in general) for NaBloPoMo to your sidebar.

Q. How do you add an image to the sidebar in WordPress?
A. By adding a Text widget. (I know, how counter-intuitive!)

Before that
Have you uploaded the image to your server? If you haven’t, please follow this tutorial.

Step 1
Go to “Presentation” > “Widgets” page.
Find the “Text Widgets” widgets section (somewhere near the bottom of the page).

Q. How many text widgets would you like?
If you have “1″ by default, you will need another one to add your image, so select “2″. If you already have 2 Text Widgets in your Sidebar, select “3″ and so on.

Click the “Save” button.

Step 2
Locate your “Text 2″ widget in the “Available Widgets” section (typically at the middle of the page, below the “Sidebar” section).

Please note the number will correspond to what you’ve selected in the previous step, i.e. if you’ve selected 3 Text Widgets in Step 1, then find a “Text 3″ widget in this step. For simplicity, I’ll just refer to it as “Text 2″ from now on.

Step 3
Drag the “Text 2″ widget from the “Available Widgets” section to the “Sidebar” section(you may have more than 1 Sidebar so be sure to drag to the correct one).

Move it to the desired location within the Sidebar (top, middle, bottom) by dragging it.

Step 4
Click on the blue list icon on the right of your text widget to bring up the text options box.

Step 5
A Text options box will appear in the middle of the screen.

The single-line field at the top is where you add a title for this widget, e.g. “My Badges”. This is optional.

Assuming you’ve uploaded the image to your own server, add the code to the text field as follows, replacing YOURIMAGESOURCE with the actual URL of your image on your server. Your image URL may look something like this:

http://www.yoururl.com/images/YOURIMAGE.gif

In which case your full code, with a link to NaBloPoMo page will look like this:

"http://www.yoururl.com/images/YOURIMAGE.gif"/>

Click “Save”. If you’ve done all the steps correctly, you will now have the badge on your sidebar.

Did you know?
You can download a variety of NaBloPoMo badges or buttons from this page?
Go do it now, because they are the cutest on the web, even if I do shamelessly claim so myself.

Tutorial: Uploading Images Using WordPress

If you plan to put a badge to your sidebar, you may need to follow through these steps first to get your image URL.

Step 1
Go to a Write Page or Write Post page.
Locate the “Upload” section below.
Select the saved image from your computer, give it a title and description if you want, and click the “Upload” button.

Step 2
(Usually, if you want to use the image you’ve just uploaded in a post that you’re writing, you’d click “Send to Editor”. In this tutorial, I’m showing you how to get the image URL so that you can use it on your sidebar)

Go to the “Browse” mode, click on “Edit”.
Alternatively click “Browse All”, select the image you want to use, and then click on “Edit”.

Step 3
Copy your image URL from the URL field. Paste it in a Notepad program so that you can use it later.

Now you can proceed to use this image in your sidebar by following this tutorial.
Remember you can download a badge from this page.

Saturday Summary

Do I hear a collective shout of “The weekend is here, let’s PARTAY!”? If you’ve signed up to blog for NaBloPoMo March there’s a very good reason to celebrate today because, it means you have made it through the first week of posting everday. Congrats fellow bloggers! I’m so happy for us! :)

It’s been a jam-packed week here. If you’ve just tuned in, we’ve just finish Food week. Some (possibly very, very useless) highlights of the week:

On Monday, we got to know a fruit that can perform “miracles”
On Tuesday, we learnt that seasonings top the list of things I’d bring to desert island
On Wednesday, we found out the cause of my rumbling tummy at night
On Thursday, we discovered that there is such a thing as a blue lobster
On Friday, we read a few non-life changing facts about me

All in all, a fruitful week for Growing Happiness. Now excuse me while lay off the weak food puns and partay (read: eat, drink and sleep) the rest of the day away.

Related posts
Random Sunday – Names
31 Days of Lists – I Have A Plan

Thank-Goodness- It’s-Food Day

I’m grateful for…

…being able to find pleasure and enjoyment in simple meals. I’m equally happy with a tuna sandwich as I am with a salmon sashimi; with a cup of instant coffee as I am with a double shot of Guatemala Antigua Arabica.

…having a McDonald’s within walking distance from my house. I know it’s not the best nor healthiest choice when it comes to food, when you’re but hungry at 11 pm, a situation I regularly find myself in, it’s heaven-sent.

…knowing when to stop eating. As a teen, I’d gorge myself silly with junk food. Nowadays I stop after four donuts and a large fry. Heh.

…loving my fruit and vegetables. I could just eat salads for weeks. I think my body has an in-built ying-yang system. I’d eat extremely unhealthy, artery-clogging McMeals for days and then I’d crave for a rabbit buffet.

…being able to smell my food. I lost my sense of smell once. You would think that one would eat less when this happens but no! You have to eat a lot more to make up for feeling unsated with your tasteless food.

Have a great weekend everyone!

There Must Be A Better Alternative To This

It’s been 14 days since I started drinking soya milk regularly and I officially am sick of the stuff. It started out so well. I had it with cereal, in my coffee, straight up, 2 cups a day on average. In the beginning I actually looked forward to drinking it. And then I got sicker and sicker of the taste. How do people drink this (or milk) everyday? I need to find another high-calcium, non-dairy alternative. Rice Dream perhaps? Recommendations appreciated. Thanks!

Thursday Trivia

It’s nearly the end of the week. As I turn my gear down a few notches towards weekend mode (aka total slacker mode), I’m pleased to leave you with a few bites of information to tickle your palate.

1. Hot King, Cool Queen
   In South-East Asia, the durian is known as the king of fruits. The queen of fruits is purportedly the mangosteen. The Chinese consider durians “heaty” while mangosteens are believed to have “cooling” properties. This is why some people believe in eating The Queen after bingeing on The King (to counteract the heatiness). I don’t know how true this cooling/heaty thing is, but I once got sick with a sore throat and fever for 3 days after feasting on durian mooncakes. Then again, I should have stopped at 9 slices(?!!).
2. Get This Monkey Off Your Back
   According to a study conducted with rhesus macaques, eating dinner late doesn’t necessarily lead to weight gain. (This is for S, who insists on having dinner before 6.30. Come on, live a little! :D )
3. Step On the Gas
   Fruits and vegetables release ethylene gas as they ripen. Some fruit, like apples and avocados are high ethylene-producers; others are ethelyne-sensitive. You can speed up the ripening process of some fruits by placing high ethylene-producing fruits near them. Alternatively, sealing an unripe fruit in a paper bag prevents the gas from escaping thus hastening its ripening process.
4. It’s Just Soy
   Edamame is just a fancy name for young soya beans (accept it, Polly).
5. Once in a Blue Lobster
   The odds of finding a blue lobster is about one in two million. A yellow one? One in 30 million.

Related links
Yin and Yang in Chinese Cooking