YA Buddy Readers' Corner ♥ discussion

Found it! Never mind

Glad you found it!

Another question for you bloggers... Do you know how I can put stars on my blog? Like so I can do a visual of how many stars I want to give a book?

Rachael wrote: "Another question for you bloggers... Do you know how I can put stars on my blog? Like so I can do a visual of how many stars I want to give a book?"

Like a Rating System at the side of your blog?

For the Rating System, if you want to put it on the side of your blog as in how I put mine here.

1. You need to create your own rating system. You could either use Photoshop or PicMonkey. Design it any way you want.

2. If you got that covered and you're satisfied with your scale, upload it to Photobucket or any image hosting site you want.

3. In your LAYOUT tab, click on Add a gadget, pick HTML, type this code < img src="your image direct link goes here" height="any height you prefer" width="the width of your sidebars" >
(Note: I've put a space between < and > so that it would be seen as it is and not as HTML. Just remove the space)

* the direct link could be found in Photobucket after you uploaded your image
*for the height and width, you could always preview it beforehand until you get the size you want
*to determine the width of your sidebar/s head to Template>Customize>Adjust widths
You can see there how many px your sidebar is. :)

Hope this helps. If you've been asking how to put stars for EACH of your review. Leave a reply here or drop me a message and I'd be glad to help out.

Ah! Thanks so much for the response. I meant more like little stars to rate each book when I do a post of it... but I gave up on that idea when I started importing all my reviews.

Rachael wrote: "Ah! Thanks so much for the response. I meant more like little stars to rate each book when I do a post of it... but I gave up on that idea when I started importing all my reviews."

You first need to create STARS using Photoshop or PicMonkey. Make sure that the canvas size for all the stars, from 5 star or 1 star remains the same. This is to ensure that the stars remains the same for every post you have. Then upload it over Photobucket and for every post, you could insert the image using the direct URL.

For the stars you wanted to put to your post I'm gonna try and teach you the best I can.

Head over to PicMonkey (online photo editor) or if you have Photoshop that's better. (I did mine on Photoshop because I've been using it for years already).

If you're using PicMonkey:

1. Head over to the site: www.PicMonkey.com
2. Select DESIGN
3. Canvas Color: Check TRANSPARENT (This is important)
4. Resize: UNCHECK Keep Proportions.
Enter 500 x 125
(Please use this size for all of your STAR ratings so as to make sure that the stars will be of the same size no matter what your rating is)
5. Select the BUTTERFLY icon
6. Click on STARS
7. Click on the STAR you want.
8. You can change the color of the star by dragging your mouse over the colors.
9. RESIZE your star to make it bigger.
10. On you keyboard press: Ctrl + C to copy the star then Ctrl + V to paste.
(You could press Ctrl + V 4 times so you would have 5 stars)
11. ARRANGE the stars on the canvas evenly.
12. Hit save! (Please make sure that your canvas is transparent before you save the image)
13. You can now delete some of the STARS and REARRANGE the remaining stars so that they are evenly distributed on your canvas. Do this for the rest of your STARS.
14. For the HALF star, click on the star you want to make to half, on the POP-UP BOX, If you're on the BASIC tab, click the ERASER tab. Choose the ERASER size and erase half of your star away.
(You need to do this for 4.5, 3.5, 2.5 and 1.5)
Please do not crop the picture or change the canvas size or your stars will appear differently each time, :)

15. If you're happy with the STARS, UPLOAD everything to Photobucket.
16. When doing a new post/review, click on the insert image. Select from a URL.
17. Open your Photobucket account and click on the star you want. Ex: 4 Stars.
18. After clicking on the 4 stars, you could see codes at the right corner.
19. Click on the direct link. (It automatically copies the code)
20. Paste the code (Ctrl + C) to your blogger post (Insert image via URL)

Hope this helps. Don't hesitate to ask if there's something you can't understand.

Are you the same girl that posted this on my blog? If so thank you x100! I hope you didn't have to type it out twice.. I hadn't seen this post yet but it is greatly appreciated thank you thank you thank you

Rachael wrote: "Are you the same girl that posted this on my blog? If so thank you x100! I hope you didn't have to type it out twice.. I hadn't seen this post yet but it is greatly appreciated thank you thank you ..."

Yep, same girl here. No worries. I just copied and pasted it over at your blog. :) And to help out other bloggers who might stumble upon this thread.

That's very kind of you :)

Okay I have another question... Does anyone know the dimensions my photo should be so that it fits in the header thing on bloglovin? I hate when its all cut off in the preview but everyone else looks perfect!

Rachael wrote: "Okay I have another question... Does anyone know the dimensions my photo should be so that it fits in the header thing on bloglovin? I hate when its all cut off in the preview but everyone else loo..."

Sorry, no idea. I just post pictures as they are.

I think they're 970 x 250 on goodreads, but i don't have a header on my blog.

I don't mean header like at the top of my blog more like the pic that shows up in the "preview" post on blogloving. I found out it only skews the picture on the mobile app.. No big deal

I have absolutely no idea!

No worries...

Other than "Imlovingbooks" wheres the best place to find mini banners for favorite series and favorite teams??

Don't know. I just used to make my own. Which ones are you looking for?

Quite a few.. Crank, Throne of Glass, Maybe Someday to name a few

I'm sure I can figure out how to make my own too just lazy lol

@Rachael I only use Imlovingbooks so I don't know.

Here's a fantastic post about how to make your own though: https://www.nosegraze.com/how-to-make...

Yay that is very helpful thank you... a lot of work tho!

Yeah, and I am very, very bad with programs like Photoshop. I think I'll just wait for more imlovingbooks banners to come out! :)

I've been debating for a while whether I should switch blog and start blogging in English. I don't want to miss out on Danish bloggerevents or the great deals I have with publishers and writers, so here's another thought:
Would you be more likely to follow my blog if I added a translate function?
I know those are not accurate, but they're definitely better than nothing, right? Just curious as to whether anyone non-Danish would follow if I added it :)

I would follow you Irene!

Hi i knwo there hasnt been any comments on here in awhile but i just recently started thinking of creating a book blog and i honestly dont know where to start. I want to use blogger but i dont know how to create a template and tabs and banners and all that.. I would love some help and advice thanks

Hey Tiffany! All the best for your new blog!

Oh and I can remember how difficult the starting process was. I found it super difficult to know what I wanted and where to get all from. Only now (after two years?) I've finally found my footing and what blog I am happy with.

I think my biggest piece of advice is to start with a WordPress blog instead of a Blogger one. I didn't at first (I used Blogger) and by now I am regretting it so much. Blogger is super easy to use so the appeal of it for new bloggers is fantastic. But I've foudn that there is virtually Ano room "to go big". Right now that is the last thing on your mind, I know. You just want to get started but one day if you ever want to it will be the biggest, BIGGEST pain to have to switch to WordPress (because you will HAVE TO if you ever want to get more serious).

For now, I'd suggest to start following heaps of blogs that you think look great and have content like what you want to write about. Look at them and see what you want for yourself (but remember that originality draws in the most viewers so don't copy too much) and get tips from there. When you're ready start a WordPress account and set your blog to private so you can fiddle around with the design until you are happy.

Thanks for the advice, im sending you a friend request maybe we can chat alil more about it

I just started a blog, a little bit lost but I'll get there soon, taking it a bit at a time

sunstormsandthunderclouds.blogspot.com

@Tiffany Your most welcome! And sorry, I just saw your comment. If you ever need advice or anything (even though I'm hardly the expert) let me know!

@Connie Welcome to the blogging community! I'll check your blog out when I next get a computer.

I'm on the hunt for a theme that works for me ^.^ so it's a bit all over the show but it'll do!

where do you find decent themes for blogger, I mean I like the one I found by I added a header and it just doesn't look right!

I got a new theme on my blog and I was wondering if someone would tell me their thoughts...

It needs a bit of tweeking...The links havent been added yet, photos look a bit stretched out and the title colour is off but those are all easy to fix in the code :)

But is the theme aesthetic enough?

@Connie - I love your new designs! Like you said, the pictures are a little blurred and stretched, but the overall design is lovely. Clean, simple and nicely cut. Love it!

Hey guys, I have a question.
I am thinking about having my own blog for months now.
But when it comes to computers an all that technology I am, in a leak of other words, dummie.
I already know if I open blog I wouldhave it rather on wordpress.

But I have no idea how to post pics and all those memes but I guess I will figure those out in progress.

But my question is: do you have to sign somewhere for memes?
And do you have to create your own images for those, because of legal rights?
You know, if I open a blog I want to be involved in it as much as I can, but I don't want anyone to sue me for stealing images, ideas or sth else.

Sorry if this is a stupid question.

I think some memes are created by certain blogs, and you can go and post your link to your post on like a linky thread for each week.

Not 100% sure on the images as some of them aren't for general use. It's probably best to get your own unless it says on the blog that you can use them.

hey guys, I have a question:
how do you put on your sidebar:
subscribe by email, twitter and other icons, bloglovin, GFC and other similar things?
I plan to start creating my blog tomorrow so I would like to know as much as I can.

It will probably be shitty but I hope it will work...

Which blog platform are you using? Blogger?

I plan to use wordpress.

I have no idea then, I've never used wordpress and you can't use the same HTML formats that you use on blogger on Wordpress.

ok, thanks, I'll try to find the answer somewhere online, but if anyone also knows it would mean a lot to me if you let me know.

You could probably look on bloglovin to find out how to install their link on wordpress.

ok, thanks.
Do I have to create a blog before joining bloglovin?
sorry for those silly questions but I really feel like I know nothing.

Bloglovin says their widgets aren't compatible with wordpress but I just added a bloglovin link on my about me page. Someone else may know a better way to do it though but I couldn't figure out how to get it on the sidebar, I'm HTML challenged though so that doesn't help. LOL

Irena wrote: "ok, thanks.
Do I have to create a blog before joining bloglovin?
sorry for those silly questions but I really feel like I know nothing."

You can join Bloglovin and then create your blog later if you want to ☺

ok. thanks anyway.
I'll put my blog on private while I'm trying to figure everything out.

Most of what you'd want to mess with would be found under customize. Click customize and then widgets to switch up the sidebar or the bottom links.

Just play around a bit in there and things will become more clear on how to do what you'd like to do. Like I said I'm terrible at that kind of stuff but have managed to get one going. :)

Hi! I just made my wordpress blog and I am definetely lost! How do I make it private?

@Carrie Thanks! I hope I will find my way around it. There are some web sites that offer blogging 101 and such so i will search there as well.

@Mickey I actually dont know since I will make my own tomorrow.

Does anyone of you know how to delete a blog?
I accidently made two when I started making my blog.

Btw, I am making that blog since yesterday and still did nothing, I don't even know how to set up menu of sidebar, it's like I'm the stuppidest person in the world.
If you know where I can find some undersandable tutorials please let me know. I have a free wordpress domain.

https://learn.wordpress.com/

Thanks Rachel. I hope tomorrow I'll be smarter because I'm too tired now... I'll read it then and I hope I'll finally have sth that actually looks like a blog.

I'm just curious, how long did it take you to set up a blog with all the links and widgets on the side bar?