Unique Navigation Bars Using CSS Sprites

In my previous article about CSS Sprites - Introduction, I told you about the hover effect with an example. We did mention that we would come up with more practical examples so that you realize the importance of CSS Sprites. So, we have come up with step by step instructions (including a little bit of PhotoShop tutorials) for creating a unique navigation bar based on CSS Sprites.

PHOTOSHOP TUTORIAL
To create a navigation bar that stands unique from the rest of the other blogger templates, it becomes a little mandatory that you know a little about PhotoShop. So, we will just let you know how to create one.

1. Open Adobe PhotoShop. Create a new transparent file with the dimensions you want. Most of the blogs usually have a navigation bar of width 960px and height varies between 30-50px. In this tutorial, we will be working with an example of dimension 495 x 48px.

2. Now, let your imagination run wild. Create a unique navigation bar as per your wish. Try different fonts, change pixel sizes, change the text color (or) include images next to each text. It's your navigation bar. So, have it your way. The design which I made is a simple one with icons next to each text as shown below.

3. Save this image as "Nav-01" using "File>>Save for Web..." option to obtain a .png image. This image will serve as the base image below which we will build another image for the hover effect. So, create another new file with same width as that of the initial image but double the height. In my example, I had an initial image with dimensions 495 x 48 px. The new image should be 495 x 96 px.

4. Now, open "Nav-01.png" and copy the entire image to the new file which you created. Place the image to fit the window dimensions. You will find a new layer being created that has a label "Layer 1". Have a look at the following picture for better understanding.

5. Now, duplicate that layer (Layer 1) as shown below.

6. We need to show a difference when the mouse is hovered over the link. For this very reason, place the duplicate layer below the first layer and work on the duplicate layer alone. You may show difference by changing the text color (or) have gradient effects...
7. In my case, I have just added a small box to appear above each link. So, the final outcome would be something like the one shown below.

Well, save this image as "Final-Nav-Bar.png" and upload the same to PICASA or ImageShack or any image up-loader. Obtain the URL and save it to a temporary text file!!!

"I'm sure you would have gone nuts before you got the exact look you had in your mind! Assuming that you got one, you may have a cup of coffee to relax yourself before we move the next part in the tutorial."

HTML PART
The HTML coding involved with the navigation bar is pretty simple. We make use of an unordered list with 4 list items present it. We make use of span tags in the HTML part so that, the search engines index the text along with the image rather than only the image. Well, you may extend the list to any number as you want. Make sure the text on the image and text in between the span tag matches else you will end up flagged. You may place the following piece of code anywhere in between body tags to realize the effect.

<ul id='nav-example'>
<li id='nav-example-1'>
<a href='#'><span>Home</span></a></li>
<li id='nav-example-2'>
<a href='#'><span>Advertise</span></a></li>
<li id='nav-example-3'>
<a href='#'><span>Contact</span></a></li>
<li id='nav-example-4'>
<a href='#'><span>Portfolio</span></a></li>
</ul>

Save your template once you add the above code! You may replace the '#' symbol with the links you wish to point to. It's pretty self-explanatory!

CSS PART
The CSS part will vary from person to person depending upon the image size you chose and other specifications. However, the basic layout will remain the same. You just need to vary few parameters in the coding below to match your creative work.

#nav-example {
background:url("https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-xbhbCcnBhYI/Tft-OgZOwTI/AAAAAAAABII/lh1EAkmm0ps/s800/final-nav-bar.png") no-repeat;
width:495px;
height:48px;
margin:0;
padding:0;
}
#nav-example span {
display: none;
}
#nav-example li, #nav-example a {
height:48px;
display:block;
}
#nav-example li {
float:left;
list-style:none;
display:inline;
}
#nav-example-1 {width: 125px;}
#nav-example-2 {width: 122px;}
#nav-example-3 {width: 122px;}
#nav-example-4 {width: 123px;}
#nav-example-1 a:hover {background:url("https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-xbhbCcnBhYI/Tft-OgZOwTI/AAAAAAAABII/lh1EAkmm0ps/s800/final-nav-bar.png") 0px -48px no-repeat; }
#nav-example-2 a:hover {background:url("https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-xbhbCcnBhYI/Tft-OgZOwTI/AAAAAAAABII/lh1EAkmm0ps/s800/final-nav-bar.png") -125px -48px no-repeat; }
#nav-example-3 a:hover {background:url("https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-xbhbCcnBhYI/Tft-OgZOwTI/AAAAAAAABII/lh1EAkmm0ps/s800/final-nav-bar.png") -247px -48px no-repeat; }
#nav-example-4 a:hover {background:url("https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-xbhbCcnBhYI/Tft-OgZOwTI/AAAAAAAABII/lh1EAkmm0ps/s800/final-nav-bar.png") -369px -48px no-repeat; }

If you are blogger - blogspot user, then place the above code just before the following line. Use "CTRL+F" to search your blogger template.

]]></b:skin>

Finally, replace the link which points to my example to your image URL - the one which you temporarily saved on a text document. Just replace the code highlighted in blue with your link. Save your template!

CUSTOMIZATION
1). The very basic step in customizing the CSS part to match your navigation bar would be to change the width and the height of the bar. As mentioned earlier in the post, I worked on 495 x 48 px version while your navigation bar could be much larger or smaller. So, vary the code that is highlighted in green to match the dimensions of your navigation bar and save them.

2). Note the codes highlighted in orange. These codes specify the width of the lists in the navigation bar. In my example, the first list occupies a width of 125px while the second one occupies a width of 122px and so on... You may vary this as per your design. It's better to use the option of "Rulers" in PhotoShop to know the exact width of each item. Make the respective changes as per your design and save them!

3). The background position for the a:hover state is pretty easy to fix. The vertical position will never vary because you have to display the complete bar. So, you can simply mention the height with a negative sign prefixed to it. To find the horizontal position ( Highlighted with Rose Color), initially you start off from 0px. The next position shall be obtained by subtracting from the nav-example-01 state, that is, 0 - 125 = -125 px. Similarly for the next position, obtain it from nav-example-02, -125 - 122 = -247px. This shall be done for your entire list. That's it! Save the template and your done!

Your final output should be as shown in the following DEMO LINK - NAVIGATION BAR USING CSS SPRITES, provided you followed all the steps correctly! Just hover your mouse over the lists on the page and enjoy the effect!!! Another great example to let you know how creative your work could be - CSS Navigation Bar Example.

"If you wish to have unique navigation bars for your blog without any hassle, then reach us via Our Services page. We'll design distinct navigation bars for you and set them on your blog too!!! Why to break your head when we are there to do that:)"

I tried to keep things as simple as possible! If you find any difficulties, our comments section is always welcome. Leave a comment and clear your doubts. We'll see you in another interesting tutorial!

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Two Great Social Networks For Group Marketing That You May Not Have Heard Of

When it comes to marketing your website or blog, social networks are an invaluable tool. Most of us know about the social media juggernauts like Facebook and Twitter but there are a few other social networks that are relatively new but, already have enough of a following to worth a look. Here are two examples of social media sites besides the most popular options that are still great for marketing your blog.

TUMBLR

Tumblr is a micro blogging service that was designed to be a sort of middleman between that super short tweet and the full blog post. Users create their own website using a bunch of provided tools and they then follow other peoples websites similar to the way you would follow someone on twitter. They then use their Tumblr dashboard to share links, blogs, photos and video with one another. 

What makes Tumblr a great place to do some self-marketing is how easy it is to build a following. Many users simply follow anyone who follows them making it easy to build up a huge network and then share links to your latest blog post or other website update. Tumblr like most social networking sites is completely free to sign up for.

FORMSPRING

Formspring.me is a social media website designed around questions. Anyone can ask anyone else anything either anonymously or logged in using their Facebook account. The nature of the site lends itself really well to letting users answer the questions however they wish. A blogger can then write a blog post around the questions that are asked and provide links for anyone who views their profile back to their website.Using Formspring in this way assures you’ll get lots of link back especially if your followed by a good number of people.

Formspring is completely free and extremely easy to use. New users can even choose to bi pass the registration process completely and just connect their Facebook account. Since by default every question you answer is shared on your wall it may even save you the time of having to put out a Facebook update for some new posts. Riddle Answer

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Using CSS Sprites On Blogger - Introduction

I'm sure many of you would have visited websites like Yahoo!, YouTube, Facebook, etc.. Have you ever wondered how quick these websites load though they possess a lot of images in the background? How is it possible? Is it possible only for websites - not for blogs on blogger? Definitely not, we can have these effects on blogger too. But how? Answer: Using CSS Sprites!!!

WHAT ARE CSS SPRITES? ARE THEY USEFUL?

Well, the name might be little misleading. Sprites are not small tiny pictures as you imagine. A sprite is one big image - usually a cluster of small images used on a website. By using CSS Sprites, we achieve the following advantages.

• Total image size is generally less when compared to the size of the combined individual images. So, a considerable bandwidth is saved. 
• Few images for the browser to load which means fewer HTTP requests (per page view). Multiplying this with the number of visitors per day, per week, per month, per year. Definitely a lot of saving... Isn't it?
• Most important - no JavaScript, no jQuery - only CSS!!!

Well, I guess the question of "Whether Sprites are useful?" has got erased from your mind now. Moreover, we recently heard from Google that page speed will be reflected on the respective blog's PageRank. So, if you wish to have a better PR by increasing the page speed of your blog, then Sprites would come in handy!

SIMPLE HOVER EFFECT

In this article, I will just illustrate the very basics of CSS Sprites - to get hold of "What's CSS Sprites". In the upcoming articles, you will find a detailed explanation about how sprites could be applied to all the images in a blog. Here, we restrict ourselves to one simple trick - Hover Effect Using Sprites. Take a look at the demo before we proceed to the tutorial. Hover your mouse onto the tweety bird to the right. Cool Effect! Isn't it?

TUTORIAL

Wondering where to use this effect? It's most effective on navigation bars. Other areas include highlighting a link (or) usage in the header of your blog - anywhere you need a hover effect. I would like to illustrate this effect with my very own example - tweety bird. Before we get into the coding part, make sure you have identical images - same width and height.

The first image (PREVIEW) which I used is just the outline of the tweety bird while the second one (PREVIEW) is filled with colors. Later, I clubbed both the images onto a single file using Photoshop. Clubbed??? It's just placing one image below an another. You place the images horizontally one after another (or) place them one below another. I chose to place them one below another. Have a look at the final image - PREVIEW. The final image is the one which will be used for the hover effect using CSS Sprites.

HTML PART
The following piece of code is the HTML part for the above effect.

<a href='#' id='logo-link1'/>

Note: Make sure the ID used is unique (code highlighted in pink). You may place it anywhere in between your body tags to invoke the effect. I have used it in my post area in this article. You may point to any URL by replacing # with the link your wish to point to - it's pretty self-explanatory.

CSS PART
1. Navigate to "Design>>Edit HTML" and make a backup of your template by clicking on the "Download full template" link at the top of the page. Once the back up is over, search for the following piece of code.

]]></b:skin>

2. Place the following piece of code just above the line mentioned in step 1.

#logo-link1
{
width:271px;
height:288px;
text-decoration:none;
display:block;
background-image:url(https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-pAJTOcbwUh8/TfilybD4R_I/AAAAAAAABGo/L1OQ5951gi8/s800/tweety-sprites-tutorial.png);
background-position:0px -288px;
}
#logo-link1:hover,#logo-link1:active
{
background-image:url(https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-pAJTOcbwUh8/TfilybD4R_I/AAAAAAAABGo/L1OQ5951gi8/s800/tweety-sprites-tutorial.png);
background-position:0px 0px;
}

Note: When the browser loads the image, I want the outline alone. For this reason, I set the background position of the image to 0px horizontally & -288px vertically (code highlighted in green). On hover, I need the colored version. So, I just move the vertical position from -288px to 0px (code highlighted in orange). That's it!
3. Save your template. That's it!

Pretty simple!!! Isn't it? Since this is an introductory article on sprites, it looks very easy.  Moreover, we have dealt with only one image. Imagine when it multiplies for all the images on your blog. It will be very difficult to exactly position your images and get the padding right. We will illustrate with better examples in the upcoming articles. Share your opinions or clear your doubts about sprites via comments!

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New Share Button With Counters On Blogger

I'm sure you would have noticed the recent addition of share counters at the end of the article on my post pages. My friend, Paul Crowe from "Spice Up Your Blog", had posted a video tutorial about the same which you may check out on his blog. So, if you wish to have this new share counter on your blog, then just follow the steps in the tutorial given below.

What non-sense is he talking about? Is that the question that's running on your mind? Well, then have a look at the following picture to get a better idea about what I'm talking.

Before we start the actual tutorial, let's first get the scripts which make the share counters appear. Go the following link : Sharethis. Register with them and hit the "Publishers>>Get the Share Widget" tab. Select the following options on the page that appears.

1. Website or Blog? Choose website.

2. Pick your style - Third Option (Horizontal counters)

3. From the various networking sites, choose the ones which you want to have on your blog. Just use the left and right arrows to add and remove the various counters. The up and down arrows aligns your counters - which one should appear first in your list. It's pretty self-explanatory.

4. Choose the Oauth widget or Classic Widget.

5. Now, hit the "Get the button" tab and copy the scripts that are generated to two separate text documents temporarily and name them Script 1 (Script in the top/first box) and Script 2 (Script in the bottom/second box). 

Now, you have the scripts with you. You need to place them on your blogger template with some CSS to make it more attractive. So, let's get it done!!!

1. Navigate to "Design>>Edit HTML" and make a backup of your template by clicking on the "Download full template" link at the top of the page. Once the back up is over, search for the following piece of code.

]]></b:skin>

2. Add the following code (CSS) just above the line mentioned in step 1.

.social {
border: dashed #ddd;
border-width:1px 0 1px 0;
margin: 10px auto 10px;
display:block;
padding: 3px 0 1px 0px;
overflow: hidden;
margin-left:0px;
}

3. Next, search for the following piece of code.

</head>

4. Place the coding present in the text document Script 2, just above the line mentioned in step 3.

5. Save your template. Then, expand your template and search for the following piece of code.

<div class='post-footer-line post-footer-line-1'/>

6. Add the following piece of code just below the line mentioned in step 5.

<b:if cond='data:blog.pageType == "item"'>
<span style='font-size:20px; font-family:Georgia; font-style: italic; line-height:21px; margin-top:1px; margin-bottom:-2px;'>Enjoyed the article?</span>
<div class='social'>
<div style='margin-left:10px; margin-top:0px; margin-bottom:3px;'>
YOUR SHARE THIS CODE FROM SCRIPT 1
</div>
</div>
<div class='clear'/>
</b:if>

7. Replace the line highlighted in green with the coding present in the text document Script 1.

8. That's it! Save your template. 

Note: The counters will be visible only on post pages. If you wish to have them on all the pages, then remove the first and the last line in the coding mentioned at step 6.

I would like to point out one advantage with this counter which is better loading time. That is, you get all the counters at one place. So, it saves a lot of time in loading your scripts. Hope you enjoyed this post. Share your opinions about the counter/post via comments!

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Alexa Rank Vs. Google PageRank (PR)

There's always a confusion when it comes to Alexa Rank and Google PageRank. Many of you would have gone through so many articles about the same on the web. Yet, you would not know on what basis they ranked us or how they generated the ranking for us? This time let's be clear about what to worry and what not to?

From the very beginning of my blogging experience, there is always a big question mark about Google PR. Their algorithm seems to be Greek and Latin to me. Well, even those could be understood I think. Moreover, I would like to bring to your notice that my site few months before, on the blogspot URL had a PR4 which dropped to PR0 once I made the shift to a custom domain. Interestingly, I found that one of my article namely, Increase Traffic To Your Blog With Meta Tag and SEO, still has PR2. So, this definitely confuses me. I'm sure many of you would face similar kind of problems when it comes to the PageRank.

On the other hand, Alexa Rank, as far as I know is based only on one factor - traffic. This simply means that more the amount of visitors to your site, better will be your ranking. However, few people complain that the rankings are biased between the ones who have their toolbar installed on the sites and the ones without it. I'm not sure how far this is true, but personally I did see an improvement on installing their site widget. 

I would rather see the widget as a tracking device. Just as Google Analytics asks you to install a script for working out your site statistics, Alexa asks you to install their widget for better results. Moreover, I personally noticed that when you update your site on a regular basis, your Alexa Rank would improve. Let's just list out our conclusions.

• Alexa do not penalize websites whereas Google might.
• Alexa Rank is purely based on traffic whereas Google PR depends on its algorithm.
• Alexa Rank may vary from millions to as low as 1 whereas Google PR uses a floating number algorithm to rank a website on a scale of 10.
• Other factors that contribute to Alexa Rank apart from traffic - their toolbar.
• Other factors that contribute to Google PR apart from back-links - Page Speed and other unknown craps understood by SEO geeks.

Many advertisers except those text-link advertisers have started to look for Alexa Rank rather than Google PR which according to me, is a good strategy. So, should you be bothered about these ranks? Well, certainly not. Bottom line, just worry about the amount of traffic to your site. The rest will follow you!!! Share your knowledge about PR and Alexa Rank or an opinion about this post via comments. We would love to hear from you!

To know more about PR & back-links, check out these:
Article One - How to increase the page rank of my blog?
Article Two - How to increase back-links to my blog???

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Shoutmeloud Thesis Theme Customization - Part 4

It's been quite some time we posted about the customizations on Shoutmeloud thesis theme. So, we thought to provide one now. If you had missed the earlier series, then I recommend you to check out the various parts here - Part 1, Part 2 and Part 3. Well, this post deals with the issues related to block quotes and the text background color on hover in the post area.

Still confused about the changes which I highlighted earlier in this post? Just take a look at the following pictures to understand what changes have me made to the template and what will you achieve by following the tutorial in this post.

INITIAL BLOCK QUOTES ON THESIS

THE NEW LOOK FOR BLOCK QUOTES

INITIAL HOVER EFFECT ON LINKS

THE NEW LOOK FOR HOVER EFFECT ON LINKS

I think you now have an idea about the modifications we made on the template. You may check out the live demo about this hack on this article here - LIVE DEMO. So, let's get started with the tutorial on installing these effects on your blog. Navigate to "Design>>Edit HTML" and make a backup of your template by clicking on the "Download full template" link at the top of the page.

BLOCK QUOTE INSTALLATION

1. Once the back up is over, search for the following piece of code.

.post blockquote{
background:#007EC4;
margin:0 25px 15px;
padding:10px 20px 0 15px;
border-top:1px solid #DDD;
border-right:1px solid #666;
border-left:1px solid #DDD;
border-bottom:1px solid #666
}

2. Replace the above block of code with the following piece of code.

.post blockquote{
background: url("https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-jSdcOvnlXUM/TfIHdrUoW5I/AAAAAAAABDw/Gv9rx8-QGuE/s800/blockquote.png") no-repeat scroll 5px 0 transparent;
font-size: 14px !important;
padding: 0 30px;
border-left: 0 none;
color: #9E9E9E;
font-style: italic;
margin: 2px 0 13px;
}

3. Save your template. That's it! Pretty simple, isn't it?

To make the block quotes actually work on your template, you need to use them in your posts. To do so, just mark the text which you want to appear as quotes and press the "Quote" icon --on the blogger post editor. That's it.

LINK HOVER EFFECT INSTALLATION

1. Search for the following piece of code.

]]></b:skin>

2. Place the following piece of code just above the line mentioned in step 1.

.pos-links a {
text-decoration: underline;
}
.pos-links a:hover {
text-decoration: none;
background-color: #0F4F7E;
color: #FFF;
}
.pos-links img{
text-decoration: none;
background-color: #FFF;}
.pos-links img:hover{
text-decoration: none;
background-color: #FFF;}

3. Save your template.

4. Navigate to your "Settings>>Formatting" page. Scroll down to the end of that page. In the field which says "Post Template", you will find an empty box next to it. Just paste the following code in that empty space.

<div class="pos-links">
</div>

5. Save your settings by hitting the "Save Settings" tab at the end.

By default, the upcoming articles on your blog will have the link hover effect. If you wish to have the same for your previous articles as well, then you need to edit your posts... However, you just need to add only only one tag at the start and end it at the last. So, it shouldn't be a tedious job provided you have lesser number of posts on your blog.

To edit your posts and have the link hover effect on your previous entries, navigate to "Posting>>Edit Posts" page and select the article which you want to edit. Just simply add the following tag at the start of the article.

<div class="pos-links">

Scroll to the end of your article. Close the div tag by adding the following tag at the end of your article.

</div>

That's it!! Nothing else!!!

If you wonder why I did not change the CSS for the post section and I went on with the alternate method to add individual div tags on each article, well the answer is simple. If I add these hover effects to the post section, then the images, social bookmarking icons above the posts, about the author widget and everything that comes under the post section will get affected. So, the only solution was to add the tags individually to the post.

I hope you understood the reason behind adding individual tags to each post. If you have any other alternative method, then let me know and we can discuss about that. Your opinions are always welcome - share it via comments. See you soon with another interesting customization!

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