Link to Genealogy Blog, How to add links to template 2? Options

[Denise]

I've started a genealogy blog and wish to make a link to it on the genealogy portion of my web site. The blog is hosted by blogspot and linking to it from my main personal site is easy, but I can't figure out how to add the link in Template 2, which is what I'm using.

www.onlyarethusa.com <---main site with links to genealogy site and genealogy blog
www.onlyarethusa.com/genealogy <-----genealogy site, the URL I post or give to those I'd like to visit that part of my site.
www.onlyarethusa.blogspot.com <-----my genealogy blog

I don't necessarily want everyone to visit my personal site as it as a whole has nothing to do with genealogy, just with my writing. (read: boring.) But right now anyone visiting my genealogy site using the URL I use to direct them to it, won't see the link for the blog. I'd like to have people who visit my genealogy site and who may have a family connection to read the blog and perhaps (read: feverently desire) have them comment on the research with connections they can make to my ancestors.

Could someone point me in the right direction?

[Scotty]

I've started a genealogy blog and wish to make a link to it on the genealogy portion of my web site. The blog is hosted by blogspot and linking to it from my main personal site is easy, but I can't figure out how to add the link in Template 2, which is what I'm using.

www.onlyarethusa.com <---main site with links to genealogy site and genealogy blog
www.onlyarethusa.com/genealogy <-----genealogy site, the URL I post or give to those I'd like to visit that part of my site.
www.onlyarethusa.blogspot.com <-----my genealogy blog

I don't necessarily want everyone to visit my personal site as it as a whole has nothing to do with genealogy, just with my writing. (read: boring.) But right now anyone visiting my genealogy site using the URL I use to direct them to it, won't see the link for the blog. I'd like to have people who visit my genealogy site and who may have a family connection to read the blog and perhaps (read: feverently desire) have them comment on the research with connections they can make to my ancestors.

Could someone point me in the right direction?

Denise,

It all depends where you want those links. Take a look at my page as I added 2 links near the bottom. I kept the existing font size.... cuz I was lazy. In the file called "index.php" I replaced the change language switch in the line that starts with "<p><span class="sidesmall">" my line 144.

NOW, if you want to add or replace the links in the middle left field. That code is between lines 72-142. You'll have to play with the code to see how it fits.

HTH,
Scotty

[Ken Roy]

I've started a genealogy blog and wish to make a link to it on the genealogy portion of my web site. The blog is hosted by blogspot and linking to it from my main personal site is easy, but I can't figure out how to add the link in Template 2, which is what I'm using.

www.onlyarethusa.com <---main site with links to genealogy site and genealogy blog
www.onlyarethusa.com/genealogy <-----genealogy site, the URL I post or give to those I'd like to visit that part of my site.
www.onlyarethusa.blogspot.com <-----my genealogy blog

I don't necessarily want everyone to visit my personal site as it as a whole has nothing to do with genealogy, just with my writing. (read: boring.) But right now anyone visiting my genealogy site using the URL I use to direct them to it, won't see the link for the blog. I'd like to have people who visit my genealogy site and who may have a family connection to read the blog and perhaps (read: feverently desire) have them comment on the research with connections they can make to my ancestors.

Could someone point me in the right direction?

Hi Denise,
To add the link to template 2 genealogy pages menu, open the topmenu.php in a text editor like Notepad or Notepad++ and then copy lines 26 and 27 (before any changes) and paste them back in after line 27 and edit to make changes as follows

CODE

                         |
                        <a href="http://www.onlyarethusa.blogspot.com" class="topmenu" target="_top">Genealogy Blog</a>

[Denise]

Hi Denise,
To add the link to template 2 genealogy pages menu, open the topmenu.php in a text editor like Notepad or Notepad++ and then copy lines 26 and 27 (before any changes) and paste them back in after line 27 and edit to make changes as follows

CODE

                         |
                        <a href="http://www.onlyarethusa.blogspot.com" class="topmenu" target="_top">Genealogy Blog</a>

Hello Ken,

I downloaded Notepad++, downloaded topmenu.php to my desktop, opened it in Notepad++ (wonderful program, that. Thanks for giving me a real reason to download it.), and found that lines 26 and 27 are completely blank.

Line #25 is: text-decoration : none;
Line #26 is: blank
Line #27 is: blank
Line #28 is: }

All of which is very confusing and not helpful at all.

Perhaps not everyone using Template 2 has something at lines #26 and #27? So I could just put...

Wait. The obvious always becomes clear to me eventually. I should just go ahead and experiment, shouldn't I? If it turns out wrong, I just erase the new lines and it goes back to what it was before.

Another "duh, denise" moment!

Thank you for your help. I sincerely appreciate it.

Denise

[Denise]

Denise,

It all depends where you want those links. Take a look at my page as I added 2 links near the bottom. I kept the existing font size.... cuz I was lazy. In the file called "index.php" I replaced the change language switch in the line that starts with "<p><span class="sidesmall">" my line 144.

NOW, if you want to add or replace the links in the middle left field. That code is between lines 72-142. You'll have to play with the code to see how it fits.

HTH,
Scotty

Hi Scotty,

I want the link to be where the links for "What's New", "Reports", "History" and etc are. I love the access log and the administration links (mostly because I'm nosey in the case of the former and too lazy to type in the link to access the latter.), and I don't think it would crowd it too much to add the link to the genealogy blog with those others.

Is it as simple as adding the code that Ken supplied for my blog on one of the lines between 72 and 142? I'm a little leery of messing with any of those lines as there is a lot more information contained in them.

Thank you so much for your input. I appreciate it very much.

Denise

[Denise]

I've started a genealogy blog and wish to make a link to it on the genealogy portion of my web site. The blog is hosted by blogspot and linking to it from my main personal site is easy, but I can't figure out how to add the link in Template 2, which is what I'm using.

www.onlyarethusa.com <---main site with links to genealogy site and genealogy blog
www.onlyarethusa.com/genealogy <-----genealogy site, the URL I post or give to those I'd like to visit that part of my site.
www.onlyarethusa.blogspot.com <-----my genealogy blog

I don't necessarily want everyone to visit my personal site as it as a whole has nothing to do with genealogy, just with my writing. (read: boring.) But right now anyone visiting my genealogy site using the URL I use to direct them to it, won't see the link for the blog. I'd like to have people who visit my genealogy site and who may have a family connection to read the blog and perhaps (read: feverently desire) have them comment on the research with connections they can make to my ancestors.

Could someone point me in the right direction?

Well, I've tried both methods but absolutely nothing changes when I add the script in either place; the main page of my genealogy site remains the same, which is disconcerting. So for now I've added the link in my "What's New" area, using plain old html, which worked. I'll keep trying, but I get frustrated using time for this when all I want to do is Google dead ancestors names and search Census records.

Thank you again, Ken and Scotty, for your help.

[Scotty]

Hi Scotty,

I want the link to be where the links for "What's New", "Reports", "History" and etc are. I love the access log and the administration links (mostly because I'm nosey in the case of the former and too lazy to type in the link to access the latter.), and I don't think it would crowd it too much to add the link to the genealogy blog with those others.

Is it as simple as adding the code that Ken supplied for my blog on one of the lines between 72 and 142? I'm a little leery of messing with any of those lines as there is a lot more information contained in them.

Thank you so much for your input. I appreciate it very much.

Denise

Make an offline backup of index.php before you do anything if you have made any changes to it!


On my line 81 it looks like this:

CODE

<td valign="top"><a href="whatsnew.php" class="sidelink"><strong><?php echo $text[mnuwhatsnew]; ?></strong></a></td><td>   </td>

and change it to this code:

CODE

    <td valign="top"><a href="http://www.onlyarethusa.com" class="sidelink"><strong>My Main Site</strong></a></td><td>   </td>

You'll notice you have use the ENTIRE URL. And the only gotcha is keeping track of the "My Main Site" character count so it doesn't push the next link down a line.

Hopefully you can do the rest on your own.

Scotty

[Denise]

Make an offline backup of index.php before you do anything if you have made any changes to it!
On my line 81 it looks like this:

CODE

<td valign="top"><a href="whatsnew.php" class="sidelink"><strong><?php echo $text[mnuwhatsnew]; ?></strong></a></td><td>   </td>

and change it to this code:

CODE

    <td valign="top"><a href="http://www.onlyarethusa.com" class="sidelink"><strong>My Main Site</strong></a></td><td>   </td>

You'll notice you have use the ENTIRE URL. And the only gotcha is keeping track of the "My Main Site" character count so it doesn't push the next link down a line.

Hopefully you can do the rest on your own.

Scotty

Success! Kinda. It's on the main page and it shows (that's a big deal because the first five times I edited the index.php page, it didn't show. So score one for me for figuring out WHY it didn't show!), but it's not aligned correctly. There's enough room under "Dates And Anniversaries" and beside "Places" for it to go alongside "Places" and yet it's not. It's way out there by itself next to the main photo.

I'll keep working on it, but at least it's there, on the genealogy page, easily accessible for those who wonder at the workings of my twisted mind.

Thanks, Scotty. Yer a pal.

Denise

[Scotty]

Success! Kinda. It's on the main page and it shows (that's a big deal because the first five times I edited the index.php page, it didn't show. So score one for me for figuring out WHY it didn't show!), but it's not aligned correctly. There's enough room under "Dates And Anniversaries" and beside "Places" for it to go alongside "Places" and yet it's not. It's way out there by itself next to the main photo.

I'll keep working on it, but at least it's there, on the genealogy page, easily accessible for those who wonder at the workings of my twisted mind.

Thanks, Scotty. Yer a pal.

Denise

Denise;

Notice that are 4 links on each line. E.G.

CODE

<tr>
<td valign="top"><a href="browsemedia.php?mediatypeID=photos" class="sidelink"><strong><?php echo $text[mnuphotos]; ?></strong></a></td><td>   </td>
<td valign="top"><a href="browsemedia.php?mediatypeID=histories" class="sidelink"><strong><?php echo $text[mnuhistories]; ?></strong></a></td><td>   </td>
<td valign="top"><a href="cemeteries.php" class="sidelink"><strong><?php echo $text[mnucemeteries]; ?></strong></a></td><td>   </td>
<td valign="top"><a href="places.php" class="sidelink"><strong><?php echo $text[places]; ?></strong></a></td><td>   </td>
                            </tr>

Not sure if you are trying to add a 5th link or replace an existing one. So each line starts with a <tr> and ends with a closing </tr>. And I have never tried to add a 5th link in a line...... not sure if it would fit.

Maybe this will give you a clue.

Scotty

[Denise]

Denise;

Notice that are 4 links on each line. E.G.

CODE

<tr>
<td valign="top"><a href="browsemedia.php?mediatypeID=photos" class="sidelink"><strong><?php echo $text[mnuphotos]; ?></strong></a></td><td>   </td>
<td valign="top"><a href="browsemedia.php?mediatypeID=histories" class="sidelink"><strong><?php echo $text[mnuhistories]; ?></strong></a></td><td>   </td>
<td valign="top"><a href="cemeteries.php" class="sidelink"><strong><?php echo $text[mnucemeteries]; ?></strong></a></td><td>   </td>
<td valign="top"><a href="places.php" class="sidelink"><strong><?php echo $text[places]; ?></strong></a></td><td>   </td>
                            </tr>

Not sure if you are trying to add a 5th link or replace an existing one. So each line starts with a <tr> and ends with a closing </tr>. And I have never tried to add a 5th link in a line...... not sure if it would fit.

Maybe this will give you a clue.

Scotty

Thanks, Scotty. I'm going to leave everything alone for right now as the link to my blog is showing and that's good enough for me at the moment. Eventually I'd like to change the colors and add some different items, but I'm just sort of "teething" on TNG right now and going slow.

Thanks again for your help with this. Now, if I could just figure out reports, I'd be a happy woman! Back to reading the forums!

Denise

[Ken Roy]

Thanks, Scotty. I'm going to leave everything alone for right now as the link to my blog is showing and that's good enough for me at the moment. Eventually I'd like to change the colors and add some different items, but I'm just sort of "teething" on TNG right now and going slow.

Thanks again for your help with this. Now, if I could just figure out reports, I'd be a happy woman! Back to reading the forums!

Denise

Hi Denise,
An easy way to see how reports are setup is to go to the TNG Admin demo and look at how they are setup there. The following Forum entry also has an example of how I setup my military service reports in my post dated Feb 11 2007, 02:10 PM