Wednesday, January 6, 2010

Maybe I should stick to domestic issues

I've been at it again. Playing with my sidebar. Did you notice that I finally updated my puzzles? I think it has been at least nine months since I did that. And I've added a few new things. If you hate them, let me know. If you love them, let me know. If you couldn't care less, well, you can either let me know, or just keep to yourself. I'm not finished messing with the sidebar--I still need to update my bookcase and freshen up a few other items.

In case you didn't know, I'm not an expert at blog building. I'm not sure I could even pass a test to be classified as an intermediate blog builder. No, I believe I might need several years of training just to be able to use one of those "Idiot" books on building a blog. That's why I contacted my son-in-law. He IS an expert. He knows how to use a computer better than I know how to use a dish rag. And let me tell you, I KNOW how to use a dishrag!

I wanted to add a functionality to my blog's sidebar. I didn't know exactly how to do it but I took a guess--I needed to add a widget, or a gadget, or...

So I asked my techie son-in-law what the difference is between the two. Here is what he told me via text message. "A gadget is an actual item whereas a widget is an anonymous undefined name for a gadget."

O-KAY! That really cleared it up for me. Yep, don't even bother with the Idiot's Guide, I'd never understand it.

Bless his heart, he knows that I've got dirty dishwater between my ears, so he went on to clarify..."It's a placeholder name for nothing specific. Like a doodad or a whatchamacallit."

FINALLY!
Words I understand! Now I just had to decide whether I needed a doodad or a whatchamacallit. Still, not knowing the difference between those two things exactly, I choose to use a doodad.

You'll find it up at the top of the sidebar. Now what I THINK it is supposed to do, its functionality, (you might find that word in one of those Idiot computer books if you don't know what it means) is allow readers of this blog to have new posts delivered to their email inbox. Since it is powered by a Google Group, it would also allow readers to talk about me behind my back except that I have it set so that I can moderate all the discussions. (I think) I don't know if it really works that way, so I'm testing it. I put my own email address into the little spot, clicked on the "Subscribe" button, and now we will see if this post is sent to my inbox.

All this has been a long and stressful process because I had to create a Google Group which required more decision making skills than what I possess, then I had to find the doodad and and copy the HTML Code and plug it in... Oh wait, should I use a plug-in, or is the doodad, which I used instead of a gadget or a widget, good enough? Oh, well...

Then I added it on... Oh my goodness, maybe I should have used an add-on instead of a doodad!

Dear God,
I'm no good at this. I'm so confused. Please help me out of this mess. Just give me my dishrag and...My dishrag! Where's my dishrag?

I got so busy with all this technical web-design-blog-building-mumbo-jumbo that I forgot all about a load of laundry, I left unattended, in the little campground laundry room. I guess I'd better go get my dishrag out of the thingamajig and put it in the whositwhatsit so it will dry. I'll need it later on when I get ready to wash my dillyboppers and wipe down the doohickey. Yes, I guess I should give up blog building and stick with domestic issues. At least in THAT department, I know what I'm doing!

*UPDATE* I never could get the doodad that I added to work like I wanted it to, so I removed it. If you would like to receive my blog in your email inbox, simply leave me a comment with your address or email me directly with it and I'll see to it that you get it. Thanks.

5 comments:

IdaR said...

I love the post, but the sidebar is way too long.

Karen said...

Laughing again...thanks for the humorous outlook....

Karen said...

Hilarious! Isn't it great how one person's washing machine can be another person's widget? It's a great thing God gives us all different interests. Otherwise we might still be using pen and paper... or we'd all be wearing dirty clothes. :)

Lavonda Pflug said...

Ida, thanks for you input. I've deleted several things from my sidebar and moved some of the "longer" items to the bottom of the posts. I changed the number of posts that appear at once. (I have no idea how so many wound up on at once.)Hope you like it better, let me know.

Karen and Karen--(love having two of you here) Thanks. Glad you enjoyed my dillywhoper! :)

Alene said...

I am so not good at all this fancy stuff either. All those thinga-me-jigs just throw me for a loop. Blessings friend.