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Blogroll in sidebar and upload a theme - doesn't work

  1. plumesouveraine
    Member

    Hi, I'm a newbie here (and frenchie so my english is pretty bad :(). I just moved from Blogger but now I think I took a bad decision... I created a blogroll to share with others (almost all of them are on blogger) at blogrolling(dot)com. The idea is that everybody has the same links on their blog, and they get updated each time I add a new one (you can see it under Blogues souverains at http://www.liberauxcaricatures.blogspot.com/).

    Now, I've learned that I can't put javascript on my sidebar (I lost at least one hour to understand what was happening when my code disapeared !!!). I'm already having a hard time not to be able to upload any theme I want, even if I've paid for customising my CSS. I could do a lot more on blogspot for FREE (as uploading a theme !!! or customise my CSS as I want !!!)...

    Anyway, is there any way that I could integrate my shared blogroll on my blog (http://plumesouverainiste.com/) ?

    Would it be possible to upload a theme someday or do I have to forget about it, even if I have paid for customising my CSS ? (please do not answer me to go to wordpress(dot)org because I have a Mac, can't install the program and don't want to host my blog somewhere else even if I'm ok to pay some fee, like I did)

    Thanks for helping...

  2. cornell
    Member

    Unfortunately, there's probably never going to be a way to insert the blogrolling javascript, due to the security concerns associated with the language. You'll have to put each URL into the blogroll contained within the blog's "links" section.

    Similarly, with the software that's running here (WordPress Mu) the themes that we have here are shared. This means that modifying the theme for one person will modify it for everyone. This obviously does not include the CSS upgrade, with which you can do almost anything. Rather than "upload" the theme, choose Sandbox as your theme and modify that. It's a very simple and powerful theme that allows for huge amounts of customisation.

    As for the "free on blogspot" thing, have a look at the downtime that blogspot, blogger and all the others have had because they are "free" and you're able to do anything. These blogging apps have been hacked numerous times just because they allow things like Javascript.

    I might be biased but I don't think you have made a bad decision by moving to wp.com. Yes, it has limitations, but with help from your new friends here in the community we can help you work out most things. Don't write it off just yet!

    By the way, if it's easier for you to type in French rather than English, there is a French forum at http://fr.forums.wordpress.com/ . I don't know how well it is supported, but we're always here if you prefer.

    All the best.

    Collin

  3. drmike
    Member

    One of the top 10 posts for today is blogger's down time and the poster taking Google to task over it.

    Actually we can import blogrolls if they're in the OPML format. Not sure if blogrolling does this or not. Do a search here for opml as timethief made a post earlier today on the subject.

    Just for reference, Javascript and other topics are much discussed in the FAQ blog as well as the sticky at the head of these forums. It's that way for security purposes. How many times has a site like blogger or blogspot or myspace been hacked or taken off line because of them allowing folks to take risks? I'd rather have a site up and running instead of it going up and down all the time.

    And having a Mac wouldn't matter for hosting wordpress as none of the files exist on your local computer. All of wordpress's files, both regular version and the hosted version we have here at wp.com, are online. Has nothing to do with your computer choice.

    Regards,
    -drmike

  4. timethief
    Member

    Here's the link to the thread drmike refers to regarding how to import a blogroll if it is in the OPML format http://en.forums.wordpress.com/topic.php?id=9641&page&replies=5

  5. plumesouveraine
    Member

    I understand the security issue (not everything but trying pretty hard !); but I still hope finding a solution for my blogroll...

    For the Mac issue, I know with WordPress(dot)com everything is hosted there but I thougt, if I would like to have full access to my template I had to download a program (for PCs of course) on my computer from WordPress(dot)org to manage it... and then after upload my stuff on a webhost... maybe I did'nt understand well how this is working.

    I still can't figure why can't we upload our own template (I don't mean necessary create a full one but upload one I found for example on themes(dot)wordpress(dot)net).

    About the OPML issue, on blogrolling I can have the blogroll code in javascript, RSS, OPML and PHP. But it's written above each one "javascript is required". I'm not sure to understand how I can use any of these to make it works...

    Can I create a "text widget" than insert for example the OPML code ? I don't want to use a list of links because I have to put a logo, than the blogroll list, than a line of text. So it seems that the only way is to use the "text widget", am I right ? Is it possible to do that this way ?

  6. timethief
    Member

    I believe your understanding of the differences between wordpress.com and wordpress.org technology, policies and services would be enhanced by carefully reading Please read me first before posting http://en.forums.wordpress.com/topic.php?id=3700&page&replies=1

    Would it be possible to upload a theme someday or do I have to forget about it, even if I have paid for customising my CSS ?

    The bottom line is that we at wordpress.com do not have and will never gain access to the files for our templates. All 900,000 of us are working on a shared multi-user blogging platform. Although some themes here appear to be the same as the ones at wordpress.org I assure you that they are not. They have been adapted to run on this multi-user blogging platform.

    If you want total control over your template then you can download one from http://wordpress.org, which runs on entirely different software. That would mean that any hacking you do would or javascript you use would compromise only your own security.

  7. plumesouveraine
    Member

    Thanks for these informations. This security issue is important to me, I never thought I had to be concerned about it for my blog, now I am. So really thanks to you, it seems there is a really nice community here to help and inform others, I apreciate it a lot ! And those fast responses... wow, great forum !

    I'll think about another solution for my blogroll then... and try to manage with my template !

  8. timethief
    Member

    This is how the wordpress.com blogroll works. All wordpress.com blogs have only one Blogroll located in the Admin area where you enter all links and assign each link to one or more Categories. => Blogroll => Add Link

    The links you enter into your Blogroll are displayed only after the Links widget is placed in your sidebar. Also note that there must be at least one link assigned to a Category before it will appear in your sidebar.

    Likewise, the Category widget must be placed in the sidebar for posts to display. And just like links when it comes to posts there must be at least one published post in a Category before the Category will be displayed in your sidebar.

    Once your Links widget and Categories widget are positioned in your sidebar, the manner in which the links you entered into your Blogroll will be displayed is alphabetically in accord with the Categories you created and assigned to those links when you entered them into your Blogroll.

    Therefore as you will have multiple Categories it may look like you have multiple Blogrolls when you view your links in your sidebar. But in truth, you only have only one Blogroll, which is displays links as separate alphabetically ordered groups, in accord with the Categories that you assigned to those links when you entered them into your Blogroll.

    Please see:
    (1) FAQs http://faq.wordpress.com/2006/12/24/what-is-a-widget/

    (2) If you want even more information perhaps WordPress Widget Wizardy will help you learn how to set up and configure your blog's widgets.

    * Also note that the foregoing does not apply to the Blix theme which is hard-coded to display all links in one alphabetically organized row.

  9. drmike
    Member

    if I would like to have full access to my template I had to download a program (for PCs of course)

    Nope. WordPress is a PHP program that just requires a webserver to run. The template files are just text files that can be edited with a standard text editor. (I don't know Mac text editors so I cant give you a name)

  10. plumesouveraine
    Member

    So, drmike, if I understand well, the program to download (WordPress) must be installed on a server? I have downloaded a template to understand... There's a folder with .php files and .css files, and some picture folders, like a complete website folder. I thougt I had to manage those files from the WordPress program installed on my computer and then upload those files to a server. Maybe then is the other way around! I'm a bit mixed up, sorry! I still don't get how a text editor can be sufficient to manage a template... unless everything must be managed directly from the server?

  11. judyb12
    Member

    @plumesouveraine:

    si vous voulez gérer tous les trucs de votre blog, il est necessaire utiliser le logiciel wordpress de wordpress.org avec un serveur du web (on a besoin du hôte pour ça). On peut trouver plus des informations à http://wordpress.org/support

    si vous voulez simplement ecrire un blog, restez ici avec wordpress.com. Vous pouvez choisir un des thèmes qui sont à la page Presentation->Themes. On ne peut pas ajouter plug-ins ou des autres choses.

    j'espère que mon français n'est pas trop mauvais et que je vous ai aidé un peu. ;-)

  12. plumesouveraine
    Member

    @judyb12
    Merci pour votre réponse en français ;) J'ai maintenant mieux compris les différences entre les deux. Je resterai ici pour l'instant puisque la sécurité est importante pour moi; je préfère alors me priver de certaines possibilités auxquelles j'étais habituée sur blogspot.

    @everyone
    Thanks for the support, I will stay here even if I can't do anything I want... I did a few changes to my template with the customisation option, still have a lot more to learn ! The french forum is not alive like this one, so even if my questions are not so well written, I hope everyone will still help me !

  13. judyb12
    Member

    @plumesouveraine
    de rien :-)

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