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Squidoo Tutorial

Rel="me" Rel="author" UPDATE for Squidoo lensmasters

Oct 14th, 2011
by Greekgeek.
1 comment

I just got a note from Gil on my Rel="author" Squidoo tutorial. (Thanks, Gil!)

The slots on our Squidoo Profile for "other profiles" (Facebook, Twitter, MySpace) are now labeled with rel="me" automatically. So is the "My Blog" slot.

More importantly, Squidoo has now added a slot on our lensmaster profile for a link to "Google Plus" (which will work just fine for a regular Google profile account as well). This link is automatically marked with rel="me" in the code.

Therefore, in order to connect your Squidoo lenses to your Google profile, the process is now:

  1. Create a Google Profile
  2. Edit your Google Profile, add a link to your Squidoo Lensmaster Page in the "Other Profiles" box
  3. View your Google profile and copy its URL
  4. On Squidoo, go to My Settings > Profile, scroll down, and paste your Google Profile URL into the "Google Plus" box
  5. Save, and you're done!
(You don't have to fuss with rel="author" at all, because the bio box in the upper right corner of lenses automatically creates rel="author" from each lens to your lensmaster profile page.)

P.S. Remember those slots in our Squidoo Profile that we haven't been able to access since the Dashboard update? They're editable again!

Advanced CSS Tricks and Tips: Borders and Backgrounds and Captions, Oh My!

Jun 7th, 2010
by Greekgeek.
No comments yet

I finally got around to updating my Advanced CSS lens, where I used to post crazy "lab experiments" in CSS.

Now I've reorganized it and made it more dignified (slightly), and added all the tricks I tend to use most on my lenses: rounded corners, background-images for paragraphs, captions under aligned images, drop caps, dramatic numbered lists, and most of all, playing around with the introduction module to make the first thing visitors see look great.

I've moved the old lab experiments to page 2. There's another use for a Page Break!

(My "crazy lab experiments" lens is now ZEE CODE SCRATCHPAD. Once I've got things working nicely there, I may move the "finished products" to the AdvancedCSS lens for prime time viewing.)

Controversies & Hoaxes Draw Web Traffic

Jan 9th, 2010
by Greekgeek.
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My Photos of Apollo Moon Landing Sites From Space lens has existed for a month, and looks to be a long-term second-tier lens with 50 visitors a week and a fair number of clicks. Those two factors will help this lens maintain its lensrank.

Here's the steps I took to make this effective lens.

1) Find a controversial subject LOTS of people are talking about, and/or notice something in current news/buzz that people may look up.

I follow space news, and heard there were some new cool photos of moon landing sites. When I searched for them on the web, I ran into a whole pile of people claiming the moon landings are a hoax! (This would be news to my Mom's friend Neil Armstrong.) A number of people were asking why there were no photos of moon landers from space. Aha! A question that can be answered with a Squidoo lens! Juicy debate and controversy! Perfect for getting traffic. Now, how to target it...

(more...)

Some Squidoo Tutorials: Navigation Aids

Apr 10th, 2009
by Greekgeek.
No comments yet

Since my lenses tend to be looooong, I tend to develop various strategies to help folks navigate them. I like little inset tables of contents, "shortcuts" that jump to relevant parts of the page, or navigator bars.

So I was working on a Fancy Tables of Contents tutorial collecting my various ways of creating tables of contents, indexes, and the like. And I'm STILL working on it! *laugh* I can always make a small project huge. Then I have to find ways to shorten it.

Along the way -- partly because people are making a big push to update or build Lensographies -- I wound up spinning off one module onto its own page. So at least THAT tutorial is finished:

Build a Better Featured Lens Module

It lets you do three things a regular Featured Lens Module can’t:

  • Feature more than 5 lenses in the same list.
  • Feature lenses in a fixed order.
  • Write a blurb before and after the featured lenses without getting cut off in mid-sentence (doncha hate that?)

Meanwhile, I'm still waiting for somebody to find the Easter Egg on my Amazing Nessie Photo, where I am offering $5 to the first person who proves (without any doubt whatsoever) that it's fake. Whoever does so is going to get a chuckle, hopefully.

Because a fool and her money are soon parted, and I am actually trying to teach a lesson with that lens, I will give an enormous clue:

PHOTOSHOP SEES MORE THAN MEETS THE EYE... :D