Fixing the Popular Posts Widget

For a while the Popular Posts widget (i.e. the one Blogger developed and available via the Add a Gadget menu) in the right hand sidebar has been displaying incorrectly and today it's irritated me enough to do something about it!

The picture was truncated and the left hand side of the accompanying post title merged into the picture OR for posts that were text only, the first 2-3 letters of the post title were missing. I tried altering the settings in the Popular Posts widget itself, but there's very little there to play with. Removing the thumbnail option only made things worse: all post titles were displayed with the first 2-3 characters missing. Having upgraded to IE9 recently and its attendant problems, I also had a look at the blog via a a couple of different browsers, only to find the problem hadn't gone away. Grrrr!

For once searching Blogger Help for the answer was successful - see reply #3 (NB my search was for Popular Posts widget truncated). Removal of the following line from the blog template's HTML is needed:

text-indent:-15px;

If you have the same problem with this widget and don't mind fiddling around with HTML, then this will probably work for you too. Save a copy of your current template first (just to be on the safe side), then look for the part of the template which starts:

.sidebar li {

The offending line should be a couple or so lines further down - I can't say exactly where as my template looked slightly different to that shown in the Blogger Help reply. Anyway, locate and remove the offending line then save your revised template. Refresh your blog and have a look - a nice square picture icon (if you ticked the show thumbnail option when setting up the widget) and clear text should now be looking back at you :)

If that pesky line isn't there (and if I was a betting girl, I'd lay a shilling that it is), then restore your saved template copy and seek help via Blogger - I don't have the answer I'm afraid :(

Good luck!

What's New and Let's Meet!

It's Showtime at Malvern- will you be there?

It's a year since the Meet @ Malvern blog was launched, so I've tweaked the layout in celebration to launch our 2011 get together. I'm looking forward to seeing as many of you as possible this year :D

Helen and I have various work, family and exam commitments over the next few months and so we won't be able to do very much in the way of organising this year. This also reflects what a number of you said in last year's feedback too, and our informal get together at the Autumn Show last September proved an organisation-lite gathering can still work successfully.

However, I'm also aware there are a number of people who are interested in coming who didn't join us last year at either show, so I'd welcome your views on how we can best ensure we all can find each other easily for a natter with the minimum of organisation.

I've used the Blogger Page function to bring together most of the useful information you'll need to make your own arrangements to attend this year. Let me know if there's anything you'd like to add to the information, particularly the Accommodation, Getting There and Hints and Tips pages.

You'll also see there's an Attendee page: this is very much in the early stages of development, do let me know if and when you're attending so I can keep this page up to date. If last year is anything to go by, this won't really reflect what's happening until late April! And do pass the word round to your fellow bloggers and tweeters who may be interested in coming. This post is the invitation for everyone, so it's up to us all to ensure no-one's left out.

The exception to the useful stuff at the top of the page (isn't there always one!) is the all important contact details for obtaining your tickets. This is in the sidebar under Tickets Please! heading. If you click on the picture, it'll take you to the official Malvern Show booking page. NB The countdown clock has been reinstated too - though you'll have to look a bit harder to find it this time!

I won't be posting as much on here this year as I believe what's already here is enough to give anyone a flavour of what the show is like either by going through the blog in sequence or using the Labels in the sidebar (towards the bottom) to home in on what looks interesting. There'll be the occasional update of news as and when I get it. If anyone would like to write a guest post to help lighten the load, then do get in touch :)

As the posts will be less frequent, you may wish to sign up for Updates or Follow this blog to make sure you don't miss out on anything. You'll find the appropriate buttons in the sidebar. I'll also be updating via Twitter, but experience showed last year that this is a bit hit and miss in keeping you updated.

NB as for last year accommodation is already filling fast, so this is something for you to consider NOW if you're wanting to stay over during the show.

Meet @ Malvern Goes International

I'm delighted we'll be welcoming several friends from abroad to Meet @ Malvern.

Karen, Dobby, Elizabeth and Ryan will be mounting an expeditionary force from across the border in Wales ;)

Yolanda will be leaving her vast Bliss Team at home and joining us from The Netherlands. It also means I have to start tidying up right now as she's staying with me on the Wednesday night :0

I've linked to their top-notch blogs, so you have a chance to get to know them before May, if you don't already. I've also started an attendees blog list in the sidebar for the same reason. You'll find Dobby is a regular commenter on Karen's blog as well as being her good friend :)

Now, how about starting a cross-cultural exchange from the USA guys?

Thanks For All Your Help & Be Our Guest

The great thing about organising something like Meet @ Malvern is how everyone in the blogging community gets stuck in and helps to make an event so much better. Helen and I have been overwhelmed with your response so far, both on here and on Twitter. There's a real buzz of excitement about our first bloggers' get together here in the UK and so many more of you are interested in coming than we ever imagined.

You've been great already by posting about Meet @ Malvern on your blogs which is really helping to spread the word. It means our transatlantic cousins in particular are watching us with interest. I'm imagining them with their faces pressed against the 'windows' of their computers longing to join us. I'd love them to be able to come to Malvern and who knows? Someone just might. But if they can't be with us for real, then I'd like them to join us in a virtual way. Tweeting during the event will help them to do so, as will posting both during and after the show. I'm also trying to think of other ways: perhaps they could send in a greeting and photo and we set up a virtual visitor's 'wall' at Malvern in some way. What do you think? Perhaps you have other idea(s) for us to consider?

This week has also seen the start of a series of guest posts planned to take us all the way from now up to the start of Malvern. We've had two of them already this week, from Happy Mouffetard and Anna, so I've started a blog list in the sidebar as a little way of saying thank you. As others join them, they'll be added to the list too. All next week there'll be a marvellous series of posts from Deb chronicling how Lola, her show garden, went from the drawing board to best border at last year's show.

If you have an idea for a guest post which would be suitable for this blog, then do get in touch at malvernmeet at gmail dot com with an outline of your idea. For example, you might be coming to the show for the first time. What are your expectations? How do you feel about the show or meeting your virtual friends? What else would you like to know? Would you mind writing a short piece for us? It'll help us to ensure we provide exactly the kind of event you'd like - as will any comments and questions you care to leave here, on Twitter or via email - and give you all the information you need in one handy place. If you'd prefer to write your post for your blog then that's fine: we could either post on both blogs or I can link to you.

Michelle
xxx

Press Cuttings

All publications like to keep all the nice things people say about them and Meet @ Malvern is no exception. Of course being a blog, press cuttings are kept that little bit differently: in the form of links to the posts other bloggers have written. So there's a new link list in the sidebar today as a way of saying thank you to everyone's that's posted about Meet @ Malvern so far called (rather unoriginally I fear) What They're Saying About Meet @ Malvern. Naturally, this has been put there to tempt you further into coming and joining the fun and also to introduce you to anyone you may be unfamiliar with.

Rest assured if I've missed out your post about Meet @ Malvern, it wasn't my intention. Get in touch in the usual way with your post's link and I'll get it on there ASAP.

Meet the Organisers

I've added links to mine and Helen's blogs in the sidebar, so that anyone who doesn't know us already (what??? !!!) has a chance to find out a little more before we get together in May. Helen also Tweets regularly as @patientgarden and I'm @malvernmeet for the duration. I'm trying to keep the latter one reserved for Malvern arrangements, but already I can't help straying into the social side of things from time to time! A slippery slope for VP (who also is in danger of developing a split personality at this rate!) to be treading on I fear...

As things progress I'll be adding details of bloggers, tweeters and websites of people planning to attend the event both on here and in Twitter as appropriate. I also need to work out how to get @malvermeet's twitterfeed into Blogger, so that non-tweeters can see what's going on :)

Twitter is Live!

@Malvernmeet is up and ready for your tweets. Click on the Twitter Follow button in the sidebar to keep up with all the latest news and gossip on our blogtastic day out :)