Saturday, June 13, 2009

New feature on Sketching in Nature

One of our correspondents told me about a neat new widget to add to the blog that links within the posts here for subject and author...each post now has a link to similar posts that have appeared here before. Let me know what you think of it--feedback is always welcome!

If you think it adds, let me know; if it detracts, let me know that, too...this is YOUR blog and I like to know what you feel.

15 comments:

  1. Can the widget be applied to the correspondent or subject? For example(1) First Spring Flowers and then references to other posts about First Spring flowers or just Spring Flowers. ..

    Or (2) references to the artist. More Sketches in Nature by this artist...

    Or(3) sketches of Italy or Greece could spin off to other artists and their sketchee of Itly or Greece...

    annie

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  2. Do these links change or whatever off and on or are they stationary to a particular post. I screwed up my last post....sorry. Anyway I am for whatever the gang wants. Looks like someone as done a lot of work here...thanks.

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  3. I think it just does what it does...seems like of random, though the widget must use something as criteria...it's just not something you can set. Or so it appears.

    Ricky, it's not really a lot of work, you just upload a pre-set widget that links to previous posts, so if it doesn't work for us and add to the blog, we can delete it.

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  4. I like it .. very nice reminders of former posts, and there's always something I may have missed, though I check this blog daily .. it's inspiring. I seldom comment, so I guess I'm a lurker, but I'm very impressed by everyone's postings!

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  5. The widget is working in an interesting way on this blog. I have enjoyed seeing it and using it on other blogs. It automatically finds its own related posts with similar text and/or links. On this blog, I noticed that it is rotating the images, as though it is finding many related posts and wants to include them all. I think that's pretty cool!

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  6. I think I like it the more I watch it work....makes a more impressive look. In order for it to work properly do we need to start thinking about the tags we use or something like that so it can choose more related items?? I'm dumb on this kind of thing..sorry.

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  7. I like it. Sometimes I miss postings accidentally and so it is a nice surprise to see something pop up. And seeing again the thumbnail icons with everyone's sketches, ya gotta love that.

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  8. Yes, like Ricky, the more I see it work, the more I like it. As spinyurchin and Jan say, things pop up that we might have missed. And the thumbnails are precious.
    annie

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  9. I've found I've missed a few too, though I thought I'd seen everything on the blog...I don't know if it picks the "related" posts by tags or by subject line, but I suspect the latter. I've tried to make sure people put their names or subject in the tags, but the posts aren't always related to that...

    Dunno, but it IS fun...

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  10. I definitely like it! A great way to catch things I may have missed or to enjoy again those I loved.

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  11. I think it would be helpful (and maybe easier on the poor widget trying to keep up with us) if we used more generic labels on our posts.
    For example, "wildflowers" instead of each individual wildflower's name. Or "insects" instead of each species. It might cut down on that long list! When we post, I've noticed you can click on an area at the lower right to bring up all labels already used -- it's easy to find a category that fits.

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  12. Vicky, I think you might be right about the labels, but I'm wondering if the widget needs it in the title/subject line and not just the labels or tags.

    And yes, it would make things a bit easier if we consolidated labels a bit...wildflowers rather than bedstraw for instance. The list of labels is definitely meant for us to use to find related osts...all those that are about bugs or butterflies, for instance, or all of those from you, or Carolyn, etc., and all from Brazil, say...

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  13. I like it Kate!!! (I'm waaayyyy behind thing s-- work continues to enslave for too long hours!) -- I think it's really neat and I can catch up on more than one post without feeling I'm missing so much!

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  14. I'm glad you like it! I am too...took me a while to get used to it...

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  15. At long last, I offer another endorsement! Good little widget!

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