Read Thread: More widgets to play with..... =)
More widgets to play with..... =)
Board: Atlas Quest Announcements
Feb 23, 2009 2:38pm
I've added two new widgets: Image Viewer and RSS Viewer. They let you type in a URL to an image and RSS feed respectively, and it'll show the link appropriately. In the case of the image, it'll show the image. In the case of the RSS feed, it'll show a list of the entries in the feed. (Blog posts, news, whatever.)
But I think a couple of example about how they can be used are in order. Take the image viewer. I know some people have expressed disappointment when they become premium members and no longer see the PSA announcements for AQ while reading the message boards. Now, you can put them on My Page instead! Add the Image Viewer widget, set the preferences so the URL points to http://www.atlasquest.com/syndicate/psa.jpg -- set the title to whatever floats your boat (or leave it empty if you choose). Save it, and now every time you view My Page, you'll see a random Atlas Quest PSA. =)
In theory, you should be able to link to absolutely anything that's an image. GIFs, JPGs, PNGs, or whatever. Also, keep in mind, that it may not look good if the image is too large for the width of the widget.
As for the RSS viewer, I'll use an example of what I put on my own My Page: The latest news from the Seattle times. They have an RSS feed of their top stories at http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/rss/home.xml. So I added that as the URL, set the title to "Seattle Times", and saved. Presto! The last ten news stories from the Seattle Times are displayed including a recap of The Bachelor. I may have to reconsider that news source.... =) (Actually, the bachelor from this season is from the Seattle area--I think that's the only reason it ranks so highly in "local" news.)
Right now, you can only add one of each type of viewer. Eventually I plan to update the widgets so it can support multiple additions of the same widget, which makes a lot of sense for this type of thing. (Allows you to add RSS feeds from multiple news sources, for instance.) No promises about when that will happen, but in the meantime, you can now use a single instance of both the Image and RSS Viewers. =)
Happy trails!
-- Ryan
But I think a couple of example about how they can be used are in order. Take the image viewer. I know some people have expressed disappointment when they become premium members and no longer see the PSA announcements for AQ while reading the message boards. Now, you can put them on My Page instead! Add the Image Viewer widget, set the preferences so the URL points to http://www.atlasquest.com/syndicate/psa.jpg -- set the title to whatever floats your boat (or leave it empty if you choose). Save it, and now every time you view My Page, you'll see a random Atlas Quest PSA. =)
In theory, you should be able to link to absolutely anything that's an image. GIFs, JPGs, PNGs, or whatever. Also, keep in mind, that it may not look good if the image is too large for the width of the widget.
As for the RSS viewer, I'll use an example of what I put on my own My Page: The latest news from the Seattle times. They have an RSS feed of their top stories at http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/rss/home.xml. So I added that as the URL, set the title to "Seattle Times", and saved. Presto! The last ten news stories from the Seattle Times are displayed including a recap of The Bachelor. I may have to reconsider that news source.... =) (Actually, the bachelor from this season is from the Seattle area--I think that's the only reason it ranks so highly in "local" news.)
Right now, you can only add one of each type of viewer. Eventually I plan to update the widgets so it can support multiple additions of the same widget, which makes a lot of sense for this type of thing. (Allows you to add RSS feeds from multiple news sources, for instance.) No promises about when that will happen, but in the meantime, you can now use a single instance of both the Image and RSS Viewers. =)
Happy trails!
-- Ryan
Re: More widgets to play with..... =)
Board: Atlas Quest Announcements
Reply to: #354314 by Green Tortuga
Feb 23, 2009 2:41pm
Thanks!!
