Distractions and Problems
I got the new script installed but ran into problems with the css file. I use background images on most of my sites. I wrote the code to do this in my css file. I uploaded the file and opened the page only to find . . . no background images. I checked my code and it all looks good. I checked my images folder and the images are there. I looked for typos in the file names and in the css. I tried adding a background color and it appeared.
There must be a file path problem, although it is not obvious. I compared the file path to the path to the css file and it seems the same. I suspect that the script is building the page in the root directory and that the css is looking in the root directory instead of in the images directory in the template folder. When I finish writing this installment I intend to check out that possibility. I have run into such confusion in the past with other scripts.
The distraction that I mention in the title had to do with my article directory based sites. I have wanted to add a social bookmarking widget to the pages. When I hit the brick wall with the SB script I decided to take care of that situation. I picked up a script from AddThis.com and proceeded to add it to the various sites and sections. This involves pasting the script into the template and making the necessary adjustments to the css file.
On most of the directory sites I put the buttons into the top nav bar. Some of the other sites had too much in the bar already, so I decided on an alternate location. On those sites I put the script at the top of the left nav column. The changes to the css file depend on the location of the buttons, so I had to formulate the appropriate rules for the two locations that I used.
In some ways I like the nav column location better than the nav bar location. In the nav column pages I put the buttons inside a box with a thin red border. This should serve to call attention to the location and to the buttons. Either location should be within the first scan on opening the page, so both should work ok.
I asked my authors opinion in a blog post, so I will see if any of them are paying attention. When I make a new post to the blog I update the subject line on my article approved emails. Most of them probably end up in spam folders or are filtered from the regular emails, but I do see some author traffic to the various sites.
And now, back to the salt mine!
Tags: file path problems, is the page where it thinks it is?, Social bookmark buttons