// August 3rd, 2003 // 26 Comments » // tagged: Movable Type > Tutorials
!! This tutorial has not been updated since movable type version 2. It is most likely obsolete !!
I had been toying with the idea of putting my currently list on my main index page, but I wanted it to be super easy to update and linkable. So I did it with MT. The first version was pretty good -- it listed all my different categories (reading, watching, listening to etc.) and then the date and the newest thing I'd been reading, watching, listening to, etc. It linked to a website for that particular listing. So if I was reading Harry Potter, it linked to the Warner Bros Harry Potter Site. If I was listening to Collective Soul, it linked to their official site. It's basically almost exactly what I've got up right now on my blog ... except then it didn't gather and show the Amazon info.
If that's what you want to do ... use the Sideblog Without Amazon tutorial. My sideblog had only been up a few days when I noticed the winamp playlist over on kadyellebee.com. When you were hovering over one of the album titles, it would show the album cover, title, the latest amazon price and give you a link for buying it. I thought that was wicked cool! I don't use winamp, but I thought it would be cool to use it for everything on my currently list. Books, movies, tv shows, etc. Amazon has a listing for everything basically -- and thus the fun began. It took several days and lots of frustrating posting on the MT Support Forums, and lots of great help from the posters there, but eventually I got the code to work and I'm estatic with the results. This version of my sideblog is currently live on my site -- When you hover over anything on my currently list, it's going to pop up with info from Amazon about that topic. If that's what you want to do ... use the Sideblog With Amazon tutorial. You want to pull your playlist from Winamp and have Amazon info pop up? Well you're in the wrong place for that! While kadyellebee's tutorial on how to set this up was the inspiration for how I set up the Amazon links, I don't use winamp, don't want to, and there's no point writing another tutorial on something that's already been done expertly by Kristine herself!! Check out her tutorial here!
Sideblog Without Amazon
The following MUST be installed in order for this to work
(The plugins and javascript come with installation instructions):
Movable Type, version 2.5 or higher
Javascript: OverLIB
Download this zip file (Template Configurations).
1. Create a new weblog in MT. Call it Sideblog (or whatever you like!)
2. Decide if you want to have an image above each category or not. This will determine which template file you will use! If you want an image, open sideblog1.html. If you don't want an image, open sideblog2.html.
3. When you have the appropriate template open, change the paths for the overlib.js script and, if you're using the images template, for your images. Use the full path (i.e. http://www.yourdomain.com/blah blah). For now, don't change anything else. We want to make sure everything works before you start customizing it specifically for your site!
4. Replace the Main Index Template with the file you just altered (I prefer linking to templates, but do as you like!)!
5. Create your categories (i.e. Reading, Listening To, Watching, Buying)
6. If you aren't using images, skip to step 8. If you ARE using the template with images, create an image for each category, and save it as the same exact name as the category in the directory that you specified in step 4. (For Reading, save the image as reading.jpg; For Listening To, save the image as ListeningTo.jpg, etc.)
7. Rebuild!
8. Now you'll want to blog a few new entries -- to test and make sure everything is working properly.
How to blog a new entry:
Entry Title: You put the title of whatever you're watching or listening to here. (i.e. No Doubt, Friends, The Sound and the Fury, etc!)
Entry Body: What you want to display as alt text when you hover over the text. (i.e. - if I was listening to No Doubt, I would put -- "Gwen Stefani Rocks!!!" in the entry body!)
Entry Excerpt: The URL you want the text to link to. (i.e. for No Doubt, I'd put http://www.nodoubt.com in excerpt section!)
9. See your new sideblog at http://www.yourdomain.com/whatever you called your sideblog/.
10. Now if you want to include this blog onto one of your other pages, just use an include statement wherever it is that you want it to display: [code][/code]
[OR you can use the MTOtherBlog plugin! ]
Sideblog WITH Amazon
The following MUST be installed in order for this to work
(The plugins and javascript come with installation instructions):
Movable Type, version 2.5 or highe
Javascript: OverLIB
MT Plugin: MTAmazon (you'll also need to sign up for an Developers Token/Associates ID; it's free though!)
MT Plugin: MTProcess Tags
MT Plugin: MTTag Invoke (this plugin is still in beta, but its the only way to get the MTAmazon to work in this way! It worked first-try for me and totally solved the problem of placing a MT tag inside another MT tag inside a Javascript! Woohoo!)
PHP enabled server (to include the sideblog on your main page)
Download this zip file (Template Configurations).
1. Create a new weblog in MT. Call it Sideblog (or whatever you like!)
2. Decide if you want to have an image above each category or not. This will determine which template file you will use! If you want an image, open sideblogamazon1.html. If you don't want an image, open sideblogamazon2.html.
3. When you have the appropriate template open, change the paths for the overlib.js script and, if you're using the images template, for your images. Use the full path (i.e. http://www.yourdomain.com/blah blah). For now, don't change anything else. We want to make sure everything works before you start customizing it specifically for your site!!
4. Now take the associate id you got from Amazon, and in the template replace associateid="silverberry20" with YOUR id. (Or if you don't want to bother getting a id, you can leave mine there!).
5. Replace the Main Index Template with the file you just altered (I prefer linking to templates, but do as you like!)!
6. Create your categories (i.e. Reading, Listening To, Watching, Buying)
7. If you aren't using images, skip to step 8. If you ARE using the template with images, create an image for each category, and save it as the same exact name as the category in the directory that you specified in step 4. (For Reading, save the image as reading.jpg; For Listening To, save the image as ListeningTo.jpg, etc.)
8. Rebuild!
9. Now you'll want to blog a few new entries -- to test and make sure everything is working properly.
How to blog a new entry:
Entry Title: You put the title of whatever you're watching or listening to here. (i.e. No Doubt, Friends, The Sound and the Fury, etc!)
Entry Body: The ASIN of the album, book, etc. If I'm linking a non ITEM, I'll usually link to something relating to it. If I'm watching the Letterman show, I'll put the ASIN of a book that he has written on his Top Ten Lists. There's always something you can link to! Just put the number here! Be sure there are absolutely NO spaces here - if you copy and paste from Amazon, it puts a space after the ASIN -- backspace to get rid of that. If there are spaces before or after the ASIN, it will NOT pull the amazon info!!
Entry Excerpt: The URL you want the physical text to link to. (i.e. for No Doubt, I'd put http://www.nodoubt.com). They'll be able to click on the link from the popup Amazon window, but if its Letterman, or someone you're plugging, or a TV show, you might want to link to an official site or something.
10. See your new sideblog at http://www.yourdomain.com/whatever you called your sideblog/.
11. Now if you want to include this blog onto one of your other pages, just use an include statement wherever it is that you want it to display: [code] [/code]
[OR you can use the MTOtherBlog plugin! ]
