Creating a linkroll is something I have a general idea of how to do, but I still need lots of help (just like Brian customizing the code in the previous blog entry for Wordpress, which he did figure out and you can see on his blog!). The content of a linkroll comes from my Simpy bookmark links (or you could use Del.icio.us or Blinklist). I'd like to have them appear down the left hand side of my blog. I'm able to find them quickly and it's nice to be able to refer to the list of links from my blog rather than going to the original site (e.g. Simpy) to view them.

So, I posted this question to the Simpy user group:

How does one get a list of links to display in the sidebar of a blog? I've seen this done with Delicious and Blinklist, and would like to do the same thing with Simpy.

And have received two responses, shared below:

People seem to use external services to create widgets. For example:
http://jade.mcli.dist.maricopa.edu/feed/
http://www.feeddigest.com/
http://www.feedostyle.com/
http://www.landmark-project.com/feed2js/build.php

I believe Feedo Style above even lets you "do it" without registration. By "do it" I mean:
- take the URL of the RSS feed
- enter it into the external service
- let the service convert the feed into a piece of JavaScript

You then typically take a snippet of HTML/Javascript code they give you and stick it in your page where you want your Simpy links to appear. Of course, you don't have to limit that linkroll to your links. You can convert any search feed into a javascript linkroll, any feed for any of your groups, etc. I see Reggie also lets people search his Simpy links from his blog. Anyone can do this by pasting a small snippet of HTML in their blog, like this: http://www.simpy.com/help#searchExternal

Unfortunately, I can't figure out how to get the CSS Styles stuff to work with the Maricopa and LandMark Project tools. What I end up getting isn't all that great because it's using my blog's built-in stylesheet. While FeedoStyle does give me some customization, it doesn't provide enough with the free option. So, until I can figure out the CSS, I'll have to stick with this code:

<script language="JavaScript" src="http://jade.mcli.dist.maricopa.edu/feed/feed2js.php?
src=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.simpy.com%2F
rss%2Fuser%2Fmguhlin%2Flinks%2F&amp;num=10&amp;utf=y
&amp;html=n" type="text/javascript"></script>

<noscript>

<a href="http://jade.mcli.dist.maricopa.edu/feed/
feed2js.php?src=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.simpy.com%2 F
rss%2Fuser%2Fmguhlin%2Flinks%2F&amp;num=10&amp;
utf=y&amp;html=n">View RSS feed</a>

</noscript>

To get what appears in my left side bar under this image:

If you have any suggestions for modifying the code, please let me know!

On a different topic, Otis, the creator of Simpy (ain't the web great?), did offer some new alternatives to graphic buttons to use for the blog footer. He recommends either one of these:

or

Posted by Miguel Guhlin at | +Del.icio.us |
Categories: Education, MGuhlin.net, TechTips