The aim of this post is to provide an overview of categories and tags; there is so much more that could be covered.

Tags vs Categories

The whole reason why tags, categories, and search widgets are used on blogs is to serve one purpose — help your readers locate the information they want on your blog. Readers want quick and easy solutions; too hard and they look elsewhere.

While the aim of using tags and categories is the same — to help readers locate information — they are used differently.

Categories are like book chapters; they provide a general overview of the topics you blog about. Whereas tags are more like the index at the back of the book and explode the topic into a million bits.

Categories and tags are displayed in your blog sidebar using the categories widget and Tag cloud widget.

Categories Are Used For Categorizing

Let me show you. I’m currently using 17 categories on my Mobile Technology in TAFE blog. Unfortunately, I blog on a wide subject area, so I’ve so many categories. Ideally, I believe it would be better for me to use fewer categories and for the category’s names to be descriptive enough without using two lines.

Categories can have unique names and be wordy; you want them sufficiently descriptive so your reader understands the type of subject matter they will find when they click on the link. For example, my Cool Web 2.0 & Desktop Tools category contains all posts that review, road test, or tell my readers how to use Web 2.0 or desktop tools more effectively.

Posts can be allocated to more than one category; I assign Twitter posts using the categories Cool Web 2.0 & Desktop Tools and Microblogging Tips similarly those on Flickr are distributed using the categories Cool Web 2.0 & Desktop Tools and Photosharing and Editing Tips. Remember I’m doing this to make it easier for my readers to locate the information they need quickly.

Tags and Tag Clouds

Tags are displayed on your blog as a tag cloud; clicking on a tag name will take your readers to all posts tagged with that term. Tags are normally short, one or two words, and are generally keywords (i.e. terms readers would be likely to use if they searched your site); terms that your readers will understand.

The number of categories you allocate to a post is normally limited whereas you will use as many tags on a post as you like.

Tags or Categories: Which One To Use?

If you checked out problogger sites — you will see each has their own preference as to which they use, or if they use both.

However, if you are planning on using categories like I have, you really need to sit down, think carefully about what content you will blog, and allocate categories that reflect this. You may want to use the categories I use on my Mobile Technology in TAFE blog as a guide.

If you’re going to use categories you need to do it properly; your readers expect that when they click on a category they will get ALL posts on the topic. If you add new categories this means you will need to go back through old posts and allocate them to these new categories.

Creating categories can be time-consuming — if you want to promise a “good enough” system, then use tags, where no thoroughness is implied. You will still need to be consistent with tagging e.g. use widget, Widget or widgets not all three. It’s worth checking out popular tags for ideas of what to use — check out Edublogs tag cloud.

Changing my Mobile Technology in the TAFE blog from the old system of just categories to now using categories and tags did take time — I had to sort through 223 posts. If you’ve got lots of old posts it may be better to stick with how you’ve been doing it and add a search widget to the top of your blog.

FINAL THOUGHT

I’m definitely not an expert with categories and tags; thanks to all the people who helped me out in coming to terms with using them.

Recommend you also check out the difference between pages and posts plus how you can use categories to separate different subjects or classes on a blog.

If you are enjoying reading this blog, please consider Subscribing For Free!

Many readers express interest in widgets, so we have decided this is a good place to start!

What are Widgets?

Web terminology makes it so much harder when people are starting their online journey; suddenly you’re being bombarded with all these foreign terms, and widgets are a classic example! In simple terms, widgets are mini web applications that you can put onto your website; e.g. the Clustrmap on the side bar is a widget.

How To Embed A Widget

People use widgets to add extra features to their website. But be warned! Choose widgets for your blog wisely because they can clutter your side menu which will distract your readers. My list of “must have widgets” on a blog include:

1. Search – so readers can easily search your blog
2. Email subscription – for readers who prefer to be notified of new posts by email
3. RSS feed – not all feed readers are able to detect the RSS feed from the site URL; this is why I add a Feed burner feed to my sites to make it easier for readers to subscribe
4. Categories and Tag Cloud – to make it easier for readers to locate posts on your blog. We will be writing a post soon to explain the difference between categories and tag clouds; and why/how each is used

I also like to add a widget that links to information on how to be notified of new posts; to make it easier for new people to understand how to subscribe to blogs.

Could I Mess up My blog Embedding Widgets?

Don’t worry! Widgets won’t break your blog. Any widgets you add can easily be removed, and won’t effect existing widgets in your side bar.

To try out widget, go to Appearance > Widgets, click the [+] sign in the widget area / sidebar where you want to add a widget. Search for the one you want in the sidebar and click to add it. Then click Update and view your site.

To remove a widget, click on it and, under the ellipsis icon at top-right, click the Delete option. Then click Update to save your changes.

What Widgets Should I Add To My Blog?

Widgets are PERSONAL. We all have our favourites.

Many educators like to add Clustrmaps, especially those with younger students, because the students loving seeing the red dots grow as their readers from around the world visit their site.

Other common widgets bloggers use include:

• Meta – shows your latest updates from Meta/Facebook
• Flickr – shows the latest photos you have uploaded to your Flickr Account
• Twitter – shows your latest updates from Twitter

Not all widgets can be embedded in Edublogs because some types of code and code that includes Java Script can cause problems. For example, when adding a Clustrmaps widget, you’ll want to copy the embed code and paste that in a Custom HTML widget in your sidebar.

FINAL THOUGHT

For those struggling to embed widgets we hope these “how to” tips have helped! For everyone else we hope that you find these tips useful when demonstrating to new people.

Please leave a comment to let us know how you go, and if you need any help with widgets I haven’t mentioned.

If you are enjoying reading this blog, please consider Subscribing For Free!

Widgets are a great way to personalize and add new features to your blog. Whether you’d like to display your visitor statistics or add a simple search tool, you can do it with widgets.

We’ve assembled a list of popular and most useful widgets used on class blogs, student blogs and personal educator blogs for your pleasure.

Many of the widgets have been embedded in this post to show how they work.

Can’t see the example widgets?

• Some of the embedded widgets aren’t designed to be viewed on mobile device. These widgets won’t load and you may see a white space in place of the widget if you are reading this post a mobile device.

Authors

Author widgets are a handy way of providing a link to posts by different authors on a shared blog or individual student blogs.

Author widget – Provides a handy link to authors’ posts on a group blog.  Reader click on the authors name to view their posts.

Class blog widget – Displays a link to all student blogs attached to your class blog via My Class. See it in action under Class blogs on Huzzah’s class blog.

Clocks and Calendars

Clocks are great for displaying the time in your location which helps when you are trying to develop connections with classes in other countries.  They also help younger students learn about time and time zones

Clock Link – 100’s of different and unique clocks of all types.

Local Times – Wide range of different types of clocks including clocks that display times in different locations.

Perth

localtimes.info

Human Calendar – Adds a cute calendar composed of photos of people.

My Calendar – Used to display a monthly calendar.

Google Calendar – Embed a list of upcoming events or a month view of a public Google calendar.

Countdown clocks – Displays a countdown clock for an event such as time until Christmas.

Time And Date Countdown Widgets – Displays a countdown clock for any event.

Helpful for Readers

Blogroll – Display a list of the blogs you like to read or share links to resources.

Box – Provides a file dropbox or upload widget for students to submit files for your review.

Email Subscription – Adds email subscription to your sidebar so readers can subscribe to email notifications of new posts.

Google Maps – Embed a Google map complete with directions, street views, and more.

Miscellaneous

Dogo Content Widget – Display engaging content from one or more DOGO websites.

Feed Wind – Display the latest posts from another blog anywhere on the web.

Recent Comments Widget – Displays links to the most recent comments left on your blog

Social Media Icon Widget – An easy way to add icons for your social media networks to your sidebar or any other widget area.

Twitter Widget – Display your latest Tweets in your sidebar by pasting embed code for a Twitter widget in a text widget.  Class blogs often use this to display their class twitter account.

Tweets by @edublogs

Wonderopolis – Adds a wonder of the day. Very popular on primary class blogs.

Virtual Pet – Add your own virtual pet to your blog sidebar.  Younger students love choosing, customizing and naming virtual pets.

Wolfram Alpha  – Wolfram Alpha contains hundreds of customizable widgets from a wide range of subject areas, including unit converters, weather tools, graphing calculators, problem solvers, and much more.

Multimedia

Images and videos are great ways of sharing visually what is happening in your classroom and class.  They are also a good way of  delivering content and engaging visual learners

Image Widget – Easy add an image with text to your sidebar.

Instagram – Displays your latest instagrams on your blog.

Flickr Badges – Add a link to your Flickr account

Flickr – Display your latest Flickr photos on your blog.

Gallery Widget – Display a photo gallery or slideshow in your blog’s sidebar.

Metaslider Widget – Display a slider in your blog’s sidebar.

Photo for Class – Enables students to search safe images that are available to be used in the classroom and for educational purposes. All images downloaded automatically cite the author and the image license term.

Visual Editor Widget – Allows you to easily insert rich text, media files and shortcode into your sidebars.

YouTube – Grab the embed code from any YouTube video or playlist and add it to a text widget in your sidebar.

Reading

GoodReads – A GoodReads book shelf widget is a good way to share your favorite books or provide recommended reading lists.

Talking Avatars

Talking avatars fulfill a range of purposes including grammar and fluency reading practices, delivering content and engaging auditory learners.

Voki – Add a speaking and highly customizable avatar to your blog.  Record you voice, create a character, and much more!

Read The Words – Human avatars that will read text or recorded audio right in your blog.

Site Pal – A paid widget that can make scarily realistic avatars using uploaded photos of you or students.

Visitor Statistics

Visitor tracking widgets display the visitors to a blog.  Not all blog visitors leave comments.

Visitor tracking widgets are an important for making students aware that they are interacting as part of a global community.  This is incredibly motivating for students and provides built in opportunities for geography and maths lessons.

It’s common to see a range of visitor tracking widgets used on class and student blogs.

ClustrMaps – Displays a small map with “dots” for each of your visitors.

Flag Map Widget

Revolver Map – displays all visitor locations and recent hits live and in realtime on a revolving globe of the Earth.

Who’s Among Us – With an account, includes some nice stat collection tools.

Weather

Weather widgets help classes from other countries learn about weather and seasons in your area while helping teach younger students more about weather and how temperature is measured in different locations.

AccuWeather – The most complete collection of weather widgets to show current conditions and forecasts.

WeatherBug – Displays live, local weather conditions and forecasts.

YR Weather Widget – YR is very accurate and provides the data for 6.3 million weather stations worldwide.

Add Widgets

There is a wide range of widgets you’ll find in your dashboard which we haven’t included in this list and you can read more about each widget here!

The handiest widget you’ll find in your dashboard is the text widget.

You can add any other widgets you find on the Internet by pasting their embed code into a text widget in your sidebar.

This is how you add widgets from Voki, GoodReads, Flag Counter, Feedjit Live Traffic Feed, Google Calendar and more!

You add these widgets as follows:

1.  Grab the embed code for the widget you want to add.

2.  Go to Appearance > Widget.

3.  Drag a text widget into your sidebar.

4.  Paste the embed code into the text widget.

5.  Click Save and Close.

6.  You should now see the widget in your sidebar.

About Us

At CampusPress, we’re experts in bringing innovative web solutions to schools, school districts, colleges, and universities through WordPress and our wide range of out-of-the-box and custom plugins and products.

In fact, our services in accessibility, security, hosting, support, along with an extensive suite of other tools, power millions of education websites, blog networks and portfolios. Learn more about our school website services or request info today!

Related reading

Want even more ideas for widgets that are a little more unique? Check out 10+ Cool Widgets For Your Blog

There are so many different widgets out there. Leave a comment below and tell us what your favorites are.

Pinterest is a social networking site that has become increasingly popular with educators in recent years.

Many teachers now realize the advantage of being able to share and curate collaboratively to enhance their own professional learning and the education of their students. Pinterest is one way to do this.

Educators can use Pinterest in a variety of ways, such as for:

• sharing and finding lesson plans and learning activities
• finding inspiration for organizing and decorating the classroom
• creating collaborative boards to exchange resources with other educators
• curating learning materials for students
• creating boards with resources for parents like school information or ideas to help children learn at home.

Students can also use Pinterest for research, curation and collaboration. Note that users are required to be 13+ to register (the terms of service state that any use by under 13s is prohibited). Like many social networking sites, there is some inappropriate content.

Pinterest And Blogs

If you have a resource or collection of resources that you’d like to share with educators or students on your blog, you can either:

1) Add a link to your content. Eg. Click here to view the Edublogs Pinterest Board.

or

2) Embed the board or pin into your post or page.

The second option can be more visually appealing and user friendly.

This post explains how to embed either pins or boards into your Edublogs, CampusPress or WordPress blog in just a few steps.

First we will cover the options for embedding a single pin or board into a sidebar widget. Then we will cover embedding a single pin or board into a blog post or page.

Embedding A Pin Or Board Into A Sidebar Widget

This is a simple process but there are a few key tips to take note of as you go along.

1) Copy Pin or Board URL

The first step for either scenario is to copy the URL of the pin or board you want to display or embed.

Find the pin or board on Pinterest and click on it. Then highlight the URL and copy it.

2) Use Pinterest’s Widget Builder

The next step is to go to Pinterest’s Widget Builder.

https://developers.pinterest.com/tools/widget-builder/

Tip: You may want to bookmark the Widget Builder URL (or you can easily find it in future by googling ‘Pinterest widget builder’).

Once you are on the Widget Builder page, click the Pin button and paste the URL of the pin you want to embed into the Pin URL field.

Alternatively, you can click on Board and enter the Board URL.

You will then be able to select the size of your pin or board.

If you are embedding a single pin, your size choices are small, medium and large. Small is usually best for a sidebar widget. You can also choose whether you want the pin description to show up underneath the pin image by ticking the box.

If you are embedding a board, your size choices are square, sidebar, header or create your own.

You can check out the preview as you make your selections.

Underneath your preview you will be provided with some embed codes that you will need to copy.

Important: There Are Two Codes

You will notice you are given two lines of code as above.

When embedding a pin or board, you need to copy and paste the first line of code THEN copy the second code and paste it right underneath the first code, on a new line.

It will look like this when you put the two codes together.

Exceptions: When You Don’t Need The Second Code

• If you have already placed a pin/board in a widget on the sidebar of your blog, you won’t need to use that second line of code ever again when embedding pins or boards on your blog (sidebar, posts or pages).
• If you are embedding multiple pins or boards into a post or page, you only need to add the second code the first time you embed your Pinterest code.

3) Embed Your Pin/Board Into A Sidebar Widget

Once you copy the code (or two codes) for your pin or board, you can paste it into a Text Widget.

To do that, go to Appearance > Widgets in your blog dashboard.

Next, add a Text widget by dragging it to your to your sidebar or other active widget area. Paste the embed code(s) into the widget. Make sure you paste it in Text tab (not in the Visual editor). Then press Save and Close.

Embedding A Pin Or Board Into A Post Or Page

You can also embed your pin or board directly in a post or page.

There are two ways you can this:

1. Simply embed using the URL
2. Use Pinterest’s widget builder to generate a code as described above

1) Embed Via The Pin Or Board URL

You can easily embed a Pinterest profile, board or individual pins by pasting their URL into posts and pages.

You embed from Pinterest as follows:

Copy the URL of the pin or board you want to embed from your web browser’s address bar.

Go to Posts > Add New or Pages > Add New.

Paste the URL on a line by itself in your post/page editor.

Below is what it looks like embedded when you view your post:

Profile:

Board:

Pin:

Troubleshooting

The link must be on its own line without any characters or whitespaces before or after the URL and must not be hyperlinked otherwise it won’t embed.

You can tell if a URL is hyperlinked by clicking on the link. If the hyperlink button in the toolbar highlights and a link box with the option to edit appears, like the screenshot below, it means your link is hyperlinked.

Click on Remove Link icon to remove the hyperlink.

It also won’t embed if your Pinterest URL is https or includes your geographical location in the URL.

2) Embed A Pin Or Board Into A Page Or Post Using The Widget Builder

This process is very similar to the one described above to embed into the sidebar of your blog.

1. Create a new post or page, or open an existing post/page to edit it.
2. Go to Pinterest and click on the pin or board you want to embed. Copy the URL for that pin or board.
3. Go to the Pinterest Widget Builder. 
4. Click on the box that says Pin, add the pin URL and choose your preferred size OR click on the box that says Board, add the board URL and choose your preferred size.
5. You will be given two lines of code as described above. If you don’t already have the second line of code somewhere in that post/page OR in a widget on your sidebar, you will need to use both codes. Paste the second code directly underneath the first one.
6. Go to Text mode of your blog post/page and place your cursor where you want to embed the pin. Paste your code/(s). Publish or preview your post but do not go back to Visual mode or you will lose your code and you won’t be able to see your pin/board.

When you preview or publish your post the pin will show up like this:

Important: Don’t Lose Your Code

Frustratingly, if you go back to Visual mode after pasting your pin/board embed code in Text mode, you will probably lose your Pinterest embed code. This means when you publish or preview your post/page, your pin/board will not be there.

The best solution is probably to finish writing your post/page and then embed the Pinterest pins/boards as the last step before you publish.

Final Thoughts

Have you used Pinterest in your classroom or for your professional practice? Have you tried embedding pins or board on your blog?

We’d love to hear from you! Leave a comment and let us know how you are using Pinterest.

Widgets are a great way to personalize and add new features to your blog.

You can check out our list of the 40+ popular widgets for your blog here.

This time we’ve searched for the more unique, and possibly unconventional widgets, you can add to your blog’s sidebar and embedded the widgets into this post to show how they work.

World Clocks

In our connected world, it is sometimes useful for our students to not only know the local time but also the time in another country or time zone.

Local Times is a useful site for determining the time of a place around the globe, and for comparing times between places.

Exchange Rates

Another useful tool in our connected world is Exchange Rates. The following Currency Calculator provides embed codes for a number of different views. Colours and size can also be edited if need be.

Volcano Widgets

The Volcano Discovery website has a number of widgets available. The following widget is a map of active volcanos and earthquakes found here.

Prezi

Prezi is a visual storytelling software and alternative to traditional slide-based presentation formats. Embedding Prezi is really easy. You can create your own presentation or embed one of the public presentations available simply by clicking the Embed button.

The following is a presentation on Navigating the Flipped Classroom.

Prezi are more commonly embedded into posts however you can embed in a text widget in your sidebar by changing decreasing the width and height of the embed. 200 pixels by 200 pixels should work for most sidebars.

Sudoku

I’m  a huge Sudoku fan. Web Sudoku Widget provides three embed codes for easy, medium and hard level games. The following is a medium level game.

bubbl.us

bubbl.us is a brainstorming platform that my students and I have used extensively in the classroom. The free version allows for three mind maps to be created.

Clicking the “share” icon brings up the embed menu.

The following is an example of a family tree.

TED

TED is a nonprofit devoted to spreading ideas, usually in the form of short, powerful talks (18 minutes or less). Embedding TED videos is as easy as opening a video and clicking the embed icon. Once you have chosen a size copy the embed code and paste it into a text widget in your sidebar.

Here Elon Musk discusses his new project digging tunnels under LA, the latest from Tesla and SpaceX and his motivation for building a future on Mars.

Marine Traffic

When we think of the ocean we don’t really think of traffic and congestion. The following map from Marine Traffic shows just how busy our oceans are.

Instagram

If your school or teachers have Instagram accounts these images and videos can easily be embedded into your sidebar using the image URL if your blog is hosted on Edublogs or CampusPress.

You embed an Instagram in your sidebar as follows:

1. Locate the Instagram you want to embed and click on the timestamp.

2.  You’ll be taken to the Instagram image page.  Copy the URL in your web browser’s address bar.

3.  Go to Appearance > Widgets.

4.  Paste the Instagram URL into a Text Widget in your sidebar (it should auto embed).

5.  Click Save.

6.  When you view your blog you should see your Instagram displayed in the sidebar.

Here’s what Winter sunsets look like in South Africa

https://www.instagram.com/p/BTGG86gD8bK/?taken-by=freakinglovemylife

Live Shortcode

The Live Shortcode plugin is normally used to quickly and easily add cool things to posts and pages with minimal effort by configuring and inserting shortcode.

However, if you activate the Live Shortcode plugin and Visual Editor Plugin in Plugins > All then you are able to add any shortcode you would normally added to a post or page to your sidebar by clicking Add Shortcode in the Visual Editor Widget.

Cools things you can add using the Live Shortcode plugin includes accordions, toggles, tabs, dividers, buttons, sidebar, Reader content, Sliders.  You’ll find a complete list here.

Below is a couple of examples of cool things added using the Live Shortcode plugin.

A button:

And Featured Posts from the Reader:

Add Widget

All these widgets, except for Instagram, are added to your sidebar by pasting their embed code into a text widget as follows:

1. Copy the embed code for the widget you want to add.

2.  Go to Appearance > Widgets.

3.  Add a text widget to your sidebar.

4. Click on the Text tab in the Text Widget.

5. Paste the embed code into the text widget.

6.  Click Save and Close.

7.  You should now see the widget in your sidebar.

Share your widgets

With so many widgets that you can to use, we are certain to have overlooked a few of your favorites.

Leave a comment below with any that we missed so that we can add to the list!

Note: This post was edited in April 2018 to remove the reference to Feedjit which has now closed. 

Visitor tracking widgets are a useful way to display visitor statistics on the front end of your site.

With a wide range of visitor tracking widgets available that you could embed into blogs and websites it can be confusing deciding which one(s) to add!

This post provides an overview of the more popular visitor tracking widgets used on class blogs, student blogs, and personal educator blogs.

We’ve inserted each widget into this post so you can see how they work. You normally add visitor tracking widgets to sidebars (rather than posts) and we explain how this is done later in this post.

Why Use Visitor Tracking Widgets?

First, let’s talk about why you might want to add visitor tracking widgets.

Visitor tracking widgets are popular on public class and student blogs because:

• Unless you find ways of displaying visitor numbers and their geographical locations, your students won’t appreciate that they’re publishing posts for a global audience.
• Knowing you’re writing for a global audience is incredibly motivating for students.
• Realizing people from other countries are reading what they’ve written increases students’ interest, excitement and motivation to blog.
• These widgets also provide built-in geography lessons — most students constantly check for new visitors and enjoy finding out more about the countries where their visitors are from.

Some educators also add tracking widgets to their personal blogs as a way of displaying their blog’s popularity and readership to themselves and their visitors.

Visitor tracking widgets display visitor statistics in a range of different ways which is why it isn’t uncommon to see several different types of visitor tracking widgets on class blogs.

ClustrMaps

ClustrMaps is a thumbnail hit counter map widget that shows the geographical location of all visitors to your blog. The number of visitors from a location is indicated by the relative size of the dot.

Clicking the ClustrMaps thumbnail takes you to a large world map so you can examine your traffic sources more closely.

The ClustrMaps widget used to display your yearly stats and archived the yearly data on 31 December. It now displays your monthly data only. To view previous monthly data you need to click on the ClustrMaps thumbnail, then select “This Year”.

Flag Counter

Flag Counter widget shows the total number of visitors from each country next to the country’s flag. Whenever someone from a new country visits your site, a new flag will be added to your counter.

Clicking on the flag counter takes you to your flag counter page which provides more detailed charts and information about your visitors.

Flag Map Widget

Top Countries Widget

Revolver Map

Revolver Map displays all visitor locations and recent hits live and in realtime on a revolving globe of the Earth. Clicking on the widget opens the Revolver map live statistics page.

Adding A Visitor Tracking Widget

All visitor tracking widgets are added by pasting their embed code into a text widget in your sidebar.

Here’s how it is done:

1.  Copy the embed code for the widget you want to add.

Use the following links (or instructions) to access the code for the different tracking widgets:

• ClustrMaps: This is the only visitor tracking widget on our list that requires you to sign up for an account to access the code. You’ll find detailed step by step instructions on how to set up ClustrMaps and access their code here.
• Flag Counter: Click on Get Your Flag Counter. Once you’ve customized your counter you can then copy the code for websites (you can click on skip if you don’t want to sign up using your email address).
• Revolve Map: Copy the code from the bottom of the page once you’ve configured your globe.

Below is an example of copying the code using the Feedjit code (note: Feedjit is a service that has now closed). Highlight the code then right mouse click and select Copy.

2.  Go to Appearance > Widgets

3.  Drag a text widget into your desired sidebar.

4.  Click on the Text tab in the Text widget.

5.  Paste the embed code into the text widget.

6.  Click Save.

7.  You should now see the widget in your sidebar.

Your Input

Did we miss your favorite visitor tracking widget?  What else did you want to know about visitor tracking widgets?  What are your tips for using visitor tracking widgets?

Leave a comment below to share your tips or ask a question.

As a high school Geography teacher, I was always on the lookout for really good weather websites. One of the sites I always came back to was, www.yr.no

What does the word “yr” mean?

The word “yr” has multiple meanings in Norwegian.
The meteorological meaning is light drizzle.
Other meanings include giddy (as in giddy with joy), dizzy, unbridled and wild.
SOURCE: http://www.yr.no/artikkel/information-about-yr.no-1.2025949

Why yr?

Besides showing the weather for 6.3 million weather stations worldwide, I find yr very accurate. yr also provides some useful features which can be placed in a widget. Unfortunately it is not very clear where the widgets are; hence this post.

But yr is in Norwegian!

Indeed, yr’s default language is Norwegian, but there is an English version site that provides enough information to navigate around the site. The English version also provides some interesting and useful information, and if you find something interesting in Norwegian, Google Chrome allows for translating the pages you are viewing.

How do I get to the widget page?

First you need to find your town. Navigate to http://www.yr.no/ and search for your town.

One of my favorite places in South Africa at the moment is Hogsback, said to be the birthplace of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings books, so that will be my search.

My search brings me to this page:
http://www.yr.no/place/South_Africa/Eastern_Cape/Hogsback/
Now add data.html to the end of your URL
http://www.yr.no/place/South_Africa/Eastern_Cape/Hogsback/data.html
and you should end up with a page that looks like this:

Four widgets options:

yr provides four weather widgets as follows:

1. Simple text

2. Today/Tomorrow – 180 × 300 px

3. Hour by hour – 850 × 430 px (This is a really wide widget, and unfortunately does not fit on some blogs)

4. Three days – 468 × 280 468 × 280 px

NOTE: Your widget will not show when the visual tab is open. It will only show when you preview or publish your page.

What about sidebar widgets?

Embedding the script of choice into a text widget allows you to place the widgets in the sidebar of your theme. You can see Sue Water’s weather in Perth in the sidebar on this page. Please note that some of the scripts produce a widget that may be too wide for your sidebar area. In this case, you might want to embed those scripts in the footer area, or on a post or page.

Some real-life examples:

How does the Ocean affect the climate of two area on the same latitude? Durban and Port Nolloth are both found at 30°S and at sea level, but have very different climates. Durban’s temperatures are consistently warmer than Port Noloth’s. This is due to the warm Mozambique current flowing South past Durban and the cool Benguela current flowing north past Port Nolloth. These currents act to regulate the temperatures of the places found near them. Note: The warm Mozambique current also ensures that the Eastern part of South Africa has more rainfall than the rest of the country.

The effect of clouds

The graphic below shows a distinct rise in temperature at night in a small Norwegian town called Hønefoss. During the day, the earth is heated up by the sun. At night, this heat is lost to the atmosphere. Cloud cover slows down the loss of heat from the earth, and can result in a slight increase in temperature. The hour by hour widget below of Hønefoss allows you to compare current weather conditions to the image above.

More Examples?

The examples above are just two geographic examples of the use of weather widgets.

Do you have similar examples for the subjects you teach? Why not share them in the comments below so we can include them in this post.

Pinterest is a popular network that is often used by educators to easily share and curate resources. You can link from your blog to your Pinterest boards, but often bloggers like to embed specific pins or entire boards into their blog to create a better user experience for their readers.

Pinterest makes this easy to accomplish. You can embed either pins or boards into your blog in just a few steps. Below, we’ll first cover the options for embedding a single pin on your blog and then move on to embedding an entire board.

Embedding A Pin On Your Blog

The first step in embedding a single pin from Pinterest is to copy the URL of the pin you want to embed.

Adding A Pin To A Widget

If you want to add the pin as a sidebar widget, you will then want to go to Pinterest’s Widget Builder. You may want to bookmark the Widget Builder URL because there is no obvious way to navigate there from the main Pinterest site or from a Pinterest profile page.

Once you are on the Widget Builder page, you’ll want to click the Pin Widget button and paste the URL of the pin you want to embed into the Pin URL field.

After you click the Build It button, you will be shown a preview of the widget and provided with embed code that you can copy and paste into your site.

Once you copy that code, you can paste it into a Text widget. To do that, go to Appearance > Widgets, add a Text widget to your sidebar or other active widget area, paste the embed code into the widget, and save it.

Adding A Pin To A Post or Page

You can also embed your pin directly into a post or page. To do that, create a new post or page, or open the existing post/page to edit it. Then, paste the pin’s URL directly into your post.

There are a couple important things to note about pasting in the URL. First, the pin URL should be pasted onto a line all by itself without anything before or after it. For more URL embed tips, you can check out our previous post Embed Content With Just A URL.

Second, the URL you copied was a secure https URL. You will need to edit it so that it is an http URL, or else it will not work.

Once the URL has been pasted into your blog, you will just see the URL in the post. This will then update and you will see a preview box.

Once the post has been saved, published or updated, you will continue to see the preview box in editing mode, but the pin will appear in the live version of the post.

This screenshot shows a pin embedded in both my post and in my sidebar widget.

Embedding A Pinterest Board On Your Blog

The process for embedding a Pinterest Board on your blog is the pretty much same as the one above for embedding a single pin. There are only a couple differences. First, you will be copying the URL for an entire board, not just a single pin.

Adding A Pinterest Board To A Widget

Next, you will want to use the Board Widget button on the Widget Builder page instead of the Pin Widget button. You’ll notice that the Board Widget allows you to choose from a variety of preset sizes or you can “Roll Your Own” and set the size yourself.

You will want to use the Sidebar option if you are going to place the widget in your sidebar. The Square and Header sizes are better suited for embedding into a post or page.

Once you choose a size, you will see a preview of the widget. Once you are happy with your selection, click the Build It button and then copy the embed code that is generated.

Just as with the embed code for a Pin, you can now paste this embed code into a Text widget and save it.

Adding A Pinterest Board To A Post Or Page

Embedding a Pinterest board into your blog is just like inserting a single pin into a post or page; the simplest way to do it is to paste the board’s URL into your post or page. If you skipped down to this section, refer to the “Adding A Pin To A Post or Page” section above for the steps.

Just like with an individual pin, you will want to make sure the board’s URL is changed from https to http and pasted into your page on a line all by itself.

Once your board’s URL is inserted and the post is saved, the board will now be embedded in your post. Just like with the pin, you will not see the board while editing. Rather you will see a preview box. You can see the board by saving your draft and previewing the post.

If you decide you want to embed a Pinterest board using one of the Widget Builder’s preset sizes, you can always generate embed code for a Square or Header sized Board Widget.

You would then copy the embed code the Widget Builder generates. In your post, click the Add Media button and use the Insert Embed Code option rather than the Insert from URL option.

This will embed the formatted Pinterest board into your post.

That’s really all there is to it. This is a nice, simple way to add some wonderful visual content to your blog and to easily share resources that you or your colleagues have curated on Pinterest.

Using Pinterest Embeds, you can quickly create helpful posts for your students like “Pinterest’s Top 5 Civil War Boards,” or one for your colleagues such as “Top 10 Pinterest Boards For Connected Educators.”

If you create a post like this, or already have one published, leave a link in the comments. We’d love to take a look!

And, you can click here if you want to see what other content can be embedded in your blog using just a URL

Did you know that the fastest and easiest way to add new features to your blog is by adding widgets into the sidebar?  Widgets are also a great way to personalize your blog and help it stand out from all of the others.

Here is a list of the 42 most popular and most useful widgets used on class blogs, student blogs and personal educator blogs.

We’ve set up a Widget Demo blog so you can check out most of these widgets in one handy location to see how they look in action!

Scroll down to the bottom of this post for more instructions on how to add widgets to your blog. Don’t forget, most of these widgets can also be embedded using Insert Embed Code in any page or post as well!

Authors

Author widgets are a handy way of displaying information about yourself or providing a link to posts by different authors on a shared blog or individual student blogs.

• About.me – Pulls your About.me profile information, and a small screenshot of it, into your sidebar.
• Author widget – Provides a handy link to authors’ posts on a group blog.  Reader just need to click on the authors name to view their posts.  See it in action listed as Student Authors on Mrs Harris’s Reader’s Response.
• Class blog widget – Displays a link to all student blogs attached to your class blog via My Class.  See it in action under Class blogs on Huzzah’s class blog.

Clocks and Calendars

Clocks are great for displaying the time in your location which helps when you are trying to develop connections with classes in other countries.  They also help younger students learn about time and time zones

• Clock Link – 100’s of different and unique clocks of all types.
• Human Calendar – Adds a cute calendar composed of photos of people.
• My Calendar – Used to display a monthly calendar.
• Google Calendar – Embed a list of upcoming events or a monthly view of a public Google calendar.
• Countdown clocks – Displays a countdown clock for an event e.g. time until Christmas.

Helpful for Readers

• Blogroll – Display a list of the blogs you like to read or share links to resources.
• Email Subscription – Adds email subscription to your sidebar so readers can subscribe to email notifications of new posts.
• Google Maps – Embed a Google map – complete with directions, street views, and more.

Miscellaneous

• Dogo Content Widget – Display engaging content from one or more DOGO websites.
• Feed Wind – Display the latest posts from another blog anywhere on the web.
• Wonderopolis – Adds a wonder of the day. Very popular on primary class blogs.
• Virtual Pet – Add your own virtual pet to your blog sidebar.  Younger students love choosing, customizing and naming virtual pets.
• Wolfram Alpha – Wolfram Alpha contains hundreds of customizable widgets from a wide range of subject areas, including unit converters, weather tools, graphing calculators, problem solvers, and much more. This might be the only resource math and science students and teachers need for their blogs!

Multimedia

Images and videos are great ways of sharing visually what is happening in your classroom and class.  They are also a good way of  delivering content and engaging visual learners

• Image Widget – Easy add an image with text to your sidebar.
• Instagram – displays your latest instagrams on your blog.
• Flickr Badges – Add a link to your Flickr account
• Flickr – Display your latest Flickr photos on your blog.
• Gallery Widget – Display a photo gallery or slideshow in your blog’s sidebar.
• YouTube – Grab the embed code from any YouTube video or playlist and add it to a text widget in your sidebar.  Tip – change the custom size to 200 pixels before grabbing the embed code so it fits your sidebar.
• RadioTuna – Pick a genre and play music for your visitors.

Reading

Bookshelf widgets are a good way to share your favorite books or provide recommended reading lists.

The two commonly used widgets for sharing books are:

• GoodReads
• Shelfari

Talking Avatars

Talking avatars fulfill a range of purposes including grammar and fluency reading practices, delivering content and engaging auditory learners.

• Voki – Add a speaking and highly customizable avatar to your blog.  Record you voice, create a character, and much more!
• Read The Words – Human avatars that will read text or recorded audio right in your blog.
• Site Pal – A paid widget that can make scarily realistic avatars using uploaded photos of you or students.

Visitor Statistics

Visitor tracking widgets display the visitors to a blog.  Not all blog visitors leave comments.  Visitor tracking widgets are an important for making students aware that they are interacting as part of a global community.  This is incredibly motivating for students and provides built in opportunities for geography and maths lessons.

It’s common to see a range of visitor tracking widgets used on class and student blogs.

• ClustrMaps – One of the most popular widget on Edublogs.  Displays a small map with “dots” for each of your visitors.
• Who’s Among Us – With an account, includes some nice stat collection tools.

Weather

Weather widgets help classes from other countries learn about weather and seasons in your area while helping teach younger students more about weather and how temperature is measured in different locations.

• AccuWeather – The most complete collection of weather widgets to show current conditions and forecasts.
• WeatherBug – Displays live, local weather conditions and forecasts.

How To Add Widgets

There are 100’s of different widgets that you can add to your blog sidebar and many of them are added using embed code in a text widget.

Adding these widget is as simple as follows:

1.  Grab the embed code for the widget you want to add.

2.  Go to Appearance > Widget.

3.  Drag a text widget into your sidebar.

4.  Paste the embed code into the text widget.

5.  Click Save and Close.

6.  You should now see the widget in your sidebar.

Share your favorite widgets

With so many widgets that you can to use, we are certain to have overlooked a few of your favorites.

Leave a comment below with any that we missed so that we can add to the list!

The good news is it is really easy once you know how!

Here’s how it works!

All you need to do is assign different categories to posts, such as assignment, discussion and dates, and then use a custom menu to create links to each post category in the top navigation of your blog.

This is ideal if you want to put up a post or question geared only towards one group of your students. They will see a link for their class in the top menu navigation of your blog, and once they click on that link, they will see only posts meant for them, with the most recent at the top.

You can see it in action on CES Music Blog.   If you hover your mouse over Music Classes it displays links to the different Grades and all you need to do is click on a Grade to view all posts published for that grade.  For example, here are all the posts for Grade 5.

Here’s the step by step instructions for setting it up on your blog!

Don’t let the length of the instructions fool you – it really is easy to setup, and once it is done, it will last you all school year

Step 1: Publish a new post for each subject area or class

The first step is you need to publish a new post for each subject area or class with the category assigned for that subject area or class.

Here’s how you do it:

1. Go to Posts > Add New.

2.  Add your title and post content.

3.  Click on Add New Category, type your new category name and then click on Add New Category.

Here’s what it should look like when the category is assigned to the post:

4.  Now click Publish.

Repeat the process to publish a new post for every subject or class.  As you’re publishing the posts you’ll see them posted on your homepage.  Don’t worry about this!  We’ll show you how you can change this is step 3!

Here’s what your categories might look like when you are finished publishing all the posts!

Tips:

• If you want to use the same discussion question and have each class respond with comments for just their class then you need to write one post for each class and only assign one category to that post (i.e. their class category).
• If you are writing a general news post that applies to all subjects, or classes, and don’t want each class to respond with comments just for their class, you can assign the one post all categories.

Step 2: Create your custom menu

The next step is you need to set up your custom menu by following these instructions:

1.  Go to Appearance > Menus

2.  Give your menu a name – ‘Main’ will work great!

3. Click on the ‘Create Menu‘

4.  Select your categories you want to add to your menu then click Add to Menu.

5.  Now select the pages you want to add to your menu then click Add To Menu.

6.  Create a custom link for home by adding your blog URL, the name Home and click Add To Menu.

• When readers click on the Home link they will be taken to your front page.
• For example the blog URL of this blog is http://theedublogger.com/
• You can use custom links to link to any website — which is really handy!

7.  Now drag/drop the menu items to change their order in your menu.

Any menu item that is indented will appear as a nested page under tab.

Here’s what my menu now looks like:

8.  Once you’ve finished changing the order click Save Menu.

9.  Now to display your new top navigation on your blog you just need to select Main from under the Primary Navigation drop down menu and then click Save.

Cool tip:

You can create static level tabs using a custom link if you just want a link name that doesn’t go to a page that exists.

For example, if you click on About in the top menu of this blog you’ll see it is a static level tab used just as a placeholder for page  links we’ve added underneath it.

Step 3 – Choose what should be shown on your “home page”

By default, your home page is your blog post page however you can change this so your homepage is  a static front page and your posts are sent to a different page on your blog.

Because you’ve assigned categories to certain classes or subjects. you may not want all posts to show on your home page.

If you are ok with all posts, no matter the subject or class, showing together on your home page, then you’re finished and your class blog is all set up.

However, if don’t want all posts displaying on your homepage then you’ll need to create a static home page.

Here’s how we are going to do it:

1. Publish a page that has information you want people to see when they first visit your blog.
2. Make your front page display a Static page.

Here’s the step for you to follow:

1.  Go to Pages > Add New.

2.  Now just give your page a title, add your content and click Publish.

3.  Go to Settings > Reading

4.  Choose ‘Static Page‘ and in the drop down, select the new welcome page you just created.

5.  Click ‘Save Changes‘.

You will be able to go back and update this page with new announcements whenever you like – but users that have subscribed to your blog feed or by email, won’t receive any sort of notification.

You can also create a new blank page called something like “All Posts”, and choose it under the posts dropdown box so that there will be a place for all posts to be shown on your blog in one place.

Going from here…

If you have this up and working and would like to share, feel free to leave a comment below letting us know!

For more information on setting up a class blog, check out the ongoing Class Blog series on our Teacher Challenges free professional development blog.