Sociable for Blogdrive - all-in-one: Mini-MEditor, del.icio.us, co.mments, Google Blog Search, Technorati and RSS Feed

For some time now, my friends and colleagues have been requesting the ability to add icons or links of social networking/bookmarking websites automatically with the appropriate Blog Title and Permalinks. John (JfZ) attempted something similar, though the focus was on tagging entries - another feature we've all been hoping Blogdrive would one day support.

Why Sociable? Sociable is a set of icons and links to popular third party social bookmarking and networking services. These would include: Mini-MEditor, del.icio.us, co.mments, Google Blog Search, Technorati, your blog RSS Feed and any other services which you'd like to add.

How does this help you? Aesthetically, the icons are cute and they break up the monotony of your text. But the real purpose is to help your blog gain the publicity and readership it deserves by making reading and sharing your blog more convenient and easy. As the Blogoshpere develops and evolves, these icons will become more recognizable, making your blog part of the cutting edge of Blogging.

Here are the codes. To install, go to "Layout & Design -> Main Template Edit", look for the blogdrive tag [body] and insert the codes right after it.

<!-- Sociable for Blogdrive Starts -->
<div id="blogtitle [date][time]" style="display:none">[blog title]</div>
<div id="permalink [date][time]" style="display:none">[permalink]</div>
<script type="text/javascript"><!--
// from http://design.blogdrive.com/
// optional: 1 to include and 0 to remove

var icons=1; // 0 to exclude icons
var textlinks=1; // 0 to exclude textlinks

// insert more socials if you know a thing or two about javascript
// sociable[sociable.length] = ["URL", "Img URL", "Title", "Description"];
// leave an empty string "" for unwanted columns
// for URL: use BLOGTITLE, PERMALINK and PID (all in caps) as tags if you'd like them to be include in the URL
// don't forget the opening and closing bracket and quotes

var sociable = new Array();

sociable[sociable.length] = ["javascript:minimeditor('BLOGTITLE','PERMALINK')", "http://www.blogdrive.com/favicon.ico", "Blog This!", "Blog about this entry"];

sociable[sociable.length] = ["http://del.icio.us/post?url=PERMALINK&title=BLOGTITLE", "http://img119.imageshack.us/img119/3639/delicious4dd.png", "del.icio.us", "Add to del.icio.us"];

sociable[sociable.length] = ["http://co.mments.com/track?url=PERMALINK", "http://co.mments.com/images/track.gif", "co.mments", "Track this entry with co.mments"];

sociable[sociable.length] = ["http://blogsearch.google.com/blogsearch?q=link%3APERMALINK", "http://www.google.com/favicon.ico", "Blog Search", "Links to this blog by Google Blog Search"];

sociable[sociable.length] = ["http://www.technorati.com/search/PERMALINK", "http://img87.imageshack.us/img87/9638/technorati0fk.png", "Technorati", "Links to this blog by Technorati"];

sociable[sociable.length] = ["/index.xml", "http://www.feedburner.com/fb/images/pub/feed-icon16x16.png", "Subscribe", "Subscribe to this blog's RSS Feed"];


// do not edit here
permalink = document.getElementById("permalink [date][time]").innerHTML;
blogtitle = document.getElementById("blogtitle [date][time]").innerHTML;
//--></script><script type="text/javascript" src="http://design.blogdrive.com/scripts/sociable"></script>
<!-- Sociable for Blogdrive Ends -->

Blog This! Blog That! is a link to the Mini-MEditor that allows readers to blog in response, or in inspiration, of an entry. The service automatically includes the permalink to the original entry and the title of the original entry in the newly created response post. Also, if any text was highlighted before clicking the link, it will be copied and pasted into the newly created entry.

del.icio.us is a social bookmarking website. It not only helps you manage your bookmarks online, but it also allow you to share them with others. You can share your bookmarks with me here.

co.mments helps you stay on top of the conversation by keeping you updated of new comments. Either on a blog you have commented or would just like to know whats talked about. All you need to do is just bookmark, track and follow. Simple! (currently, it doesn't support Blogdrive yet)

Google Blog Search has got to be one of the best blog search engine out there, much better than Technorati in terms of indexing. This link helps you know who links to your blog entry.

Technorati is similar to Google Blog Search although it tends to have problem differentiatin spam blogs and real blogs. It's useful nevetheless.

RSS Feed is your blog XML feed. It's one of the most useful way to get your blog published and syndicated. Hence it's always helpful to include a link there. JfZ wrote an article here about Blogdrive Feeds, it's worth a read.

The great thing about Sociable is that you may insert more third party blogging services if you want. If you know a thing or two about Javascript, you can edit them on your own. Here's the format

sociable[sociable.length] = ["URL", "Icon URL", "Title", "Description"];

* for unwanted columns, just leave an empty string "".
*for URL that requires entry specific data such as Blog Title and Permalink (or even Post ID): use BLOGTITLE, PERMALINK and PID (all in caps) as tags.
* Small reminder: don't forget the opening and closing bracket and quotes

Here are a few other services you may add on your own

sociable[sociable.length] = ["http://digg.com/submit?phase=2&url=PERMALINK", "http://img119.imageshack.us/img119/7985/digg7al.png", "Digg it", "Submit this story to digg"];

sociable[sociable.length] = ["http://myweb2.search.yahoo.com/myresults/bookmarklet?u=PERMALINK&t=BLOGTITLE", "http://img235.imageshack.us/img235/741/yahoomyweb8zj.png", "Yahoo!", "Add to My Web 2.0 Yahoo!"];

sociable[sociable.length] = ["http://www.blinklist.com/index.php?Action=Blink/addblink.php&Url=PERMALINK&Title=BLOGTITLE", "http://img235.imageshack.us/img235/8608/blinklist5bx.png", "Blink", "Bookmark this at Blink"];

sociable[sociable.length] = ["http://www.spurl.net/spurl.php?url=PERMALINK&title=BLOGTITLE", "http://img235.imageshack.us/img235/8461/spurl5kf.png", "Spurl", "Bookmark this at Spurl"];

sociable[sociable.length] = ["http://reddit.com/submit?url=PERMALINK&title=BLOGTITLE", "http://img235.imageshack.us/img235/4351/reddit5fh.png", "reddit", "Add to reddit"];

sociable[sociable.length] = ["http://www.furl.net/storeIt.jsp?u=PERMALINK&t=BLOGTITLE", "http://img213.imageshack.us/img213/2122/furl2bu.gif", "Furl", "Save this on Furl"];

sociable[sociable.length] = ["http://www.newsvine.com/_tools/seed&save?u=PERMALINK&h=BLOGTITLE", "http://img147.imageshack.us/img147/8289/newsvine3ue.png", "Newsvine", "Add to Newsvine"];

Did I miss out anything? Let me know.

If you have any problem using this script contact me and I'll get back to you as soon as possible.

Reference: Social Networking Integration, New Blogdrive Features, Blogdrive Feeds, Mini-MEditor, del.icio.us, co.mments, Google Blog Search, Technorati,
Tags: blogdriveminimeditordel.icio.usco.mmentstechnoratirssxmliconssociableblogsearchsocialbookmarkingnetworkingcommentstrackingfeatures