Today we have another great set of social icons to link to your social profiles with an awesome effect created with pure CSS.The icons have a delicious candy design that will grab the attention of your readers and are so easy to add to your blog.The icons can be added to your blog sidebar to let readers quickly follow you on your favorite social networks and we have icons for your Rss Feed, Email, Facebook, Twitter, Google+, LinkedIn, YouTube and Skype.

I have two seperate tutorials for Wordpress and Blogger users with instructions to add your links and remove the icons you don't want.I have added the no-follow tag to the icons as there is no need to pass link juice to social profiles and also set the target for the links to open in a new window.

The instructions are below but first let's see the demo's.

Here is a working example, hover over each icon to see the pop out effect :
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Flicker is the most popular photo sharing website for people looking to showcase their photography online.Instagram is currently winning the race to be the top app for sharing your Mobile images and photos.We have previously looked at ways to share your flickr photo stream on your blog, in this post it's the turn of Instagram.I have looked for the best way for you to display your Instagram photos on your blog with a sidebar widget.Also we have a neat Follow on Instagram button to help you get more Instagram followers.

So if your a 'Instagrammer' this is the one for you.

Both these Instagram widgets are added to the sidebar of your blog so first are the codes for the gadgets and below that are our videos on how to add gadgets to the sidebar on Wordpress and Blogger.
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In this tutorial we have a new way for posts to be viewed on your blogs homepage, namely infinite scroll.Infinite scroll has been a popular trend in web design for some time and now you can have it on your blogger blogs.On Blogger we have on the home page by default 'Previous' and 'Next' buttons to load a new page of posts.Now this tutorial takes another step with adding Infinite Scroll to Blogger blogs.

This is user friendly and will cut down on load time.So I have the demo and a quick add button for you to add it to your blog in seconds.
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It's been a week since Google launched the new Google Plus commenting system for blogger.In this post we will look at how to use Google+ Comments on Wordpress, Bloggger and the custom blogger templates.

With Google Plus trying to compete in the social network scene with Facebook it's no surprise like Facebook they launched their own comment system.The question for us bloggers and publishers will be "Should We Use Google Plus Comments ?".

The thing that first struck me was the fact once implemented only people with Google plus accounts would be able to comment on your blog.With the current blogger treaded comments or indeed Discus and Intense debate readers had a number of options as to how they wanted to comment.I think the real let down with Google+ comments is the lack of an option for people that don't have a G+ account to comment either as anonymous or with name and email.

So the other comment systems defiantly have the advantage of choice but that is just one aspect.Google plus comments do look great, are lightweight and Google+ is a fast growing network.

If you think Google+ comments is for you below we have information on how to add them to Blogger and Wordpress.
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In the past I have provided Blogger users with a number of different Image sliders or featured posts sliders.Recently while working on a blog design job I had a client looking for a very specific slider to display some of their best images.The slider needed to have some specific specifications which were not covered by my previous efforts.I also needed to make the slider lightweight and easy to edit so the client could quickly change the images and links.

So we were looking for the slider to be :

1. Full Width - so it spans the entire width of the blog but also for this tutorial I wanted the width to be easily changed.

2. Auto and manual scroll - We wanted the slider to scroll through images automatically, the slide would stop on hover and also visitors would have the option to scroll at their own pace.

3. Two ways to scroll - We wanted to have the classic Next/Previous buttons but also bullets below the slider to skip to any image.

4. Easy to edit - The HTML code for the slider can be accessed via the layout page rather than buried within the template.

So in this post I have to tutorial to add this new slider to your blog.You can see a live demo of the slider by following the like below :
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If you're a blogger you will know how to copy and paste and the process of highlighting text or code to copy.Regular readers that have followed our tutorials will have copied code from our posts many times.Now, when you highlight text or code you will note by default the background color changes to blue while the text color changes to white.This is of course to give you a visible idea of the text you are selecting.

So the default when you highlight text is for the background to turn blue and the text white, but did you know you can change those colors ? In fact I changed the style of text select on Spice Up Your Blog a few years ago and while I presume many of you may have noticed it, it was just last week someone Emailed me asking how I did it.In fact it just takes a small snippet of Css easily added to your blog to achieve the effect you can see an example of in the image below.

Example Of Default Blue Style And Style Changed To Red

I know it's a small change in the overall look of your blog but when set to match the color scheme of your site it is a neat feature.So if you too want to change the text select color of your blog to any color you choose we have tutorials for both Wordpress and Blogger Users.You can select text in this post to see how it is a different color (#990000) or check out the demo below with a rd style.


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In the past I have written a few tutorials on different styles of the share this social bookmark egg.Today just in time for Christmas I have a Christmas version.A cool Christmas ornament sits on the corner of your blog with social bookmarking options for readers.On hover the ornament slides open with share buttons for Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, StumbleUpon, Google Plus, LinkedIn, Email and the ShareThis button that offers even more options.Check out the demo below :



OK if that's something you want to greet your visitors this Christmas heres the tutorial.
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Over the last few years I have tried to help you get your blogs into the Christmas spirit with some neat Christmas themed gadgets.The most popular and simple of these have been the Snow Fall effects we have published.Some code added to your blog can transform the look of your site as over the Christmas period visitors are greeted with snow falling gently down the page.

This year is no different as I have a new Christmas snow effect but this time it's a snow storm with the direction of the snow fall dictated by your cursor movements.Check out the demo below then you can add it to your blog using our one click Blogger button.


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Dynamic Views (DV) templates have become a popular choice with some Blogger users.When you choose dynamic views you select a default template which readers will see when they land on your blog.But in a menu under the header readers have the option to view your blog using any of the other six DV templates.So basically you are giving the readers the choice on how they want to view your blog.But this does not suit everybody, I have recently received a few emails asking is there a way to remove the choose template options on Dynamic Views.Chuck at The Real Blogger Status has also seen some enquiry's about this in the Blogger Help Forum.So, can you remove the options for readers to choose the template ? Yes, and with credit to Southern Speakers and here is how.

Remove The Template View Options On Dynamic Views

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Comments are one of the essential parts that make a blog a blog.Comments help everyone from Mommy bloggers to Fortune 500 company blogs receive reader and costumer opinion and feedback.So it's important you and your readers get the most from your comments system.

The default Blogger comments have come a long way over the last few years culminating in the introduction of threaded comment replies last year.But as a Blogger user you have other options and lots of them.In this post we will look at the three most popular comment systems available and they can all be used on your Blogger blog.The top three independent comment systems are Disqus, Intense Detate and Livefyre.Lets look at all three and how you can use them on Blogger.
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An Email I received recently for a Blogger user complained photos they added to posts were overlapping onto the sidebar.I facet I have seen this on a few blogs and have helped people with the problem.Fixing it is easy and only takes a minute.All we do is add a snippet of Css that makes sure photos and images can only be at maximum 98% the width of posts.So even if you added a huge image this code will restrict it from breaking out of the post body, Lets do it !
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I seem to have published a lot of subscription gadgets on Spice Up Your Blog over the years.To be honest recently I have tried to take a break from such posts.But readers should have a say and that's why I find myself publishing this post.I had come up with a version of a Subscribe Icons gadget I had seen on a lot of sites.Because of my self imposed break from publishing such tutorials I decided to add the code into jsFiddle and send out a Tweet and add it to our FaceBook page so followers could grab it.Since then I have got a lot of requests from people who don't quite understand how to transfer the code on jsFiddle to their blogs.

So in this post I will show in easy steps how to add the subscribe widget to your blog.What is unique about this widget ? I like the icon design with the 'Speech bubble' type style, we also have the name of each service below and finally an opacity hover effect.
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Sometimes you want to grab the attention of readers and draw that attention to a specific link.So here we have a very easy way to add a flashing effect to specific links on your blog.You have two options, you can have the link text flashing or add a flashing background.This can be helpful as a call to action once you don't go overboard adding it to all links which will just serve to irritate your readers.Check out the demo (You can see the flashing links at the top of the sidebar) and tutorial.

Adding Flashing Links To Your Blog

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A question I was asked on the post "Always Display The Sidebar On Blogger Dynamic Views Templates" is "Can we have AdSense on Dynamic Views Templates".I had a quick look into it and the answer is yes.So in this post I will show you the steps involved to put AdSense on Blogger Dynamic Views.

Now as far as I can see the AdSense units used are all 768x90 and 120x600.They are displayed between posts, below posts and beside posts.For the classic and sidebar templates Units are on the home page and posts for all other Dynamic templates units are on posts.In fact the AdSense set up on posts, 120x600 unit on the right with 768x90 below posts is great (See Image Below).OK so I have the steps added to a video and in text.

How To Add AdSense To Dynamic Views Templates

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Over the last year Blogger really have added a huge amounts of improvements to the platform.We all know about and most of us are using the new blogger interface that while has had it's teething problems in my opinion is now settling in (I wont mention the lack of URL, why they change draft posts to be the same color as published and the redirect page after publishing a post, oops I did).But apart from the large changes there have been so many small changes.In fact as a Blogger user for many of my blogs I seem to be having a "That's new" moment regularly.One of the recent one I posted about last week was the new option to Turn Off The Blogger Navbar.

In this post I want to cover something I noticed a while back and think is worthy of a post.Blogger have added new options both to the Image and Video uploads for your posts.The stand out changes are the options to upload Images and Videos directly from your web cam to your blog posts.Lets take a look.

Blogger Image Upload Options

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Something I have been seeing a lot on blogs and websites is the pop up survey from Qualaroo.It's actually a neat way to run a survey on your blog, it sits in the corner of the page big enough to grab the attention of the reader but not so big as to block content.It also has a close option so if readers are not interested they can get rid of it.

The default survey is set to ask readers how they found your site but there are a number of set surveys and you can create your own with any questions you want.You then have an account dashboard you access to view the stats and results.I added a version to this test blog on blogger so you can see it in action.

The survey can be easily added to Blogger, Wordpress (self hosted only), Tumblr and TypePad blogs and below I have links to tutorials for each.

Add The Survey To Your Blog

First you need to set up your survey and get the code here is a link to Qualaroo to do just that.

Once you have the code Qualaroo have tutorials for each blogs platform :

Add To Blogger
Plugin For WordPress
Add To Tumblr
Add To TypePad

What do you think, will you use it ?

Drop Your Comments And Questions Below.

It's been a few weeks since we looked at The 30 Best Free WordPress Themes Of 2012.Now it's time to see the Best Blogger Templates released this year.We are well past the half way stage of the year and as always Blogger Template Designers have been hard at work.They are of course all Free Blogger Templates and you can click the name of each to get the demo and download details.

Included are all styles like the classic Magazine design and a few unique and niche styles.

25 Best Free Blogger Templates Of 2012 List

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Google are really playing for keeps with their latest venture into social networking; Google+.From using it to break news for their various products, making it an integral part of their search results, +1 on AdSense units and a real push to integrate it into blogs hosted on Blogger.

After adding the option to use you Google+ profile as your Blogger profile and providing Google+ gadgets for Blogger they have now added a tab to the Blogger dashboard dedicated to Google+.

To be honest the Google+ tab on blogger looks pretty bare at the moment so what options does it provide ?

Connect Google+ And Blogger Blogs With New Google+ Tab

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You know one of the things I constantly have to keep in mind while writing tutorials is the Newbie or Beginner Blogger.Whether it's tutorials for WordPress or Blogger blogs I always try to write posts as if I was writing them for a complete newcomer to blogging.Indeed I think this has been one of the reasons behind the success of Spice Up Your Blog.I have published many Basic Blog Tips and Video Tutorials specifically for new bloggers, along with this the steps in tutorials are usually accompanied by a Video showing the steps required.

But there is only so many posts we can publish which cover the basics of Blogging.For this reason I have often thought of putting together an Ebook on the topic.I never really got around to it but fear not Amanda Kennedy of Blogger Buster has recently done the job and a fantastic job at that.
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This week we gave away a freebie set of 3D Social Icons with names, the social icons set was very popular with almost 500 downloads in 3 days ! At the time of writing I am using these Icons here on Spice Up Your Blog.I have the icons in the sidebar linked to our Social Profiles and Feeds, however I have added a few effects to the icons.The main effect and I have received a lot of comments and Emails on this is Css rotate.With the Css rotate when you place your cursor over each icon they spin 360 degrees, they then spin back 360 when the cursor is removed (Cool eh).I also have a slight opacity hover effect on the icons.So in this post I will show you how to add the icons to your blog, linked to your social profiles and feeds.

Live Demo

Here are the icons is full working order, see what happens when you place your cursor over them ; don't be afraid to click them and follow us.
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