Expressive for Scrapbook

[tinyjo]

OK, the Expressive for Scrapbook layer is now in a state where is is useable, I believe. Under the cut is instructions on how to use it. Any and all comments, requests for features, bug reports or, well, anything related to the style, comment here. If LJ wants to nick this for the site, feel free :) You can find the layer code at http://pics.livejournal.com/manage/styles/advanced/layerbrowse?id=66432. S2 people, do you think this would be suitable for general S2 communities as there don't seem to be any Scrapbook specific ones?

1. Go to http://pics.livejournal.com/manage/styles/advanced/ and, in the Create Style text box, enter a name and click Create
2. On the resulting page, ignore the box for Language. In the box for Layout, select [other]. In the text box which should now appear, enter 66432. Click save changes.
3. Now go to http://pics.livejournal.com/manage/styles/. You should see your newly created style. Click on the Edit link
4. On this page, DO NOT touch anything in the style settings bit, even though you'll see the wrong layer name here. It's a bug. As long as you don't save style settings you'll be fine. Instead, click the Customize (or Edit if you already have customizations) button in the Customize section
5. You're now in the customization wizard. Customize to your hearts content, including choosing your theme (much easier for me to do that this way rather than in theme layers).
6. To actually use the thing on your Scrapbook, go to http://pics.livejournal.com/manage/styles/ and click the radio button next to the name of the style you created

Using this method, you should get any updates I make to the layer automatically, which'll be nice :)

Comments

Blurb boxes on LJ

[tinyjo.livejournal.com]

Ok, to get this working you have to create a custom theme layer. Go to http://www.livejournal.com/customize/advanced/layers.bml and create a new layout specific layout - select Theme in the first drop down list and Expressive in the second.

That will take you back to the same page where you'll see a new entry in the list under "Child of layer 7176168: Expressive" called "(none)". Click the edit button for this layer.

I've created an example layer which demonstrates what you need to do. http://www.livejournal.com/customize/advanced/layersource.bml?id=7383143&fmt=html

You can actually just copy and paste this wholesale and then just change the box title and text in the bit starting at line 54.

A brief explanation - what you do is you choose an identifier for your box (in this case, myblurb) and add it as a string to the 2 lists of modules (one is for people who would see ads, one for those who don't) where you want it to appear - I've put it between the third and fourth selected sidebars. Then you add an elseif section for a module with the name you've given it like I have for myblurb. You can do that as many times as you like, just give them a different name each time.

Hit save and compile. You shouldn't get any errors (if you do and they make no sense, poke me - most of the errors I get are ones where I've made a typo and are fairly easy to spot and fix :) ). Now you can go to the normal customize page and you should be able to select your theme (which is now called extra blurb) from the bottom of the theme list.

The final thing to note is that because this is a custom theme layer you also need to do the bit that your normal theme layer does, which is to set the stylesheet. That's what the bit at the top does. If you want to change to a different theme, you can see what the other stylesheets are called by clicking on their name in this list (http://www.livejournal.com/customize/advanced/layerbrowse.bml?expand=7176168) and copying their value for base_theme.

Hopefully that makes sense as a quick run through. I'm going to write it up as a proper tutorial for S2howto later so if it's not clear, poke me.

Re: Blurb boxes on LJ

[cleanskies.livejournal.com]

Okay, think I've got it -- I'll give it a go later.