Leesa's Mailbag: Issue 6

Dear Leesa,

I got this email from a friend. Is it real?

Always check your child's homework. The child drew this picture, and the mother responded with a note which was sent to school the next school day with 1st grader.

Dear Mrs. Jones,

I wish to clarify that I am not now, nor have I ever been, an exotic dancer. I work at Home Depot and I told my daughter how hectic it was last week before the blizzard hit. I told her we sold out every single shovel we had, and then I found one more in the back room, and that several people were fighting over who would get it.Her picture doesn't show me dancing around a pole. It's supposed to depict me selling the last snow shovel we had at Home Depot. From now on I will remember to check her homework more thoroughly before she turns it in.

Sincerely,
Mrs. Smith

Sign Me,
Wanna Be Stripper in Hannibal

Leesa's Answer: Ha ha ha. I doubt it is real.


Dear Leesa,

What is the HTML code in order to get the Quick Links on the blog? I believe I have been emailing you, but no one has responded. Can you please help me? Thanks!!!

Leon

Leesa's Answer: Okay, this is going to be technical and boring, so most of you will want to end reading this post now unless you want to tweak your blog and are geek-ish. You can thank me for sending you to a different blog now: The Grantichrist

These directions are for the current version of blogger, not the classic version. Sorry, ~Deb. First, you will need to open up your blog in the Layout configuration. There are several tabs under Layout, and you will want Page Elements (this will probably be the defaulted view). Under Page Elements, you will see the page layout you currently have, and choose Add a Gadget. All of the different page elements are called gadgets.

This is where things get geeky. You will add the following type of page element: HTML/Javascript. You will give it a title, whatever your heart desires. You can even call it, "Leesa's White Cotton Panties" if you like, though I don't recommend this title.

Then you will add the content.

<script> <!-- function land(ref, target) { lowtarget=target.toLowerCase(); if (lowtarget=="_self") {window.location=loc;} else {if (lowtarget=="_top") {top.location=loc;} else {if (lowtarget=="_blank") {window.open(loc);} else {if (lowtarget=="_parent") {parent.location=loc;} else {parent.frames[target].location=loc;}; }}} } function jump(menu) { ref=menu.choice.options[menu.choice.selectedIndex].value; splitc=ref.lastIndexOf("*"); target=""; if (splitc!=-1) {loc=ref.substring(0,splitc); target=ref.substring(splitc+1,1000);} else {loc=ref; target="_self";}; if (ref != "") {land(loc,target);} } //--> </script> <b>Title of Dropdown Menu</b> <form action="dummy" method="post"><select style="color:#006699" name="choice" size="1"> <option value=""/>Choose a Link <option value="http://yourlink.html"/>Title of Link <option value="http://yourlink2.html"/>Title of Second Link</select> <input value="GO!" onclick="jump(this.form)" type="button"/></form>

I use the color #006699 in my code. That is the bluish color that you see as the color of the fonts in my drop-down menu. You can pick any of a bazillion colors. Here is one site that will give you some hexadecimal colors. You know how Sherwin Williams has a color pallet? HTML does as well, and there are all sorts of ways to choose colors.

And with the code, place your own links and titles into the "option" tags. You can create as many as your heart's desire. And you can copy the part from "Title of Dropdown Menu" to the Option Tags in order to have several different drop downs.

Very tech-y, I know. But every once in a while, I get asked this question. Now I can point people to the response.

Write Me
Please contribute to the questions asked on "Leesa's Mailbag." Over the last few years, people have emailed me with questions, and I have answered them on an individual basis. Now, I think I will answer them on a blog entry. I will do it on Fridays when I have enough questions to cobble together a post. Sort of an Ann Landers with attitude. Just write to the following email address:

Also, let me know if you want to be acknowledged or anonymous. Makes no difference to me. For those who use the comments section to ask a question, I will assume those are public posts.