5 posts tagged “tutorial”

This is old hat, but I stay away from Javascript when I can, so it's new to me.  Maybe it's new to you too.

Safari has apparently, for a while, allowed you to throw errors to its Javascript console for the purposes of debugging.  This eliminates the bothersome alert() madness...

if (window.console) {
    window.console.log("I think therefore I code!");
}
else {
    alert("I think therefore I code!");
}

Nice...

The latest release of Vox added a number of new styles which were done by our intern Tiffany Chow.  Not only are they beautiful but they're also personal to me (and many of us).  You can find them under the "New" tab of the Design screen:

Originally, the deisgn I was going for was the awesome San Francisco cityscape:

But then I saw THIS one and my jaw dropped to the floor:

That's My Puppy!!!  I had no idea.  Gineevers!!  Stella's famous!  See here for more about the dogblogs.

 

How to get Stella's groove on your blog

For those who aren't familiar, I'll give you a quick run-down because I just know that you want this beautiful pup on your blog.

1. Log into Vox and click on the Design link in the upper right corner.  If your somewhere else in Vox, you can always get to here by clicking on the Vox logo and then the Design link.

2. Select a layout for your blog:

3. Click the "New" tab on the left of the designs screen

3. Hover over Scribble Dog Stella (or one of gorgeous, but non-Stella designs), look at it in a larger form if you like and apply it!  Voila!

 

Designs like ain't no one never saw on MySpace, Friendster, Yahoo 360, MSN Spaces and the ilk... 

To Tiffany and the Vox team, YOU ROCK!

Once you're bored with your neighbors on this side of the Vox Universe (it's bound to happen), you might just want to see what else it out there.  Vox makes this terribly easy by way of the Explore page.  Simply click on the link at the top of any page labelled "Explore" (in red below) and you're off:

Exploring recent content on Vox

On the Explore page, you can sift through the massve number of posts, photos, videos, music, books (and any other type of thing you can post into Vox) that ALL Vox users have added.  The key to this page is the Explore bar:

The explore bar controls everything about the explore page. By clicking on the "Posts" link, you'll see recent posts from all Vox members:

On the right side of the page, you'll see "Popular tags" for posts.  Tags are descriptive keywords that bind together like items.  By clicking on one of those tags, you can see all similarly tagged posts.

By clicking on the Photos link, you'll see the same content for photos.  You can do the same for videos,music  and all of the other types of asset.  Essentially, if you so desired, you could eat up every minute of every day surfing interesting content (and sometimes not so interesting -- can't have one without the other) and you will never in your life be able to see it all because Vox users lurve their Vox and create faster than you can consume.

That said, it's a noble goal and I salute all who try.

Tag surfing from posts, photos, videos, etc

Because of our love for tags, Vox doesn't limit you to tag sufing from the Explore page.  At the bottom of any asset (posts, photos, videos, etc), you can find a listing of that asset's tags:

If you want to find more content with the same tag, simply hover over the tag and you'll have your choice of choice content:

Searching for content on Vox

But what about when you want to find something specific outside of the tags someone adds?  Something not so recent but enshrined into the annals of Vox history? Just head on back to the Explore page and add a search term into the Explore vox bar.  Click the iconic magnifying glass and you will be rewarded with that which you seek.

Let it never be said that Vox doesn't have enough kitty pictures.  What's even better?  The videos...

I have a lot of new friends and family joining Vox so I thought I'd write up a quick primer on the social networking aspect of Vox -- The Neighborhood -- since that's what they will find most interesting in the short term. 

Below are some quick instructions to get you set up with the people you know because those are always what make something like this really cool and interesting.

To search for mutual friends, contacts and family

For those of you who are curious about others who may have joined, you can always click on the 'View Neighbors' link (shown at the bottom of the screenshot below) for the person's blog or profile you're currently viewing.  This will bring up a list of the person's contacts.

To view someone's information and connection status to you

Once you've found someone you know, simply hover over their picture and you'll see your current status with that person.  This is a an example of someone who is already my friend in Vox:

I can edit my relationship with the person from there or view their blog or profile.

To add someone as a connection/neighbor, friend or family

If you find someone you're not connected to, you can hover over their picture and click on the link labelled "Add to neighborhood".

This will bring up a confirmation which will additionally allow you to classify them further as a friend or family memeber.  These distinctions are important because Vox allows you to post things privately for one or both groups if you wish.

You can also edit this contact status for the person whose blog or profile you're currently looking at at the very top of page (outlined in green):

Viewing your neighborhood and recent activity

Once you're connected to people on Vox, the two most interesting pages to visit often are your Neighborhood page (outlined in green below) and your recent activity page (outlined in blue below).

Your neighborhood page contains all of the new content from those who to whom you are connected.  You can also filter this down to seeing just new things from your Friends, Family or Both.  For those who know what an RSS feed, you can get an RSS feed of any of these so that you can stay up to date from your feedreader.

Your recent activity page follows conversations you start or participate in.  If someone comments on an entry, photo or anything else of yours, it will show up on this page.  If you comment on another person's page, all the comments (including new ones) will show up on your recent activity page.  The cool thing about this is that you can always follow conversations that you've participated in without constantly going back to check if there's anything new.  Again for your RSS consumers, you can get an RSS feed of that page (and just about any other page in Vox) too!

Viewing others' Neighborhoods and Recent Activity

One of the most interesting features of Vox in comparison to a lot of other services is that you aren't limited to following the fun in your own neighborhood.  No no!  In Vox, you can be a voyeur in someone else's neighborhood.   What's more, you can also follow the conversations your friends are having by looking at their Recent Activity.


This is simlar to hanging out at a party where you don't know many people.  By surfing around the neighborhood page of one of your friends or contact, you can find the interesting conversations and photos and end up meeting people that you really should know anyhow.  You should, however, use this feature wisely lest you end up like that guy at the party that no one can get away from.  Stalkeriffic!

 

Want to know more?  How about Exploring Vox?