Has anyone got Snipperoo working on their blog?
Written on February 1, 2007 by Conor O'Neill
I love the idea of Snipperoo and widgets in general. There is of course the conflict between widget-rich blogs and the tendency for people to read more and more via RSS but I still believe that the whole idea has legs.
I signed up for the beta when it was opened and got an account a few months back. I have made four serious attempts to configure a widget and have to admit that I’m flummoxed.
I’ve rebuilt linux kernels, compiled XEmacs on cygwin, debugged set-top boxes via RS232 but I cannot figure out how to add individual widgets to a panel.
Somehow something called Badgr appeared the last time I logged in and I could add that but I’ve no idea why. I’ve tried to follow the help page but I don’t get the option to add widgets no matter what I do. I just keep getting sent to a directory which has links to sites and for some bizarre reason other links which try to add widgets to my Google home page. What the hell am I missing? I hope the site revamp is rolled out soon as Snipperoo has so much potential.
Technorati Tags: snipperoo, widgets, UI+design
If you enjoyed this post Subscribe to our feed
Ah - got here first!
OK, that all sounds a bit complicated, but it isn’t that bad - it’s just a bit like adding one widget to your site. Once you’ve been through that, you will get into the flow of it.
Hey, I use Snipperoo on our blog. Do it all the time. We appreciate that our current interface is, ahem, somewhat lacking. Or confusing. But, when you grasp the concept and get a Panel installed, it does get easy. And the new interface will make it more obvious.
There are basically two steps to making it work:
1. Collect widgets. This is more or less a manual thing at the moment. When you come across widget code anywhere, copy it. Then go to your Snipperoo account and do a ‘new module’. Paste the code in and name, tag etc the module. Save it. This module will appear in the list.
2. Make and install a Panel. First, ‘new panel’. Choose size, name it, save it. The Panel will appear in the right hand side list. Then, click ‘edit’ for that Panel. An empty panel will open. Now look at the widgets on the left side of the screen (which probably only has one widget in it) - you’ll see a small has appeared next to the name. Click that and the widget will appear in the Panel on the right. You’ve now started to build your first Panel.
The final thing to do is to get the code for this panel. While in Edit mode for a Panel (i.e. the Panel is open), click the ‘add this to my site’ link, top right. You’ll see the code you need to paste into your page. You only do this once, paste and forget.
Now - you’ve set up Snipperoo. You’ve collected one widget. You’ve made one Panel. Collect more widgets and add each one to the Panel. As you do this, you’ll see them previewed - and when you Save the changes, you’ll see them appear in your site. It’s addictive
You can also try the Snipperoo button method of adding widgets - go here and click a button:
http://snipperoo.com/site/widgetbuttons.html
to automatically add a widget to your account.
On the issue of getting lost in the diretory, yes, it is confusing and we accept that. Look out for things to get much clearer with the next version, with better directory integration.
If you’ve still got problems, skype me as ivanpope or email me at ivan@snipperoo.com and I’ll try to help out. Cheers, Ivan
Ahhhh! So it is mainly manual at the minute. I suspected as much. The help page is actually the thing causing the confusion! Totally get it now. I’ll pop it up on this blog later.