Google to kill Google Friend Connect for non-Blogger blogs; Feedburner issues

Attention, all non-Blogger bloggers! Google is killing Friends Connect for all non-blogger sites.

 

That means, I understand, that you won't be able to use the widget that displays your following, unless you have a blog on Blogger! Here is the quote by Urs Hölzle, Google Senior Vice-President, Operations from the Google official blog:

Google Friend Connect—Friend Connect allows webmasters to add social features to their sites by embedding a few snippets of code. We're retiring the service for all non-Blogger sites on March 1, 2012. We encourage affected sites to create a Google+ page and place a Google+ badge on their site so they can bring their community of followers to Google+ and use new features like Circles and Hangouts to keep in touch.

I don't think it's fair, readers! It seems, Google is trying to stop exodus to Wordpress and other platforms... Independent Fashion Bloggers Community writes more about it. By the way, join this site - you will always be up-to-date on important developments.

Meanwhile, Google seems to be clumsily tinkering on other products as well. If you are using Feedburner by Google, you will notice that your Feedburner widget shows 0 subscribers today! No panic, all your subscribers still receive their feeds, but you should go your Feedburner page and switch to a new Beta version, you subscribers number will re-appear. As for the widget, I haven't heard of any solutions on this one. Let us wait... (Actually, Google has become extremely user-unfriendly! They just cannot handle issues in a transparent and timely manner!)

Back to Google Friend Connect, Blogger sites won't be affected!  However, if you have a non-blogger blog you still have three months to promote other options and let your GFC followers  know about them! Good luck!

Sorry for a non-sewing post - but it affects all of us! What do you think about this move by Google, readers?

Book Alert: The Crafter's Guide to Taking Great Photos

There is a potentially great book coming soon: The Crafter's Guide to Taking Great Photos.

Here is what the publisher says about the book:

The Crafter's Guide to Taking Great Photos is your must-have guide to learning to shoot better photos, with tips and advice written specifically with artists and crafters in mind. Amidst the sea of handmade jewelry, apparel, housewares, art, and other crafts that populate blogs, websites, and online marketplaces, you need to make your items stand out. The key is great photography. Beautiful hand-crafted garments, jewelry, artwork, textiles, and home accessories can all be undermined by poor or uninspired photos that fail to represent the detail, color, and artistry of your creations.

With The Crafter's Guide to Taking Great Photos you'll learn that you don't need expensive equipment and a professional photo studio to get quality results. Heidi Adnum teaches you how to achieve high quality results with instruction on how to make your own lightbox, use natural lighting, and properly capture the detail. Broken down into specific craft areas, you'll find tips on how to best generate eye-catching images that will help showcase and sell your items.

Look at the Table of Contents below - I got most interested in  DIY Accessories (Making a light tent or mini studio) Photo fundamentals for Fashion and Fabrics, and Post-production (editing fundamentals). This book is so needed, I would say! My images are really not up to standards!

Introduction
Getting started
    Camera basics
    How to tell your story
    DIY accessories
Photo fundamentals
Equipment advice, Camera settings, Composition & styling, Common problems & FAQs, Practitioner spotlight
    Fashion & fabrics
    Bags, purses & accessories
    Knitting & needlecraft
    Jewelry
    Dolls & toys
    Ceramics & pottery
    Art
    Books, magazines & stationery
    Home accessories
Finishing up & getting it out there
    Postproduction
    Image storage & backup
    Business advice

Check out the preview here. I hope the rest of the book is as great as this sneak peek, and so, I have already pre-ordered my copy on Amazon (it's $10 less than the price directly from the publisher).

Are you happy with images of your creations? What is the most challenging part about your images? Do you have any great resources to recommend?

70 Hours to the Dream: my new Burdastyle blog post!

Dear readers, if you are still not tired of the Classic French Jacket Class, please read this Guest Post on Burdastyle.com!



I am blogging on Burdastyle every two weeks, sharing my experiences (and failures) in learning couture sewing. If you have any suggestions for next topics, I would love to hear them! I will be happy to research, try and write about anything couture - the more challenging, the better! :-)

For the Love of Couture: read my blog on Burdastyle!

Yes, I am a new guest writer for Burdastyle.com!

Someone read this blog and thought I have something to say. And, yes, I do! I love sewing, I love couture, and now I can talk about it in front of the one of the largest sewing communities on this planet!

The first post has been uploaded this Wednesday - it's a couture quiz and I hope you will enjoy it. Check out the follow-up posts starting from the end of May. And if you want to comment, or suggest new posts - please do. I love getting your feedback!

Finally, I wanted to say thank you, dear readers! Thanks to you I take advantage of every minute of my really busy life to sew, to learn new techniques and to blog about it! It is very motivating to be a part of such a supportive and passionate community!

Creating a blog badge with a code for readers

I've seen many sewing blogs recently, hosting either a sew-along, or a give-away, or a series of posts on a specific topic. Usually the bloggers would create a badge, and participants readily grab those to display those on their blog. But how about making it easy for your readers to copy the image and the code in just three steps:

1. copy the code
2. paste it into a new HTML/Javascript widget (on Blogger)
3. Save the widget and Publish the blog

See, for example, the gadgetmania badge on the right. It's so easy, really.

This is the code you need to insert in your HTML/Javascript Widget (on Blogger), and I have colour-coded different parts to explain how to customize the content:

>>>>> CODE STARTS HERE<<<<<


<a href="http://frabjous-fashion.blogspot.com/2011/02/sewing-gadget-mania-no1-ladys-knife.html"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtBbrF6kO75L_Z6Yiyd7FnJMk3GfH1S_qTmb7FKdZ88WTqGERZypSVdqdm_wk5xKqDeQt_sQBI4lu0D_BsokqoqMq8DzOc3r_9kPXPrpndoI1Vu_kWAU6pm1FD68AsY59vSUlEdig3__kc/s1600/gadgetmania2.jpg"/></a>

<p>Do you love sewing gadgets? Join the community - grab the code below to display the badge on your blog</p>

<p>Click on the badge to find out how you can win the Little Black Dress book</p>

<textarea name="textarea" cols="30" rows="4" wrap="VIRTUAL">
<a href="http://frabjous-fashion.blogspot.com/2011/02/sewing-gadget-mania-no1-ladys-knife.html"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtBbrF6kO75L_Z6Yiyd7FnJMk3GfH1S_qTmb7FKdZ88WTqGERZypSVdqdm_wk5xKqDeQt_sQBI4lu0D_BsokqoqMq8DzOc3r_9kPXPrpndoI1Vu_kWAU6pm1FD68AsY59vSUlEdig3__kc/s1600/gadgetmania2.jpg"/></a>
</textarea>

>>>>> CODE ENDS HERE<<<<<

The PURPLE text is the URL of the page where you want your readers to land when they click the badge. Copy and paste your URL instead.

The BLUE text is the URL of the image/badge - if it's located on your blog, all you need to do is CTRL-CLICK on Mac, and choose COPY LINK. Then paste it instead of the blue-coloured URL in my example.

The GREEN text is the custom text you want to appear between your badge and the text box with the code for readers. Just edit it, or remove it completely. Be careful not delete any of the tags, or anything that is typed in black.

If you don't want to display the code, than delete the part from <textarea to </textarea>

That's it!