We have developed a series of widgets that designers can use to dynamically show their submissions and design statistics on their own website. Not only is this really easy to do (it only takes a few minutes), but it directly links to your DesignCrowd account so as you submit and manage it, it updates the widget on your website.
The following article will give you information on how you can use these widgets to get out there and start promoting your DesignCrowd work to the world. These widgets are a proven way to not only get noticed, but to make more money on DesignCrowd as well.
What is a widget?
A widget is a piece of code that can be used to enhance a personalweb site, start page, blog or social networking profile. They areweb-based, which means they can only be part of a website. If you'veever seen a YouTube video being displayed on a website other thanYouTube, then you've probably seen an example of a web widget. Themain aim of a widget is to dynamically tack content from a main site(such as YouTube and DesignCrowd) and render them on your own site.
I Don't Know Anything About Programming. Can I Still Use a WebWidget?
The beauty of widgets is that you don't need to know how to programto use them. Installing a web widget on your site, whether it be apersonalized start page or a blog, is a simple matter of copying thecode and pasting it into the appropriate place on your site.
How to Install the Widget
How to add the widget to your own website (HTML)?
1. Visit the DesignCrowd widget wizard page. Select the widget youwant on your site and customize it according to your preferences.
2. At the bottom of the page is a textbox with HTML code (see imagebelow). This is the code for your customized widget to put on yourwebsite. Highlight the code with your mouse by clicking on the textand copy it by holding down the control key (Ctrl) on yourkeyboard and type the letter 'C'.
3. Now your ready to put this code in your website. Pasting the codeis a little more difficult because you need to know where to go topaste it. If you use a popular blog host like Blogger orLiveJournal, you can search through their help documents andfrequently asked questions for information on where to go to installa widget. Or, you can search through this site for some of thearticles I have provided on adding web widgets to blogs andpersonalized start pages.
Once you know where to paste it, the hard part is over. Simplyposition the cursor at the point where you want to paste it and thenchoose hold down the
control key (ctrl) on your keyboard andtype the letter '
V'.
4. All done! Simply view your page in a web browser and you shouldsee a fully functioning piece of DesignCrowd on your own website.
How to add your widget to WordPress page
Note: This will only work if the Wordpress template is hosted by you - Wordpress.com restricts the use of JavaScript which will stop these widgets from working. As an alternative, we recommend you simply add a link on your wordpress blog through to your portfolio page and push the customer to invite you to projects.
See
http://www.leadsleap.com/blog/how-to-add-widget-to-wordpress-blog
How to add your widget to Blogger
See
http://webtrends.about.com/od/howtoguide1/ht/blogger_widget.htm
How to add your widget to MySpace
See
http://www.ehow.com/how_4422738_add-widget-myspace-page.html
How do I uninstall my DesignCrowd Widget?
If you've copied and pasted the code into your website, go back intothe code and look for:
<!- START DESIGNCROWD DESIGNER WIDGET->
and
<!- END DESIGNCROWD DESIGNER WIDGET ->
then delete theselines and any code between them.
If you have any further questions on how to install / configure the widget or you are having problems getting it working - contact the DesignCrowd team and we can help you get it set up.