tutorial 101: creating categories

First of all I don't assume that I know more than anyone else; however, there were some comments at the party about creating categories so I thought I would show you how.

Look at my lower right sidebar...the pink cloud. Those are my categories. If you click on them you will see a list of my posts that fall under that specific category. I may change it into a list, which you can do, but for now this is what I've done.

In order to do this you first need to set up a del.icio.us account. This account will allow you to tag your posts and put them in a category. It is very easy to do. Once you have an account it will prompt you to download the "post to del.icio.us" in your favorites. DO IT. It is the best way to create your tags. From there all you have to do is go to your blog, find the post you want to tag and click on the "post to del.icio.us" found in your favorites (I have since moved mine to my link bar). It will bring up a window that asked you to define it...add notes, tag (the category). Don't worry if you change your mind on the category you can always go back and edit later if needed. You have now saved the category and if you go to your del.icio.us account under "my favorites" you will see your post tagged.

Next getting them onto you blog. While being logged into your del.icio.us account go to "help". Then under "blog integration" click "tag rolls". This will bring up your list of tags in a cloud or list. You now have the option of changing your categories to display on your blog as you wish. You can change the color, the size, and even the title. Once you've got it the way you like just copy and paste the code shown in the box called "hypertext" into your blog where you want it to be. (it's just like adding any link). Save and republish and it should be on your blog. Note: The categories will not show up on your blog unless you verify yourself by returning an email to del.icio.us. The site will tell you to do this when you create the account.

Hope this made sense. Make sure to email me with any questions.

Have fun.