HTML: A simple lesson

Okay, so I know this is not supposed to be within my realm of knowledge, but surprise! surprise! It actually is. Many, many, MANY moons ago when the internet was new and young and website software didn't exist, I learned HTML.

Does this mean I am a computer software specialist? No. Do I have a computer science degree? No. Though I aced my computer science class in college and have dealt with more software and hardware issues than I ever care to admit.

So, today's lesson: Blog Buttons.
I've seen many, many and many, many have been wrong. No seriously. Out of everyone on the Donator page, I've seen like five dead-on perfect ones. Really, the code you need for your actual blog button is very simple.

Codes you need: <a href="http://www.WEBLINK.com/"></a> <- this is the code for a link. <img src="http://www.IMAGELINK.com"> <- this is an image code. For a blog button you are combining them:
<a href="http://www.WEBLINK.com/"><img src="http://www.IMAGELINK.com"></a> For your super basic blog button, that is it. That is all the code you need. MAKE SURE your a href tag encloses the img src tag. This makes the image a link.

Now, let's go into fancier things and what they mean: <a href="LINK.COM" target="_blank"></a> A link tag with a target="_blank" means the link will open a new window or tab.

Now, with the img src tag you can do lots of things, most of them useless. <img alt="ARCycling" border="0" height="100" src="LINK.COM" width="100"> What do all of these mean?
Height - pretty obvious, the height of the image IN PIXALS. Not percent.
Width - same as above, but for width. IN PIXALS. Not percent
Border - I feel like this is an archiac thing. I can't remember the time I even saw a link border on a image. Either way, if you really want the code in there, set it to 0.
Alt - this is text that will pop up if your image doesn't load. Again, this seems like archaic code. If you really want it in there, set it your blog's name and blog button, or whatever. Most people won't see this anyway.

You can also add: <center> if you wish, but for my donator page, I always delete them.

Now, lastly, since I opened this topic, might as well finish it off.
Right now (if you don't already have a blog button up) you might be thinking 'well, Jennifer, this is all well and good, but how do I get that nifty little box up with all of this marvelous code in it?' For this, I will screen cap from my good friend Lili's blog.

What you mean is this:

That box is called a text area. <center> <textarea rows="2" cols="22"> <a href="BLOGLINK.COM"><img src="BUTTONLINK.COM" /></a> </textarea> </center> Looks familiar, eh? Notice that rows and cols thing? Rows mean the horizontal space seen. Cols means columns. That code right there is the exact code for my blog button, so that's what those numbers look like in real life. They can be changed to whatever.
In conclusion, if you use some web generator and it gives you think with divs and spans and it's 80 lines long, no. That is wrong. Delete all that junk until you have: <a href="http://www.WEBLINK.com/"><img src="http://www.IMAGELINK.com"></a> That's it, folks.

Pandas and Kermit

I find it amazing that no matter how much I try to plan for things, there are ALWAYS situations that my mind never creatively imagines.

That being said... a few things.

• Donors: Please, please, please, please, please, please, please only offer up books you can, ya know, mail out. At least, eventually (a month time frame should really be doable). Because when I tell someone they're going to get a book then they don't they are sad panda when they don't get it and I am sad panda when they don't get it (not to mention it really messes with my stats). And worst of all, I keep having to give reasons as to why it hasn't been mailed, when really, I have none. All around everyone is this:
• The last bullet point is actually so important, I'm repeating it. DONORS PLEASE ONLY OFFER BOOKS YOU CAN MAIL WITHIN A TIMELY FASHION.
• Okay, new things. Requesters! This one is for you. We give books to active bloggers. But, what does that mean? Simple. 5-8 reviews a month is passable. If you have several reviewers per blog, then more, usually.
• Another one for Requesters. (New Requesters, mainly) The books on here are not "spare copies for grabs". Or whatever. These books are for review. They are not books for you to get just to giveaway for your blog or just to horde ARCs. No. No no no. If you give them away on your blog AFTER you review them, then that's kosher. But (for example) if I see you've already read and reviewed them, then no. This really shouldn't be an issue, but alas. It is now an issue that's come up.

Okay. That's all for this post, I think.
Whenever I do informational posts, I feel like this.


Okay, I'm not that serious. Maybe more like this.


Peace out!

Welcome back!

Hope y'all had a good holiday season and a happy New Year!

So, guess what happens Sunday?
Guess.
GUESS! 

ARCYCLING! IT STARTS AGAIN!




Yup, welcome back to gifs. Nope, that wasn't just a 2012 thing. We've hit over 450 followers with my stick figures and bizarre humor, so we're gonna keep that going of course.

Anyway, back to the point (is there ever one?). Let's go over a few easy peasy reminders for how breaks work.

Yes, so we've been off the last two weeks, but as far as ARCycling is concerned, those 2 weeks never happened.
So, on December 16th, did you:
- Get two books? Great. You're on Time Out for the next two weeks.
- Get one book? Cool. This Sunday is your last chance to get another book before Time Out.
- Were on Time Week Time Out Week 1 when break started. You got one more week of Time Out.
- Were free and clear when break started. Well, by golly, you're free and clear now!

Now, for some more fun news!
Slowly, but surely I've been watching my Review Archive number rise and this makes me a happy pig-tailed girl. So I said to myself, "Kyle," (no, JK, but if you get this very small 90s TV show reference, let's be best friends) "Jennifer, how can you reward people who have been awesome AND encourage more peeps to get reviews in?"

Sending out gifts would be uh, expensive, besides what do I even have? Bookmarks? No. Boring. But then I thought of something. And when we reach 100 reviews in the Review Archive, Jennifer might just have a giveaway to only those reviewers on the Review Archive. And it might just be one entry per review.  Which might mean that if you've submitted 10 reviews, you get 10 entries. Which might mean you have a 1 in 10 chance of winning. Which might be awesome. Jennifer might not know the exact prize right now, but it might involve a big randomized box of books/ ARCs to the winner. Might.
So, chew over that might-be situation.

And for those of you who are sitting on books to be reviewed, chew on that as well. And don't mind me as I have Fry stare at you...