Foreword: I wrote this for my Writing 227 project. I received an A on it in the class, but let me know what you think. I wrote it mainly for the internet-impaired, but it might have some more useful information in it. lol.

Introduction

Xanga (www.xanga.com) is an online community akin to MySpace. On it, you can interact with other Xanga users, answer featured questions, write a blog, and have your own site. This user manual shows how to set up a Xanga account and how to add audio, video, background images, and other Xanga features. Xanga is very simple to use and offers many features. There is also a list of useful sites at the end of this user manual, in Appendix A.

There are several reasons why I would recommend Xanga as an online blog:

1.      It is more personal than MySpace.

2.      Xanga is less well-known, so there are less people on it. While there may not be as many people to interact with, there is less chance of those people being stalkers or something other than what they say they are.

3.      Xanga is focused more on weblogs than how many friends you can accumulate. What friends you do have on Xanga are more like friends than just someone you met once and added to your friends list.

List and Description of Features

The main features that I will be describing are as follows:

             Background Image: This is the picture used as the background on your site. It may be small, large, a pattern, or a photograph.

            Customized Wording: You can change the wording on select words through the Xanga            help      section.

Customized Cursor: You can make the cursor something besides a white pointer to match the theme of your site.

            Audio: This is music playing while people view your site, or an audio blog.

            Video: This is a video playing on your homepage, in your blog, or in a video blog.

            Virtual Pet: You can have a pet online that does tricks, eats or makes sounds.

            Extras: This section includes widgets, scrollbars, hit counters, and polls.

How to set up a Xanga account

Figure 1: Xanga Logo

Basics

To set up a Xanga account, you will need

·                  

Source: www.xanga.com

A valid email address

·                   To be over the age of 13, or

·                   Parental permission.

To start a Xanga account,

1.     Go to www.xanga.com (see Figure 1) and click on “join Xanga” in the upper right-hand corner.

2.     Fill out a username, password, birthdate, and email address. Once you have filled out the required information, Xanga will take you to a page where you can pick a theme and an opening message.

3.     Choose a theme that you will like. If you don’t plan on adding much to your site, or changing it, a theme is easy to just leave as it is and still have an interesting site.

Note: Themes are predesigned layouts with background images, fonts, colors, and modules. I find that they are difficult to work with, especially with dial-up internet. There is also no way to add music, video, or cursors. However, you cannot proceed to your site without choosing a theme.

 

4.   After choosing a theme, there is a space for a welcome message. The Xanga team provides an              automatic message, but it is slightly boring and impersonal. You can erase the message and write         one of your own or leave it as is.

Once you have finished these steps, Xanga will take you to your home page, where you will be offered the choice of the new home page or a personalized home page. The new home page is more convenient if you use a theme, but if you want to customize your page as much as possible, the old home page is better and easier to use. To choose the personalized home page,

1. Go to your home page

2. Click the link in the center of the page, under the “Add Stuff” section.

Getting Rid of a Theme

If you opt for the personalized home page, and against the theme, you will have to get rid of the theme. To do this, you will need to:

1. Click the “Public Preview” link in the middle of your home page. This will take you to the page that other people will be seeing.

2. Click on the “edit theme” link on the top-left of the page. A screen will scroll down over the page. From this, you can edit the page.

3. To remove the theme, uncheck the box on the left that says “make this my active theme.”

4. Click the “Save” button on the right hand side. Your home page will now be the same page that everyone will see.

You have now set up a Xanga account. Now all you need to do is tweak it and customize it to your specifications. You can do this by entering profile information, changing your site’s appearance, and interacting with other Xanga users.

Look and Feel

The Look and Feel, accessed through the link on the left hand side of your home page, is how you change anything on your page. If you are using a theme, there will be a sign at the top of your page telling you that nothing you do in your Look and Feel will affect your public site. However, if you are not using a theme, there will be a sign urging you to do so. Everything you change in your Look and Feel will change something on your public page.

Purposes

Through the Look and Feel, you can add the code or links for background images, music, cursors, and scrollbars. For instance, about halfway down the page is the box for the background image.

At the bottom of the page, there are three empty boxes that are for the purpose of entering code. The first box, titled “Custom Module,” can only be used if you buy Xanga Premium. The second, the “JavaScript Module,” is where most code that you need will be entered. The third box, “Website Stats,” is where the code for the cursor and customized wording will go.

Music

There is also a box for music, which requires a link to an online server. This box works if you have music on an online server, or if you know where to get it. However, I recommend finding a website that provides a playlist, such as www.myflashfetish.com. This website finds other websites that provide music, and lets you compile a playlist. Then they provide the code, which you can just copy and paste into the JavaScript module.

Figure 2: Background Image

Background Images

To add a background image, you can choose one from a file already on your computer, or you can search for a suitable picture on the internet. I have found that www.images.google.com is very helpful in finding background and profile pictures.

Note: The picture to the right (Figure 2) is actually the picture I have on my Xanga site. The only problem I have with this picture is the dramatic difference between the colors. With both the black and the white colors, it is difficult finding a text color that is easily readable on both colors. I have found a couple good texts though.

 

Add Background Images Using Google Images

1. Go to www.images.google.com.

2. Find a suitable picture with good dimensions (a good size approximately would be between 600 and 1000 pixels on either side).

Source: Google Images

 

3. Once you find a good picture that you would like for your background image, click on the picture.

4. Click on the link at the top of the page that reads “See full size image.” This will take you the picture in its full size. The address should end with “.gif,” “.jpeg,” or some other picture extension.

5. Copy the link in the address bar, and paste the link into the box on your Look and Feel page. The picture to the side of the box should change and say that the link to your picture is working.

6. You can then change the area of the picture on the page—whether it is centered, to the left, right, top, or bottom—and if it is repeated over the page or shown just once.

7. Once your background image is on your page how you want it, you should change the colors of the font to suit the background. If you have a black background, you obviously don’t want a very dark font that won’t be easily read by visitors to your site. But you might not want some very bright color that will stand out too much.

Changing Font Colors

To change font colors,

1. Go to the Look and Feel page.

2. About halfway down the page is the box labeled, “Text and Links.” To change the colors of the fonts, click “edit” next to each of the color boxes.

3. Choose the color which best suits the background.

4. To preview the colors, click on the button at the bottom of the Look and Feel page, “Preview Changes.”

5. Save the changes by clicking the “Yes” button, or

6. Click “No” and change the fonts until they work.

Changing Page Dimensions

If only one side of your background is making it difficult to pick a font, such as the one in Figure 2, then you can change the dimensions of your page.

1. Go to the Look and Feel page and, on the top, there is a option for changing the width of your page.

2.  Change the percentage, or pixels if you like, to suit the background image. This will make the part of your page containing your blog and left module smaller, while keeping your background image where you had it. You can also change the page to make it align left or in the center.

Changing the Wording

To change words such as “eprop(s),” “comment(s),” “subscribe,” “subscription(s),” “Guestbook,” and “sign out,” :

1. Go to help.xanga.com/replacelinks.htm.

2.  Enter your desired text into the corresponding boxes.

3. When it produces the code, copy and paste it into the Website Stats box on your Look and Feel page.

Tip: I find that when you are entering code into the Look and Feel page, it is easier to keep two pages open: one to your Look and Feel, and one to the page from which you are getting the code. This will save you from having to go back and forth in the one page.

 

Change the wording into something that suits the theme you want your Xanga site to have. Try not to make the wording too long or difficult to read. Also, try not to put the wording in an odd place or make it too unrelated to the original wording that it was. If visitors to your site can’t navigate the site easily, it will discourage them from coming back. They may also urge other people not to go to your site.

Customized Cursor

Getting a customized cursor is very simple to do if you know where to look and if you aren’t too picky. Two sites that I have found to have good cursors are www.moocursors.com and www.totallyfreecursors.com. I have also included a list of useful sites in the back of the user manual.

MooCursors

MooCursors is a little less user friendly and has a slightly smaller selection. Instead of having pictures of the cursors to choose from and then get the code, MooCursors has embed and when you put your cursor over the box, it will show what the cursor is like. There aren’t that many to choose from, but there are some amusing cursors.

1. Go to www.moocursors.com.

2. Choose the type of cursor from the list on the left.

3. To view the cursor, move the mouse over each box of code.

4. When you find the one desired, right-click on the box of code corresponding to the desired cursor. Choose “copy.”

5. Paste the code into the Website Stats box on the Look and Feel page.

TotallyFreeCursors

TotallyFreeCursors has a bigger selection, but they are a lot of the same cursors with slight variations in color or size. You just choose which cursor you want and then copy and paste the code into the Website Stats box.

1. Go to www.totallyfreecursors.com.

2. Choose the type of cursor from the list on the left of the page.

3. When you find the cursor desired, click the link below the picture of that cursor.

4. Select the code in the box, then right click and select “copy.”

5. Paste the code into the Website Stats box on the Look and Feel page.

Adding audio

The best site I have found for adding audio is www.myflashfetish.com. This site allows you to choose as many songs as you like and compile them into a playlist.

1. Go to www.myflashfetish.com.

2. Search for song title or artist name in the box on bottom left.

3. Click the plus sign next to the song title to add the song to the playlist. Or,

4. Press the play button to hear the song.

5. Repeat steps 2 and 3 until all songs desired are in playlist.

6. Click “I’m Done” at bottom of playlist on right side of page.

7. Customize your MP3 player by changing the color, pattern, style, and skins provided.

8. Click “Save, Get Code” button at bottom of page.

9. Login or sign up for membership by entering your email address, password, and other information.

10. Copy the code.

Note: There is an option for a “quick post,” which means that MyFlashFetish will post the playlist to the blog section of your site. However, this requires releasing your username and password. The player will also disappear after so many posts. If you copy the code, then the player will be on the side of your site permanently, until removed.

 

11. Paste the code into the JavaScript Module on your Look and Feel page.

12. Click “Save” to save your changes.

If you want to use the link box in your Look and Feel page, then a good site to find music is www.xanga.com/xanga_music. There are limited choices and not all links work, but if you like some of the songs on this site, then you can copy and paste the link into the box on your Look and Feel page.

There is also a link on your homepage, “Add Audio,” in which you can have an audio blog. You can upload audio from your computer and have it in that section of your site. That way, visitors can just look at the audio you have on your site, but not necessarily listen to it.

Figure 3: ‘Zits’ Comic

Adding Video

Source: www.alexras.com/comics

As shown in the above comic (Figure 3), many teenagers or “bloggers” don’t just write on their sites anymore.

There is a video blog like the audio blog where you can post videos. You can also get the embed code from a video site such as www.youtube.com or www.pcplanets.com. Using embed will post the video on your main front page.

YouTube

On YouTube, there are links and embed code.

1. Go to www.youtube.com.

2. Search for the video you want.

3. When you find the right one, copy the embed code from the box on the right-hand side of the page.

4. Paste the code into the JavaScript Module on your Look and Feel page and the video will end up on the bottom of your page.

PCPlanets

1. Go to www.pcplanets.com.

2. Search for video desired.

3. Click on “watch video.”

4. Click “get video code” at the top of the pop-up.

5. Click on the “Xanga” button towards the middle of the page.

6. Enter username, password, and title of video in the spaces provided.

PCPlanets will automatically post the video to your blog. However, after you write enough blogs, the video will disappear off of your front page and into older blogs.

Virtual Pet

Figure 4: Virtual Hedgehog

 

1. Go to www.bunnyherolabs.com.

2. Choose the pet you wish to adopt, or if you prefer, choose from scissors, light bulbs, or pencils.

Source: www.bunnyherolabs.com

 

3. Add your pet’s name.

4. Add your name.

5. Choose the color of your pet.

6. Choose which site you’re putting your pet on.

7. Copy the code into the JavaScript Module.

There are large numbers of sites with virtual pets; however, most of them have an inclusive world for your pet to live in that doesn’t work with Xanga. Bunny Hero Labs creates the code for various blog sites, including Xanga, and it is very easy to use, even to those with little or no internet skills.

Note: Bunny Hero Labs offers sheep, puppies, chicks, horses, bats, pandas, turtles, monkeys, kittens, hamsters, hedgehogs, tigers, wolves, penguins, spiders, bunnies, pigs, ducks, llamas, and fish. You can also adopt scissors, light bulbs, and pencils at the hardware store. Your pet can also be any color you want with any name you want.

 

Figure 5: Widget

Extras

Widgets

Source: www.myflashfetish.com

 

Widgets are extra little features such as clocks (see Figure 1.5), meters, or other little things that don’t fall into any other category. You can find some widgets at www.myflashfetish.com, but there are many other sites with widgets also. Most code for widgets will go into the JavaScript module on the Look and Feel page.

Scrollbars

A good site to find a scrollbar generator is

www.iconico.com/CSSScrollbars. You can choose out of an infinite array of colors for any part of the scrollbar. Once you have chosen the colors you want, the site will provide the code, which you can then copy and paste into the Website Stats box on your Look and Feel page.

Hit Counters

Hit counters measure the number of people who come onto your site. You can choose whether the counter will count all the hits or just the individual ones. A good site that I have found is www.easycounter.com. You can choose from several types of counters, but you do have to register an account on the site. Once you have picked your counter, the site will provide code, which will go into the Website Stats box.

Polls

On www.pollcode.com,

1. Enter any question and any number of answers into the boxes provided.

2. Choose the skin (background and coloring) of the poll box and the font.

3. Copy the code provided

4. Paste the code into the JavaScript module on your Look and Feel page.

Appendix A

Good Sites for Xanga Features

www.bunnyherolabs.com for virtual pets and hardware.

www.createblog.com for backgrounds, layouts, and graphics.

www.easycounter.com for free hit counters.

www.freefever.com/xanga for backgrounds, layouts, cursors, and icons.

www.iconico.com/CSSScrollbars for scrollbars.

www.images.google.com as a search engine for backgrounds, profile pictures, and other pictures.

www.moocursors.com for cursors.

www.myflashfetish.com for a music playlist and widgets.

www.pcplanets.com for music and videos.

www.pimpmyprofile.com as a gateway to useful sites for layouts, profiles, and code.

www.pollcode.com for customized polls.

www.totallyfreecursors.com for thousands of free cursors.

www.youtube.com for videos.