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reviews:createwidget

How to create a book covers widget

cwidget_example.jpg

Steps to create a widget as in the above image:

  1. Log on to the ChiliFresh Admin Panel
  2. Decide which library you want to create a widget for, and choose it in “Switch between libraries” on the “General” tab
  3. Go to the “Reviews” tab, choose “Widgets” and “Covers-based widget”
  4. Enter a widget name such as “Website widget” (for your own reference) in the Create new widget field and click the Create widget button to move on to the widget settings page
  5. You must enter the following information:
  • Cover art URL in your OPAC - if you want to display cover art from a provider other than ChiliFresh, you can add the URL here. For example, http://www.coverart.com/?isbn={ISBN} - where the {ISBN} token displays where the ISBN from the widget will go. If you leave the field empty, the widget will display cover art provided by ChiliFresh.
  • ISBN-lookup URL in your OPAC - this is the URL that will be used to link back directly to a particular item in your OPAC. For example, http://www.youropac.com/?isbn={ISBN} where the {ISBN} token is where the ISBN in the URL should go. If you are unsure of what this URL should be, please contact us at support@chilifresh.com and we will help you to figure it out.
  • Widget placement - the widget can be placed in a horizontal and vertical positions
  • Show information from - you can display certain pre-defined lists such as “Recently reviewed items”, “Most reviewed items”, and “Top rated items”; these can be generated for the location you have chosen, or across all libraries.
  • Show item author/title - this sets whether or not to show the item author and title information by the cover
  • Visible items - you can set the number of covers to show on the initial display of the widget; other covers will be displayed when the widget is scrolled
  • Total items - this refers to how many items should be included in total on the widget, both visible and invisible, in any of the lists
  • Button skip by - how many covers should be skipped when a user scrolls
  • Item lists to show - which pre-defined and user-created item lists to show. The checked ones will be displayed and the one marked as “Default” will be displayed on front page of the widget when it loads. You can create and display custom item lists (see instructions below).

When you're happy with the settings, just click the “Update widget” button; you'll see the changes applied to the widget in the “Output example” display.

That's it - the widget is ready to use. Just copy and paste the code from the “Code to implement” box to the place in your web page source code where you want the widget to be displayed.

How to create custom item lists:

The purpose of custom item lists is for you to be able to display specific item lists to your patrons. Examples for lists are “Latest collection additions”, “Librarian picks”, etc. Follow these steps to create a custom list:

  1. In the Admin Panel, go to “Reviews”, “Widgets”, and “Covers-based widget”
  2. In the “Create new list” field enter a list name; this list name will appear on the widget header, so write something related to the list that patrons will understand. (You can edit it later, though.)
  3. Click the “Create list” button to continue to the list editing page, where you can add/remove/edit items on the list
  4. Here you can edit the list name if required, by changing the “List name” field and clicking the “Update” button
  5. You can add items to the list by adding item ISBN or UPC number(s) in the “Add item ISBN or UPC” field and clicking “Add items”. You can add several item ISBNs or UPCs at once, separating them by a line-break. Once you add the item, it will display the title and cover which will appear in the widget for that particular item.
  6. You can delete an item from the list by checking the “Delete” check-box by the item and clicking the “Update” button
  7. You can edit the item ISBN/UPC number by changing it in the “ISBN” field and clicking the “Update” button

Please note:

  • Widgets and custom item lists are location-based, so this means that if you create a widget while logged on to one particular ChiliFresh location, you will not see the same widget and custom item lists that you created from a different location. Use “Switch between libraries” on the “General” tab to look at other locations' widgets/lists.
  • You can display multiple widgets on the same web page.
  • Once you add a widget to your web site, you can still edit it in the Admin Panel - the code does not change. This means that when you make a change to the widget in the Admin Panel, the changes will be instantly applied to the widget wherever it is implemented.
reviews/createwidget.txt · Last modified: 2013/03/29 08:42 by georgina