We're getting close to a solution that will let us allow javascript on sites using Xanga Themes - woohoo!

But there is one category of scripts that will require some special TLC to get them working with themes: scripts that act on specific HTML in the page. Examples of these scripts might include:

• Name-swapping scripts - e.g. scripts that let you change "100 comments" to "100 shout outs"
• The comment smiley script - lets you create your own set of smileys for your comment boxes
• Alternating comment colors - actually this one is already supported with themes - you don't need a script for it; you can easily use CSS to pull it off with themes*

Because the HTML of themed pages is so different from that of unthemed pages, we'll need to make some adjustments to these scripts to get them working with themes. The adjustments shouldn't be too tough... As soon as we have a sense of the most popular scripts, we can go ahead and start making versions that will work for themed sites.

Here's where we need your help: what scripts are you currently using on your *unthemed* xanga site that you would like us to support for themes?

Thanks!

- Marc

* Alternating comment colors for themed sites: on themed sites, all comments live inside a "module" that has a class="module-comments", and each individual comment has a predicatble classname that is either "item-odd" (for odd-numbered comments) or "item-even" (for, you guessed it, even numbered comments).

If you wanted to make your comment background colors alternate between, say, green and orange (for the record, I'm not actually advocating this particular pairing of colors ;-P), you can just add the following to your "CSS" field when you are editing your theme:

.module-comments .item-odd { background-color: green; }
.module-comments .item-even { background-color: orange; } 

We launched a few big updates for Xanga Themes today:

1) Edit Mode - *much* faster page loads when visiting your own themed Xanga Site - when we first launched themes, we thought it'd be convenient to merge all the editing functionality right into your main xanga page (the one you see when you click "Public Preview" or visit http://www.xanga.com/YourUsername).

The downside of this approach was that you had to download *all* the code needed to edit your themes, *every time* you visited your own xanga site, even when you didn't want to edit your theme - d'oh!

So starting today, if you actually do want to edit your theme, you just need to make one more click... Just go to your "Public Preview" page (as before) and then click "edit theme" in your top toolbar. Until you click that link, none of the editing code will get dowloaded, so your site should load a lot faster.

2) "Safe Mode" for themes - we've also added a new "safe mode" link to help you undo changes that might've thrown your site outta whack (you'll see it in your top toolbar on your "Public Preview" page). This one may not seem like a huge update, but it's actually our first major step toward enabling javascript support for themes. So if you've been waiting for javascript... again - rest assured we are working on it!

3) All "tags" pages now support themes - as part of the ongoing effort to add themes support to all 25 (!) pages that comprise a fully-used Xanga Site, bharat just launched themed support for all tags pages:

• For example, you can check out thexangateam's weblog tags in all their themey goodness here:
  http://weblog.xanga.com/thexangateam/tags/

• And you can see all the weblogs tagged with "themes" here:
  http://weblog.xanga.com/thexangateam/tags/themes

- Marc

We thought long and hard on how to describe this feature, but we really can't top how mashable put it: "Xanga Adds Flair for Your Comments" (for those of you who haven't seen office space, shame on you , go watch it)...

Introducing Xanga Minis!

 

Think of them as a cross between virtual gifts and e-cards... we wanted them to be fun little gifts that say something, so each Mini consists of little animation and an associated comment or expression.

We're also introducing Xanga Credits...

As silly as they are, we wanted minis to mean something... so if you want to give a mini, you've gotta pony up some credits.  We also wanted everyone to be able to play, so first there are some minis that are totally free. But also there are lots of ways to get credits:

• If you're a premium user, you've already got em , also...
• Starting now (for a limited time), all new premium purchases come with bonus credits
• You can also buy credits directly, if you want, but
• There are going to be lots of other ways to get credits, including, right now, by collecting minis (a lot of minis come with bonus credits for the recipient - if you did something to deserve a mini, then you also deserve some credits)!

Opting Out of Minis...

We know this feature isn't for everyone, so we built a setting that lets you pass on receiving Minis. You can opt out here:

http://edit.xanga.com/editaccountprivacy.aspx

Huge Props to Joe, Eugenia, and Young for launching this feature (their first!)... go say hello and, if you feel they deserves it, show some love by giving them minis - have fun!

- Marc and Chris

A lot of you have mentioned that the conversion to Xanga Themes made your counters and other codes stop working... We hear ya, and we are working on a way to allow more custom codes on themed Xanga Sites.

But in the meantime, if you're using Xanga Themes and you want to add some fun stuff to your site, check out Xanga Widgets!

We've partnered with a couple of awesome widget providers - widgetbox.com and clearspring.com - to launch a gallery with almost 200 widgets (and many more on the way). Just head on over to http://widgets.xanga.com to try them out.

Thanks to monsur for programming this feature. And please let us know what you think.

- Marc

We've added Snap Shots to some new pages, so now you'll be able to see image previews of links on almost all of your Xanga site pages, including blogs using the new Xanga Themes and on Xanga Blogrings pages.

But the coolest part is we've added Snap Shots to the Xanga Subscription page... so you can just roll over those <IMAGE HERE> links and see the images to which your subs have linked!

 

To learn more about Snap previewing, including how to enable or disable the feature, check out the Snap FAQ. Props to Justin for his hard work!

When we first launched Xanga TV, we realized that it was a lot like reality TV.  So we dropped a line to college student Johnny Lechner - famous for being in college for 14 years!! - and asked him if he'd be interested in broadcasting his life 24/7 with our new technology.

He agreed, and now you can catch his show 24/7 on Xanga.  He'll be doing a live chat tonight at 11 pm EST (10 pm central), and then playing acoustic guitar afterwards.  His show is rated C for caution, so please keep that in mind.

If you've ever thought about doing videoblogging of your own, check out Chris' post to learn more.

If you're new to Xanga TV, here's something you need to know: you can see clips that other Xangans loved in Johnny's highlight reel - just click the "highlights" tab under the video to see other viewers' favorite moments.

See you tonight!

Xanga Minis are fun little gifts you can add to your comments:

They each consist of a little icon or animation that goes with a specific expression.  For example: how many times did you think 2 eprops weren't enough for an awesome entry and wanted to give it 1,000 eprops? Now you can!

Opting Out of Minis...

We know this feature isn't for everyone, so we built a setting that lets you pass on receiving Minis. You can opt out here:

http://edit.xanga.com/editaccountprivacy.aspx

Launching Next Week!

We'll be launching Xanga Minis next week with a whole gallery to choose from, and we've got hundreds more on the way. Some example Minis we have are...

• A bowl of soup to say "Get Well Soon!"
• A bunch of flowers to say "Thanks" or a heart for love
• and a piece of chocolate to say "Sweeeeeeet!"

Just to make sure we get all the bases covered... please let us know if there are any specific Xanga Minis you'd love to see - thanks!

- chris

We had some downtime on Wednesday, and when we brought the site back up... a few days of Themes and Pulses had gone missing .

We're so sorry!  It turns out that one of the storage systems that is used for Xanga Themes and Pulse failed... in a way that's supposed to happen (on average) only once in every 10,437,051 years! We're still trying to get the edits back off of our backup systems.  But it's possible we won't be able recover some of the edits that happened in the last five days or so.

It was a one-in-10-million-years error, but it's still embarrassing... and we're so sorry if it impacted your site.

We are looking into a new backup system to help prevent this type of thing from happening again.

Sorry again, and thanks for bearing with us as we look for the missing data.

Marc

10:42 a.m. - We're experiencing server
problems where users' front pages may not be visible. We're aware of
the issue and are working to solve it as quickly as possible - keep
checking back for updates.
2:30 p.m. - Aaaaand we're back. Thanks for your patience.

Remember when you logged onto Xanga and blogged for the first time? Of course.

Do you remember the email address you used to sign up? Um, maybe not.

Top five reasons why you should update your email address:

1. Helps us help you - it's way easier for the Xanga Team to communicate with you about help issues if you have a real, active email address in your account.

2. If you haven't gotten subscription emails for a long time and think you should be receiving them, it may be because of outdated contact information.

3. ISPs change, college emails get deleted post-graduation and it's
easy to forget long-gone emails, but updating is quick and easy.

4. Even if you're not a regular reader of this awesome blog, you can get updates through an email subscription.

5. Because all the cool kids are doing it.

That last one was a little lame, but you get the point. Update!

P.S. Cool new stuff's coming at the end of this week - stay tuned.

"I have a random box on my site that is covering up somelinks so I can't go into my look & feel and some other links. It also showsup on my public profile. How can I get rid of it?"
- be_my_escape22

Take a deep breath.

If you're still using Look and Feel and some of your code goes wonky, don't panic - safe mode is a quick way to find and fix those issues.

You can check up on the HTML in your last five weblog entries, your Xanga Skin or your Look and Feel. Basic code troubleshooting hints are posted on our FAQ, so check them out if you're not sure where to start looking.

(Note: we're working on a version of safe mode for Xanga Themes too... we'll post more about it as we get closer to launch)