mySpace Version 2 Customize Top Section, Mood, Online now Icon, contact Table, url, image, last login, location

MySpace 2.0 (V2)(v.2) Customize the top area

All rights reserved.
You may use my code for the following:
- to customize a myspace page
- for any other use please ask. I usually say yes, if the use adds value (such as use with layout art and use in other tools.)
But I like credit.
- Do NOT remove my credits (you may add your own if you add value).


For a tool that will generate the needed code, for either an online now icon, which will allow you to show one icon when online and another when not online, go here:

http://xiii.us/eGen/olSkin.php

The online icon code is pretty easy and straight forward, I am sure it can probably be found on lots of sites by now (it is much easier then in version 1).
However, showing one icon when offline, and another when online, and allowing for transparency, does take more complicated code. So please do not copy my code to other sites. You may use it, on your profile.
If you want to make icons to work with the code, ask me, I am willing to share with those who are adding value (such as creating images).



This article is a work in progress. I just wanted to get some code out here, to refer people to, who were asking how to do this stuff.

Custom Mood:

Replace the image, with the image you want to use, then insert the following block of code into your css edit area.

{! start Custom Mood !}
div.basicInfoModule div.basicInfoDetails span.mood img {height:0px; width:0px; display:inline;}
div.basicInfoModule div.basicInfoDetails span.mood img { padding-right:30px; padding-top:30px; background-image:url(http://i38.tinypic.com/2wna25l.jpg); background-repeat:no-repeat;}
i.iix {display:none;}
{! end code for custom mood !}

If your image size is larger then the 30x30, adjust the padding px sizes, to accomodate your image.

Custom online now icon:
Replace the image, with the image you want to use, then insert the following block of code into your css edit area.

{! start code for custom online now icon !}
img.ImgOnlineNow {height:0px; width:0px; 
padding-top:20px; 
padding-left:80px; 
background-image:url(http://i2.tinypic.com/4q5x18z.gif); 
background-repeat:no-repeat;}
i.iix {display:none;}
{! end code for custom online now icon !}

Custom OFF and ONLINE icons

I have an updated version of this code, that does allow for the online icon to contain transparency. Instead of covering the offline icon, as my earlier version of the code did, it will actually remove the offline icon, when the online icon is displayed. This allows for more transparency in the online icon.

The newer code can be found here:
online now icons myspace 2.0, offline icons myspace 2.0


This will display one image when you are offline and another when you are online.
This requires an image, where the bottom 20px represent the image you want to show when offline, and the top 20px represent the image you want to show when online.
If using transparency, the online portion of the image needs to cover all the visible areas of the offline icon (unless you want these areas to show while online).

{!start code for custom online/offline icon!}
{!code author:Eileen views-under-construction.blogspot.com !}
{!do not remove my credit, do not re-publish my code, see above website for terms!}
li.offline {display:none;}
ul.profileUserInfo li {background-position:left bottom; height:20px; width:80px; background-repeat:no-repeat;} 
ul.profileUserInfo li img{ padding-top:20px; background-repeat:no-repeat; background-position:left top;}
ul.profileUserInfo li, 
ul.profileUserInfo li img {background-image:url(http://i287.photobucket.com/albums/ll142/mpskin/0-0/onoff/scroll-gold.png);}
ul.profileUserInfo li#adr,
ul.profileUserInfo li.tags,
ul.profileUserInfo li.lastlogin {background-image:none; width:auto; height:auto;} 
{!end code custom off/online icon !}

Style the contact table:
The easiest improvement to make to the default contact table, is to remove the ugly images, and then style the text.

The following code block will remove the images,style the text, position the link within the li (solves some alignment/spacing issues), apply background color:

{! contact table customize!}
{! code author:Eileen; views-under-construction.blogspot.com !}
li.i.clearfix {display:none;}  
{!OPTIONAL: color and border to contact table!}
ul.contactLinks {background-color:mistyrose; border:2px magenta solid;}
{!Size contactLinks div, override padding!}
ul.contactLinks {width:100px; height:60px; padding:0px;}
{size of individual li elements around each link}
ul.contactLinks li {position:relative; width:100%; height:33%;  text-align:center;}
{!apply to all contactLinks!}
ul.contactLinks li a {background-image:none; padding:0px; font-family:comic sans ms; font-size:11px; margin-right:auto; margin-left:auto;}
{!apply style for link pseudo-classes!}
ul.contactLinks li a:link, 
ul.contactLinks li a:active, 
ul.contactLinks li a:visited  { color:purple;  }
ul.contactLinks li a:hover {color:green; text-decoration:none;}
{!OPTIONAL color center link a different color!}
ul.contactLinks li.addToFriends {background-color:silver;}

Custom contact table:
To find custom contact tables, and code generator for use with your own custom contact table, go here:
myspace 2.0 custom contact tables, custom contact table code generator

There are so many different ways to do this.
If you are NOT moving the table (or moving it a very small distance, using margins) I recommend placing your custom table image, as a background, to the ul.contactLinks
element.
(I used the li element instead, because I later plan to add the option to move the table.)
However, if you want to move the contact table/links,
my preferred method is to use the top li element to hold the contact table image, and then place the additional li elements so that the correct portion of the background shows through.

(Due to the existing core myspace code, moving the ul element, has issues. )

The following block of code applies a custom image, to the contact table, and removes the existing text and image. This code will keep the table in the default position. The custom image should be 100x90 pixels, with each link 100x30.
This is slightly longer then the default contact table, and will push down the picture area, slightly.

This code goes in the css section, of the customize profile section:

{! start code for custom contact table !}
{! code author:Eileen; views-under-construction.blogspot.com; all rights reserved; !}
ul.contactLinks {width:100px; height:90px; overflow:hidden;  background-image:url(http://i287.photobucket.com/albums/ll142/mpskin/0-ct/100x90/scroll-pink-candy.png); background-repeat:no-repeat;}
ul.contactLinks li {  height:29px; width:100%; margin:0px; overflow:hidden; display:block;}
ul.contactLinks li a { background-image:none; height:28px;  width:100px; float:left; text-indent:1313px }
{! end code for custom contact table !}

Replace my image with your own. (or you may use my image if you want.)

The next block does not relocate the table, but uses code that will make it easier to later relocate the table. This is the version currently being used in my code/contact table tool. There are so many ways to code this, that each time I write the code, I do it slightly different.

{! START custom contact table/links skin !}
{!xiii.us/eGen/ctSkin.php code author:Eileen all rights reserved!}
ul.contactLinks {position:relative; height: 90px; width:100px;}
ul.contactLinks li.message {overflow:hidden; background-image:url(http://i287.photobucket.com/albums/ll142/mpskin/0-ct/100x90/nature/butterfly-on-green.png);height:90px; width:100px; position:absolute; top:0px; left:0px; }
ul.contactLinks li.addToFriends {overflow:hidden; height:30px; width:100px;position:absolute; top:29px; left:0px;}
ul.contactLinks li.comment {overflow:hidden; height:30px; width:100px;position:absolute; top:60px; left:0px;}
ul.contactLinks li a {display:block; background-image:none; padding-left:1313px; width:100px; height:30px;}
{! END custom contact table/links skin !}

The next code block allows you to re-position the contact table, using absolute positioning within the modulebasicInfo div, and measured from the top left corner of that div.
This code goes in the css section, of the customize profile section:

{! start code for custom contact table !}
{! code author:Eileen; views-under-construction.blogspot.com; all rights reserved; !}
ul.contactLinks li.message
{display:block; position:absolute; top:0px; left:0px; height:90px; width:100px; background-color:transparent;}
ul.contactLinks li.addToFriends {display:block; position:absolute; top:30px; left:0px; height:30px; width:100px; }
ul.contactLinks li.comment {display:block; position:absolute; top:60px; left:0px; height:30px;  }
ul.contactLinks li a {padding:0px; position:absolute; top:0px; left:0px; width:100px; display:block; }
div.modulebasicInfo {position:relative; }
{! end code to customize contact table !}

Replace my image with your own. (or you may use my image if you want.).
Alter the top and left values so that each link positions where you want it.

[More custom contact table options coming later, so little time, so much code in my head ...]

URL style

After applying the custom contact table, I realized the url looked really bad, I could add it to the top of the contact table, hide it or move it.
Instead I will ditch the ugly orange icon, and modify the text font to blend in.

{!url link!}
{! code author Eileen; xiii.us; views-under-construction.blogspot.com !}
{! however easy the code was to write, if you got it from me, do not remove my credit !}
span.urlLink i.icon {display:none;}
span.urlLink a.url {background-image:none; color:gold; font-size:8px; font-family:comic sans ms;}

OR I can completely hide the url:

{! hide url myspace 2.0 code by Eileen !}
span.urlLink {display:none;}
{! end code to hide url !}

[More code coming soon, so much code in my head, so little time.]

Elections, who to vote for, what to vote for?

As usual, I find myself mostly undecided, with just over 24 hours before my ballot is due.

As with most elections, the advertising and Campaigning is mostly full of partial truths, designed to mis-represent reality.
However, unlike most elections, the hate and scare tactics seem to have reached a new level.

I do not agree with any single candidate on all of the issues which are important to me.

I despise earmarks (or any other type of unrelated rider attached to bills).
One candidate states he will veto any bill with earmarks, but then votes in favor of a bill that is stuffed with hundreds of pages of riders, some of which are clearly earmarks.

I despise, and see a significant problem with any model where socialized costs contribute to privatized profits. If my taxes pay the bill, the cost is socialized.

I do not believe in unregulated capitalism, as there are too many ways to profit without actually adding value. In many cases profit can be obtained while taking away value.
Give me a capitalism where profit = value added, charity is given by the person who earned the money being given, and a set of simple equal tax laws that actually have some correlation to an individuals probable demand on (or benefit from) tax funded services; and I will become a devout Capitalist.
But until this style of capitalism can be achieved, I will tend toward some level of what many call "creeping socialism" but I prefer to call "plugging the holes in Capitalism".

I believe that corporate greed is going to ruin this country. The shipping of jobs over seas is a huge risk to this country's economic stability. The huge (and increasing gap) between top management and those who invent the products and do the work is a risk. The benefits top management gets from short term stock price gains over long term stability is a risk, and leads to behaviors that put long term company stability at risk.

But how big a risk, should something be, before Government steps in, and implements policies that put the Good of the Country above the freedom of the Corporation?
Can we even trust Government to implement policies that really achieve this, when the tendency seems to be policies they claim should achieve this, but actually benefit some companies (those who have purchased our politicians) at a cost to others.


So who to vote for?
One candidate wants to change the way wealth is re-distributed (although some continue to argue as if he is introducing the socialist idea of wealth redistribution to a system which does not already contain this.)
He wants less re-distribution to the top, and more to the bottom.

I am in favor of less to the top.
I am NOT in favor of more to the bottom.

As for the other candidate, I believe he wants to keep the tax/benefit burden pretty much like it now is.
He does want to tax medical insurance, paid for by the employer, and then give us all $5000. In my case, this is probably a net gain, at least short term.
But it seems like a rather complicated way of moving money around.

I think that Medical Insurance companies are a problem, and add no value at all.
They bully suppliers (much like WalMart does).
They have forced the wages of those who actually provide the care down, while reaping huge profits for themselves.

Maybe McCain's plan will help. We can all take our $5000, and shop for Medical Insurance, basing our purchase decision on how much of the money collected actually goes to care, and how much to overhead.

Obama's message is mixed. He seems in favor of a Government program here, but I am not clear on exactly what it is.

I really like that Obama feels that corporations should NOT be allowed to take away our retirement benefits.
(I am a victim of this very corporate behavior, where something is stated as a benefit, and then after working for the company for 15 years, the rules change, and a major portion of the benefit goes poof. I know the fine print indicated it could, but based on the past track record of the company, it was not illogical for me to assume the benefit would remain.)

I like that Obama is against corporate tax loopholes. In fact, he even indicated a willingness to LOWER the corporate tax rate, if the loopholes were removed.

I still have no idea why we are STILL in Iraq, and prefer a policy that gets us out quickly to one that keeps us there longer.
If our purpose is to protect a key resource, for the sake of defense, then lets openly state that, and explain to the people why it is needed.
If our purpose is to fight terrorism, I am not sure Iraq is where we belong.
If our purpose was to overthrow their evil government, we have already accomplished that. Leaving Iraq is NOT the same as having left Vietnam when we did. We clearly gave up in Vietnam. Maybe we are just finished with our key mission in Iraq.
(I can't know if we are done or not, if I do not really understand what the mission is.)

I am against the government printing so much money that it devalues the money I have worked hard to save.
I think the law should require the government to give me (and others who have money saved) a share of the money they print, to bring my own savings up, an amount based on inflation, so its actual purchasing value remains the same.
Printing money to bail out large corporations, is a way of re-distributing from me (and others who have saved) to the top.
However both Presidential candidates voted in favor of a bill to give billions to the top. Then the Fed LOWERED interest rates.
Should not the shortage of money to borrow INCREASE the value of MY SAVINGS?.
Should the interest on my savings now go UP, instead of down?

Even more important then who I vote for for President, is who I vote for as a Senator.
I live in a very Blue state.

I have the choice between an incumbent Republican who not only voted for the bail out bill, but did so because of certain earmarks (he sent me a letter explaining why he voted for the bill); and a Democrat who I know very little about.
Often I vote based on balance of power, which would lead me to vote for the Republican.
However, I decided to vote out all incumbents, especially those who voted in favor of the bail out bill.

I also have several measures to decide on.
I usually vote no on these, because they are put together in a complicated fashion. I feel that laws do NOT need to be so complex, that they are difficult to understand.
However, one measure will get my yes vote.
I am in favor of being able to deduct 100% of my federal tax bill from my state taxable income.