Two LJ questions: books box? lessons learned?

[kathryn_ironic]

1. Is there an easy way to add a "Books Read" box to my side column? If it means going into the more complex style system, I'd be willing to contemplate that. (While I'm otherwise happy with this pre-made layout, the lack of a "books" box is bothersome.)

1. What did you learn after a few  months of LiveJournaling that you wish you'd known from the

Comments

[fadethecat]

I...do not know. I've seen people put lists of links to assorted places, but I'm not sure how that's arranged. Possibly you could do the same thing with links to appropriate webpages for each book?

I eventually learned that just because the form offered me a field when I was updating my journal, I did not have to feel obliged to fill it out. I don't use a lot of the optional stuff anymore, unless I feel there's a good reason to tell people what music I'm listening to or so forth.

Oh, and I learned how to add things to memories, but not until a few years in. (I'm a slow learner!) That was very useful for tracking certain types of my posts.

The most useful thing I eventually learned about was how to use various type of filters for locking posts, but I believe that's only available to paid accounts.

[redrose3125]

I wish I had started using tags from my first post, and i wish I had thought about my tagging system beforehand.

I think I can set various groups of friends for different types of locking, but I only have a free basic account without any of the trimmings

[sff_corgi]

[wanders over from Making Light]

1. I'd have to play with the style to find out, but I've edited my own to add a whole string of links. What style is this? I can probably figure it out for you.

2. E-mail notifications. Once I got more than a few Friends (and therefore stopped wandering around Friends of Friends), I started to lose track of where I'd said what. Notifications fixed that.

They started Tags long after I started my LJ, but at least you can edit those. My Memories, though, are kind of a hash of categories (and on the off chance you're not familiar with how they apply, Memories let you save other peoples' posts; Tags just let you sort your own). They're harder to 'fix', but needed more aforethought.

[kathryn_ironic]

Thanks, that's helpful to know. I've been in the habit of bookmarking all blogs where I post a comment, but Memories will be useful within LJ.

1. I used the S2 style "Nebula" http://www.livejournal.com/customize/themes.bml?layout=4472684
with color set "oh black" and the "canvas" image option for the content area image.

As said in another comment, I haven't specifically seen LJ blogs with a books box-- a simple box to list books read-- but I'm sure they must exist.

[tania_c]

I'm reading through the S2 manual, to see the guidelines for modifying themes. I'm a believer in RTFM. What sort of booklist are you interested in? As in, a list or something linked to LibraryThing, or some other widget?

I can't really share much about long term use. Sorry.

[kathryn_ironic]

I'd like a box that sits within the sidebar (currently has "navigation" "summary" "livejournal") where I can list books I've read. I've seen them in blogs, although I don't specifically recall seeing a LJ version.

As I'm otherwise happy with the layout, I'd like to spend as little time as possible with the technical details of LiveJournal, unless I know it's a one-off limited learning experience. I'm happy to learn, but I'm even happier to learn vicariously.