Clearspring Tutorial

First, you need to sign-up for an account at Clearspring.com. Verify your account via a confirmation e-mail they sent you and login.
Next, go to your control panel.
Click on Add Widget which will take you to a page where you have 2 choices. Choose 'ON MY PAGE' and click on it. You will be taken to a builder page and you simply fill in your customizations on the left hand side, while a preview loads on the right hand side of the screen.

Widget Name: Choose Your Widget's Name

Display Options: Choose ON-Page API

Color Theme: Choose your color theme

Menu Size: Default is fine.

Services: Leave as is or select only Squidoo, if you wish.

Menu Options: Leave as is.

What You Want To Share: This is where you add the form code or embed code that you would like to show in your widget. You can add your feedburner e-mail subscription code here, or your Amazon widget code here. Make sure to specify the height and width to match Amazon's or to your specifications.

After you fill in all the options, click SAVE at the bottom of the list. You'll be taken to a Success page where you will see code on the right and 3 options on the left. Click the 'Publish Your Widget' option, on the left. Find the link called 'Widget Homepage' in both the lefthand sidebar and on the right hand side. On the Widget Homepage you will see 'Link: http://www.clearspring.com/widgets/xxxxxx'. Click this link.
You will be taken to your widget's display page where you will see the widget on the left and the share menu on the right. Click on Squidoo in the share menu. Make sure you are already logged into your Squidoo account and click on 'add to account'. This will reveal a list of your lenses, published and WIP. Choose the lens you want to add the widget to. And this will add the widget to the lens you choose as well as take you to editing the lens. Customize and reorder your module as you like and you are done!

Screenshots coming soon!

• You must have the latest version of Flash installed to use Clearspring's widget builder


• When clicking on 'add to your account' when trying to add widget to your Squidoo lens you get a drop down list. Only lenses that have been created/drafted over an hour or so and beforehand will show in the lens list.

The instructions I gave you, above, allow for a seamless widget for your Squidoo lens. But you can also add a share menu to your widget by choosing one of the other display options.

You can find a repository of Squidoo friendly Clearspring widgets at WidgetSquid.com.