Blogger and google rich snippet recipe using micro data

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Using Google structured data test tool to verify microdata
Using Google structured data test tool to verify microdata
Update: I am developing a web app - SEO Recipe Tool for formatting recipe with microdata. Now it is in preview/alpha stage. I am planning to finish it by Feb 2014.
Well I have started a cooking blog some time before and wanted to add microdata for Google rich snippets in my blog so that I could get some benefit from the Google recipe search and SEO boost. Though there are different formats available(microformat, RDFa), microdata is the latest format developed together by the search giants like Google, Yahoo, Bing etc.  I searched a lot for some widgets which I could use with blogger for this purpose. After lot of search also I could find only widgets for WordPress and not for blogger. So I thought if adding it by editing the template and HTML code of recipe post.
This is not so easy as using the WordPress plug in. so I am listing the information here so that it could be helpful for some one trying to do the same. First of all this requires some template modification and a little modification of HTML tags while. Without modification also it is possible, but in that case we will have to do a lot of HTML editing while posting every time.

Some information about microdata

In web pages we can write information which can be understood by humans, but it will not be possible(or difficult) for machines to understand


For example, if I am writing "This recipe is from Soumya and needs 1 hour preparation."From this sentence we can understand that Soumya is author and 1hour is required for preparation. By adding Google Rich Recipe snippets, it is possible for search engines(machines) to understand please see the snippet after adding metadata
<div itemscope itemtype="http://schema.org/Recipe"> This recipe is from <span itemprop="author">Soumya</span> and needs <meta itemprop="prepTime" content="PT1H">1 hour preparation. </div>
The above marked part will tell author is Soumya and preparation time is 1 hour. However the above code is just a part and a vocabulary is also necessary. This is available in http://schema.org/Recipe this is necessary to tell what is itemprop="author". Well this informatioin is incomplete for a recipe. For full list of properties of recipe click here.

Updating template for adding microdata

Complete information cannot be updated in template as information like cooking time, ingredients, prepration method etc will be inside the post(May be using some advanced script or something, it will be possible. But do not know much about those stuffs).
Following are the updates which I did.

Note: If you are going to follow this, then please take a backup of template first.

1) Changed the following line
<div class='post hentry uncustomized-post-template' itemscope='itemscope' itemtype='http://schema.org/BlogPosting'>
to
<div class='post hentry uncustomized-post-template' itemscope='itemscope' itemtype='http://schema.org/Recipe'>
2) Under this line, added some extra code for author, description, date, name, image, thumbnail etc.
<meta expr:content='data:post.snippet' itemprop='description'/>
<b:if cond='data:post.firstImageUrl'>
<meta expr:content='data:post.firstImageUrl' itemprop='image'/>
</b:if>
<b:if cond='data:post.thumbnailUrl'>
<meta expr:content='data:post.thumbnailUrl' itemprop='thumbnailUrl'/>
</b:if>
<meta expr:content='data:post.author' itemprop='author'/>
<meta expr:content='data:post.timestampISO8601' itemprop='datePublished'/>

3) Now rest of the tags are added my modifying HTML tags in each post. Example below.

Prep Time: <meta itemprop="prepTime" content="PT15M">15 minutes
Cook time: <meta itemprop="cookTime" content="PT1H">1 hour
Yield: <span itemprop="recipeYield">1 loaf</span>

<span itemprop="ingredients">3 or 4 ripe bananas, smashed</span>

<span itemprop="recipeInstructions"> Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Mix in the ingredients in a bowl. Add
the flour last. Pour the mixture into a loaf pan and bake for one hour.
</span>
Once finished, you can use the Google Structured Data Testing Tool to check if the microdata contents are correct. 

Note 1: There might be more that one line as in step .1, these steps has to be repeated all places.
Note 2: The meta tags for preparation time, cooking time etc added in post will be automatically deleted if you switch to compose mode in the blog post editor. So add this tag at the end and publish without switching to the compose mode.

PS: It is also possible to add meta tags only by changing HTML tags in blog post instead of updating the template itself. But in each post all tags need to be added. To minimize this, you can also create a post template. But still some HTML editing will be necessary for each post.

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Sony(Sony ericssion) mobile headpone compatibility problem solved

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I loved my Sony Ericsson head phone which I got from my brother. I have recently purchased Sony Xperia U smart phone and really disappointed of the headphone quality which is coming along with the mobile. I was using this old Sony Ericsson headphone earlier and the audio quality was awesome with very good bass reflex technology.
So I thought of using the old one with my Xperia U. But I found that the headphone is not supported. After a little research, I found that the new mobile phone series Sony Xperia S, Xperia P and Xperia U, Z and latest uses a different 3.5mm headset standard compared to the older Xperia models from 2010 & 2011.
3.5mm jack OMTP, CTIA and ordinary sterio

The spec sheet for the 2012 Xperia models highlight that the 3.5mm jack will now use the CTIA standard as opposed to the OMTP standard it was using previously.
1249-0456 EC250 Headphone Converter
There is a converter available for this, however I thought of modifying my headphone(in mic board) instead of using the converter. This is easy with a little bit of soldering. But for this shield has to be disconnected because ground and shield will be connected in pin and in the mic board. In the pin it is not possible to change point at which shield is connected, so when connected to phone with CITA standard shield and Mic are connected. So I disconnected the shield from board. This may be not very good for the quality of sound as noise could be induced.
Modified headphone
A cable with shield
Note: Do not try this if you don't know what you are doing. This may damage your headphone or phone. And may not work for you.

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Read Hindi webpages on mobile phone using Opera Mini

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In my previous posts, I have written how to do opera mini settings for Malayalam and Tamil(however both settings are same). To make it easy for those who are searching to view settings for Hindi, I am creating this new post. As mentioned in my old posts this will work for all complex script Indian and other languages also.
Rendering of page without configuration

In-order to read, we have to enable a special menu on the Opera Mini browser by typing "config:" in the address bar of Opera Mini and click "Go".

Opening config page
This will open a configuration menu as shown in the screen shot below. Here we will be able to change lot of settings like feedindex, linklists folding, loading time etc. In this menu there will be an entry called "Use bitmap fonts for complex scripts". By default this setting will be disabled. Now change the setting to Yes and click Save.


 Scroll down to find the option "Use bitmap fonts for complex scripts"
Changing the setting



Save settings

What exactly happens ? 
Usually while processing a web page for mobile phones in opera mini servers, text will be sent as normal text and font information. So the actual rendering of the font happens in the mobile. This method causes comparitively less bandwidth. After the change in the setting, Opera Mini server will render the text at server itself, then convert it to bitmap images and then send to phone. So the phone will display correct text.

Hindi page rendered after setting
This method works for other languages other than Hindi also. So have good time reading an article in your local language using mobile while you are on move.

Note: Enabling this option will result in higher data rate. For example, site size is 91KB with this setting and it was only 28KB before enabling the setting.
If you are upgrading Opera mini to a higher version, then this setting has to be done again.

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