Reilly, Wordsmith

Yola LINK Creation - Troubleshooting

The site you're currently viewing - Reilly, Wordsmith - was created using the online web page designer, Yola (formerly known as SynthaSite).  When I've added links to my pages, I've discovered that links don't work properly if they're touching each other.  In other words, if you put two links on a page, and there is no space whatsoever between those two links, they will probably end up as one big link that just links to one page/site.  And even IF you put space between the two links, they can still end up stuck together.  Here's how to avoid/remedy this problem:

• Have at least one space between the two words/terms that will form your two links (e.g., if you have a link to a page on apples and a link to a different page on oranges, typing them on your site as "apples oranges" is okay, but "applesoranges" is not).
• When you highlight the first word/term prior to turning it into a link, do NOT highlight any of the empty space around it, just the word/term itself (e.g., highlight "apples", but not " apples   ").
• Make sure the space between your links is not part of either link.  Do this by highlighting the empty space, clicking the Insert Link button on the top toolbar and, when the Link Editor dialog box opens, clicking the None button.

How to TUNE UP a Dodge Dakota Sport Pickup V6

This is the tuneup that should happen every 50,000 miles.

In these instructions, L. and R. assume you’re standing in front of the open hood facing the back of the car.

NOTE: Tighten all bolts and plugs until they’re snug, but not so much that you crack them.

Supplies needed:

6 spark plugs

set of spark plug wires (6 plug wires and one wire to the coil, which is slightly different)

distributor cap

rotor

PCV valve

fuel filter

oil filter

air filter

that grease-like stuff that keeps spark plug threads from sticking

Disconnect the battery (10mm wrench?), neutral side first, and clean off the contacts.  NOTE: Don’t put sideways bending pressure on the battery contacts, or you can rupture the battery inside and cause it to explode!  Hold each wire with one hand as you turn the nut with the other.

Remove the big plastic nut on top of the crankcase, and lift off the circular housing that extends from the air filter.  Open the air filter box (L side) and set the lid aside.  Remove the air filter, and remove any nuts holding the box in place.  Two reverse Torx nuts hold the box in place, too (one inside the box, one at bottom front of the box), but these don’t need to be unscrewed – just tug them upward.  A circular clip holds the air intake to the front of the car near the grille – pry this off with a screwdriver.  Now the whole box can be set aside to make room for removing the spark plugs.

There are three spark plugs on each side of this V-6 engine.  On the wires for each side, use a magic marker to make one, two, or three marks on the wires to number them one to three from front to back.  Pull the wires off the plugs with pliers.  The wires are also held by one or two harnesses – these harnesses may be pried open with a very small screwdriver near the top – then they open via a hinge at the bottom. 

Remove the plugs with a rachet wrench and spark plug socket or other 5/8” socket.  NOTE: Don’t put any sideways bending pressure on the plugs, or you can crack themThe plugs at the back are hard to reach and will require maneuvering with various extensions and hinged socket wrenches.  When you remove a plug, replace it immediately with a new one, gapped to .040 inches and with its threads coated with that stuff that keeps threads from sticking.  Put the new one in immediately so debris doesn't fall in the hole.

The distributor cap is at the back of the engine right near the firewall.  Seven wires go into it – six from the plugs, and one from the coil.  You can pull the coil wire off (the other end attaches to the coil, which is at the front left of the engine), but don’t remove the spark plug wires!

To get at the cap, remove a ground wire that attaches near the firewall on the L. side, and pop off the small vacuum hose that’s near the brake fluid reservoir on the R. side.  The distributor cap is held in place with two small (7mm) hex screws, which can also take a phillips screwdriver.  Don’t remove the spark plug wires from the cap!  You’ll need to have them in place as a guide when attaching the new wires to the new cap, to maintain the correct firing order (which, in a pinch, you can also find online).  You might want someone else to hold a flashlight while you seat the wrench on the two screws under their maze of wires.  Once the screws are off (the new cap comes with its own screws), lift the cap over the rotor and maneuver it out to the left, then up and out.  It won’t be easy.

Lay the old cap and wires in front of you and, using it as a guide, attach the new wires to the new cap.  NOTE: all the wires are a slightly different length, so make sure you use the right wire in the right place.  The new wires may be of slightly different length than the old wires; don’t worry about it, just use them in the right size order.  Attach the new wires to the new cap, using the old one as a guide (a “1” embossed on each cap can be used as a reference).  Push down on each wire until you feel it click into place.

Pull off the old rotor by hand, and push on the new one – it’s made so it can only go on in one position.  Now feed the new wires and cap into place.  Have one person hold the cap in position while the other tightens the screws.  Push the correct wires onto the correct plugs by hand until you feel them click.  Put them back in their harnesses.  Reattach the ground wire and the vacuum hose that you’d moved out of your way.  Reconnect the battery temporarily and start the car.  If it works, disconnect the battery again and continue.

The PCV valve is small, and almost concealed by the hose that feeds into it.  It’s on the L. side on top of the crankcase.  Pull it out of the crankcase by hand, pull the other end out of the hose, and replace it.

Replace the air filter housing and install the new air filter.  Close it up.

Replace the fuel filter.

Change the oil and filter.  The filter is on the L. side, accessed from underneath.  The truck takes five quarts.

Adding favicons to your Yola site

What the heck is a favicon?  A favicon is that little symbol at the left end of the address bar on your browser.  Right now, when you're at reillywordsmith.com, that symbol is an "RW" in a green square.  See it?  Next to the address bar at the top?  Microsoft Internet Explorer doesn't tend to display it, but Firefox usually does.  A favicon is just another way of building brand identity - it's the website equivalent of the Nike logo on the side of a pair of sneakers.

"Favicon" is short for "Favorites icon," and that's what Yola (formerly Synthasite) calls it.  When I made mine, I knew I wanted to use letters (namely, "RW"), but Yola's favicon function can't work with Word documents, only with image files.  So here's what I did:

1. Open Microsoft Paint (Start|All Programs|Accessories| Paint).  A blank white box will appear.

2. At the bottom of the screen, you'll see small boxes of different colors - this is called the Color Bar.  At the left end of the color bar is a symbol with two overlapping boxes, one black, one white.  These indicate the foreground color (like text and lines) and the background color.  From the choices to the right, select a color for foreground and background.  You do this by left-clicking a color to make it the foreground color, and right-clicking a color to make it the background color.  Simple.

3. If none of the color choices are what you need, you can customize colors by going to the pulldown menus at the top of the screen, and selecting Colors|Edit Colors|Define Custom Colors, then mixing your own.  NOTE: any color you mix will display as black until you raise the luminosity, using the slider bar on the right side of the dialog box.

4. Once your colors are selected, make yourself a rectangle.  Click the rectangle symbol on the left side of the Paint screen, and from the resulting choices, select the second choice.

5. The cursor turns into a cross.  Click & hold somewhere in the drawing space, then drag the cursor to create a rectangle.  A rectangle should appear, containing your chosen background color.  NOTE: the rectangle doesn't have to be the right size; make it too big, because you'll be able to crop it later when you upload it to Yola.

6. Now click the Text button (the capital A).  Click near the middle of your rectangle and type your text - it doesn't have to be centered; you'll be cropping it later.  Save & close the file.

7. Open Yola and go into your website.  Open one of your pages.  On the right, click the Properties tab.

9. Scroll down to "Favorites icon."  Click the button to the right of this box.  The file manager dialog box will open.  Click Upload Files.  Navigate to the file you created in Paint, and double-click it.  Now click Edit Image.  This opens the Picnik image editor. 

10. Click the Crop button and crop the image to your liking.  Click Save to Yola.  The newly cropped image will appear in your file manager.  Click Select.  Repeat the process for all your site's pages.  Click Update My Site, and you're done!