Now that you have a good grasp of SML, its Feature Blocks, and the way you can combine and configure the different features on the platform; it's time to put it all into practice. This next set of exercises is intended to provide a chance for you to take the lead and develop your own tab using what you've learned instead of following examples that have been written out for you ahead of time. Ask your instructor if you hit a roadblock.

Exercise 1

The time has come for you to create your own page!

Pick two Feature Blocks from the list and create a basic page layout that incorporates them both to create a custom user experience. You might combine a you_tube_feed  and a twitter_feed to show a video or set of videos about a specific topic or from a specific brand and then bring in tweets relevant to the topic of the videos. Or maybe you'd like to combine an rss_feed and a flickr gallery to create a custom travel log of your most recent vacation or a photoblog about your company's latest product.

The choice is yours!

Exercise 2

Now that you have a basic tab together, it's time to add social networking tools. Configure facebook_like or facebook_comments to allow users to interact with individual items in one of your iterated lists. Add a share tag that pulls its icon, title, and description from a content item dynamically (hint: use capture!).

Remember your goal is not to inundate the user with social tags, but to enhance the user experience. So take some time to think carefully about how to do this in a way that looks and feels natural.

Moving Forward

At this point you've learned how to use SML Feature blocks to call, configure, and style content. You've configures SML outputs using HTML, styled them with CSS, and added functionality with Javascript. You have all the pieces in your toolkit that you need to create custom fully functional user experiences. 

What you haven't done yet is set up production tabs that the whole world can see.

Because Involver provides full hosting and Platform support for all SML tabs we tightly control their installation to make sure unauthorized tabs aren't going live and sucking bandwidth and resources from you, our clients. Because of that gatekeeping, the setup process is a bit more involved then the normal app installation process you might be used too for Facebook. These are the steps you'll be need to go through to create a live tab viewable to the public.

During Development:

In development your app is fully functional with the exception that the contents of the tab are only visible to admins of the page, and the tab name defaults to Involver.

In the rare occasion that you cannot add reviewers of the tab as admins of the page, STOP at step 5, DO NOT use your developer key! Install the SML application onto the page but when prompted for your development key, instead contact your Account Manager with your development page URL and we will lift the visibility restriction.

1. Create a Facebook page for your development sandbox http://facebook.com/pages/manage

2. Click this installation link: http://www.facebook.com/add.php?api_key=50fc3eb6e1fdb667a2189eae3d59f999&pages

3. Select your development sandbox from the drop down menu page for application installation
4. Click Add Involver

5. You will be prompted for premium access at this point or to apply your developer key. Click on apply your developer key.

6. Enter your developer key

7. You have now successfully installed the SML application in development mode.

Production: (Please provide 2 business days’ notice prior to scheduled Go-Live date)

1. Email your Customer Success Manager with the links to your production pages so that they can "Like" them. (Facebook requires that they "Like" the page before you can make them an admin). They will email you as soon as this is done.

2. Add your Customer Success Manager as an admin to the production page and send them an email with:
a. Your production fan page URL
b. The name you want the Tab to have
c. Tab icon (16x16 px)

3. Within 24 hours your production tab will be installed on the production page but not visible to users.

4. As an admin of the page, click on Edit Info > Apps. Find your custom tab name in the list of Apps. Go To App.

5. Copy over SML and configuration from your development sandbox

6. Your production tab is now configured

7. Return to Apps list > Find your tab name in the list of apps > Edit Settings > Click (add) next to Tab

8. Your production tab is now visible