Your Flavors site is a gathering place for the content you’ve created across the web, including blogs, videos, photos and more. In less than five minutes, you can pipe all of your social services — like Twitter, Flickr, Tumblr and Vimeo — into one beautiful, super-customizable site.
It’s the perfect way to create a cohesive online identity for yourself or your brand.
A basic version of Flavors is available for free, without time restrictions. This version provides a taste of what Flavors has to offer, including essential fonts and layouts, customizable color palettes, basic statistics, and up to four connections with RSS feeds and social services.
The full version gives you the true Flavors experience, with an extended font collection, beta layouts, a contact form, detailed statistics, metadata and unlimited services.
To see all that Flavors has to offer, click on the pink Upgrade button at the top of your site or from the Settings menu. The cost is $20 per year, charged on a yearly subscription basis. We accept payment through PayPal or Google Checkout.
Head to http://flavors.me/signup to create your Flavors account. There are two easy ways to sign up:
Enter your name, email and desired password.
or
Log in with your Facebook credentials by clicking on the large blue “Connect with Facebook” button. You will then be asked to authorize Flavors to connect with your Facebook account. Confirm this, and you will be sent back to Flavors to continue setting up your account.
There are two main administration areas for your Flavors site and account: Settings and the Design Panel.
Your Settings menu is located at http://flavors.me/settings/account. There you can edit your username, email and password, and view your stats. Custom domain setup and more detailed statistics are available with the full version of Flavors.
The Design Panel allows you to control the look and feel of your Flavors site. Additional fonts and layouts and customizable metadata are also available with the the full version of Flavors.
To access the Design Panel, click on the Visit Site link at the top of the Settings page, or simply navigate to your Flavors site while you’re logged in. Click on the Show Design Panel link at the top of your Flavors site.
To move the Design Panel, click on the gray bar at the top of the panel, and hold down to drag it anywhere on the page. To hide the panel, click on the small minus sign at the top right of the panel.
These ideas will help you fully optimize your Flavors site and spread the word about your work. There are plenty of other methods. Don’t be afraid to get creative!:
To change your username, email or password, go to the Settings menu for your account, located at http://flavors.me/settings/account. Click Save Changes at the bottom of the page to save.
The custom domain option allows you to set up a memorable domain name for your Flavors site. Instead of, for example, http://flavors.me/myname, readers can view your Flavors site at http://www.myname.com.
To use this feature, you will need to purchase the full version of Flavors. A pre-existing domain name is also required.
Domains can be purchased from a domain registrar, such as GoDaddy, often for $10 or less. If you aren’t sure what you want, or discover that your choice is already taken, try searching through Domai.nr, which displays domain availability and provides inventive suggestions for alternatives.
After you have purchased a domain name, you will need to log in to the account you created with the registrar and update the domain A record to 184.73.237.244 The procedure for this varies depending on the registrar. Here are instructions for changing the A record within popular services:
Note that you do not need to change your domain’s nameservers, only the A record. Please be aware that it may take up to 72 hours for these changes to take effect. This is a rule instated by ICANN, the organization that oversees domain registrations, and is not within our control.
Basic daily statistics are available with free Flavors accounts. More detailed stats are available with the full version of Flavors. This upgrade also provides support for external stats providers, such as Google Analytics and Clicky.
To access your stats, click on the Settings button and select the Statistics tab. The first page displays today’s stats. Click on the dropdown menu to see stats from previous days or longer spans of time.
To take advantage of all that Flavors has to offer, upgrade to the full version under the Upgrade tab within Settings, or by clicking on the pink Upgrade link at the top of the window. The upgrade is just $20 per year, and provides a host of extended features.
The About menu is located in the Design Panel, and contains the edit area for your Profile. The Contact and Metadata tabs will also be available if you are using the full version of Flavors.
To add a title and description to your Flavors site, click on the About menu in the Design Panel. Under the Profile tab are fields for your title and a description of your site. As you type, the text will display on your front page in a live preview. Your changes will automatically save when you stop typing.
To format and add links to your text, highlight the text you’d like to change and click on the respective buttons below the text field. We support hyperlinks, bold, italic, bullets and blockquotes.
To change the font, click on the Design menu and select the Font tab.
Metadata is the information that search engines use to rank pages and display results. The full version of Flavors offers the ability to edit this information.
To change the text that appears in the search results for your Flavors site, click on the About menu in the Design Panel and select the Metadata tab. There you can customize the title and description. The preview that appears below the description field displays how those results will appear in Google. Your changes will be saved automatically.
The contact form allows your readers to submit a private message to you straight from your Flavors site. With this option, your readers will not be aware of your email address unless you publish that information or send a reply.
The contact form is available only with the full version of Flavors. You will need to first upgrade from a free account to use this feature, by clicking on the pink Upgrade link at the top of the page.
To create a contact form, click on the About menu in the Design Panel, and select the Contact tab. There you’ll have the option to write a message for your readers that will display next to the form. To format and add links to your text, highlight the text you’d like to change and click on the respective buttons below the text field. We support hyperlinks, bold, italic, bullets and blockquotes.
To show or hide the link to your contact form on your front page, check or uncheck the “Show link to contact form” box below the text field in the Contact tab.
The Services menu is located in the Design Panel, and is the heart of your Flavors site. There you can connect with 18 (and counting) services across the web, from Flickr to Netflix. After you have authorized services, your readers will be able to view your photos, read your tweets, see your social profiles and more, all without leaving the page.
Click on the icon for the service you’d like to add and click on the “Add service” button that appears at the bottom of the Services menu (sometimes you will need to enter your account’s URL first). You will be brought to an authorization page on that service’s site to confirm your login information. When it’s complete, you can return to Flavors to continue setting up your site.
Free users can add up to four services to their Flavors sites. To use the the full version of Flavorsand have the option for unlimited services, upgrade your account by clicking the pink Upgrade link at the top of the page or under Settings.
You can change the title for a service that you’ve added to your Flavors site. For example, you can change the title for the Delicious service from the default “My Delicious Bookmarks” to “Things I Like.” To do this, click on the Added tab under Services in the Design Panel. You will see a pencil icon next to each service you’ve authorized. Click on the pencil to edit the title, and click again when you’re done to save.
You can change the order in which services appear in the menu on your Flavors site. To do this, click on the Services menu in your Design Panel and select the Added tab. There you’ll see a small up- and down-arrow icon next to each service you’ve authorized. Click and hold this icon to drag the service above or below another in the list.
To remove a service you’ve authorized, click on the Services menu in the Design Panel and select the Added tab. Click on the “X” to the far right of each service you’ve added to remove it from your site.
The Design menu is located in the Design Panel for your Flavors site. There you can customize your site’s layout, colors and fonts.
The layout options allow you to change the appearance of the main elements of your Flavors site.
We offer four (and counting) layouts for your Flavors front page: three that are available to free users, and Grid, which requires the full version of Flavors. You can find these within the Layouts tab under the Design menu in the Design Panel. Click on each layout option to instantly see how it will look on your Flavors site. To change to another, simply click on a different option. Your choice will be saved automatically.
The Background tab is located under Design in the Design Panel. There you can upload, tile, stretch and align your custom background image.
Flavors offers the option to upload an image to use as your site’s background. You can also mark it as “None” to use a solid color instead. To upload an image, click on the Upload button under the Backgrounds tab. Click on “Browse” to find an image that you’ve saved to your computer. Select the file and click Open, and then click Upload in the Design Panel. Your image will be added to your background image library and automatically selected as the new background for your site.
To switch to another image for your background, click on the Backgrounds tab and select the image you’d like to use from your image library, or upload a new one using the Upload button.
To delete a background from your image library, click the large red “X” that appears in the upper right corner of the image.
Custom backgrounds can be stretched to fill the whole window, tiled to repeat many times, or left as a single image in its original form. Click on the Normal, Tile or Stretch options under the background image library to change your background’s appearance.
If you are using the Normal mode for your background, you can align the background image to be flush with any side of the window. To do this, scroll to the bottom of the Design Panel under the Backgrounds tab, and click on the arrows under Alignment. Your changes will appear in real time, and will save automatically.
The Colors tab is located under Design in the Design Panel. There you can use and edit existing color palettes, and customize the appearance of the navigation bullets in the Basic layout.
The Colors menu is broken down into three areas: Palettes, Backgrounds and Content Text.
The Palettes area contains pre-made palettes for the background and text of your Flavors site. To activate a palette, simply click on its name. The palette will display on your site and save automatically.
To edit an existing palette, click on the color that you would like to change within the Background or Text areas in the Colors menu. A color selection tool will appear. Select the color you’d like to use or enter a custom hexadecimal and click Apply. There is also a No Color option, which will make the selected element transparent. When you have completed your customization, click on Save Palette at the bottom of the Color menu and name your palette when prompted. You can create a number of palettes to switch to later as you please.
To delete a custom palette, click on the red X below the palette’s display in the Color menu.
The fonts menu contains an extensive list of web fonts to use for the title and content of your Flavors site.
To change the font of your title, click on the white arrows next to the font display under Name in the Font menu. Scroll through the selection of fonts available and click on the font you would like to use. If the font you prefer is grayed-out, this means that you are using the free version of Flavors. To access all of the listed fonts, you will need to upgrade to the full version. This process is the same for content fonts, which appear below the Name list.
Each change will appear instantly on your site, and save automatically.
To change the size of your title, description or service links, click on the plus and minus arrows next to the options in the Fonts menu. The change will appear instantly on your site, and save automatically.
The Basic layout formats your service links in a list. To change the appearance of or eliminate the bullets in this list, select the shape you would like to use under the Options area in the Fonts menu. To remove the bullets, set the style to “None.”
Click on the “Forgot your password?” link under the login field at http://flavors.me. A reset will be sent to the email address associated with your Flavors account.
Please email heather@flavors.me from the email account associated with your Flavors.me username, along with a link to your Flavors site. We will verify your ownership and send you your full credentials.
A small delay is inherent to communicating with third-party services. Depending on the restrictions of the service, it may take anywhere from a few minutes to a day for changes to appear. We are working with content providers to improve this process. If you’re experiencing a delay beyond 24 hours, please post a request in Get Satisfaction. Also keep an eye on our Twitter account, where we will provide updates on any system-wide issues that interfere with updates.
When Yahoo! acquired the Delicious bookmarking service, users were offered the option to log in with their Yahoo! IDs. It is now mandatory that original Delicious accounts be merged with Yahoo! accounts in order to connect with outside services such as Flavors.
To do this, login to your Delicious account with your username and password. Then go to Settings > Accounts within Delicious and click on “Merge with Yahoo! Account.” Click Start and use your preferred Yahoo! ID and password to associate your Delicious account with your Yahoo! account.
If you’ve purchased the full version of Flavors and set up a custom domain, but are unable to see your Flavors site at the new URL, please make sure you have the following three settings in place:
Please be aware that it can take up to 72 hours for these changes to take effect.
If you’re having trouble with your account or have an idea you’d like us to hear, please visit our forum in Get Satisfaction. There you can search for similar questions and suggestions from other Flavors users. If you do not see your issue covered there, please feel free to post a new request. We try to reply as quickly as we can with answers and updates.
If you are considering deleting your account, we would greatly appreciate hearing from you so we can address any concerns you have and help meet your needs. Please write to heather@flavors.me with details about your desire to leave. If you determine that Flavors is not right for you at this time, you can delete your account from the bottom of your Settings page, at http://flavors.me/settings/account.
