Blogger Templates Designs Plugins Widgets Hacks Tips Tricks Tutorials

12 January 2008

Creating a Blog List with Blogger Video Clip

Creating a Blog List with Blogger Video Clip

Ever wanted to add a blog list or blogroll to your blogger blog? Check out this video tutorial!

Today we’re releasing a new page element for Layouts blogs: Blog List. The Blog List improves on our Link List page element by using blogs’ RSS and Atom feeds to show update times, post titles, and snippets.

Use a Blog List to put a blogroll in your sidebar, or make a few to categorize the blogs you read. The Blog List works well for any page that has an RSS or Atom feed, so you can get creative: link to news sites, podcasts, Twitter streams, search results, or anything else with a feed.



Here’s a quick summary of the features that a Blog List gives you:

- Link to blogs, web pages, and feeds from your blog’s sidebar, with an optional favicon
- For pages with RSS and Atom feeds, Blog List can show last updated time, post title, and a snippet of the latest post
- Sort links alphabetically or by last update time
- Show all links, or hide some behind a “show all” link
- Import subscriptions from Google Reader
- Blog List links are visible to search engine crawlers, so your blog’s PageRank and reputation flow to those you link to

Want to see it in action? We made a help video to walk you through adding and configuring a Blog List:


Read More...

11 January 2008

Speed Up Your Blogger Page Load Time - Compress Your CSS

Speed Up Your Blogger Page Load Time - Compress Your CSS

You have to admit, most free 3rd party Blogger templates that you download are a mess. You open up the xml file and it’s a long and ugly-looking beast of code spaghetti. If you’re like me, you prefer a nice and neat template (even though you’ll be the only one seeing it) and you’ll want to tidy it up.

Most of the code you don’t want to tinker with but the .css code (the part that styles your entire blog with images and colors) is where some people like to change font colors, sizes, or even just space it out properly so it’s important that it’s not only neatly organized, but also properly aligned.

More importantly, did you know the more lines of code your template has, the longer it takes to load in a browser? So your 1,500 lines of code in your newest Blogger template could really be much shorter in size, thus speeding up page load times for your visitors. The slower your site, the more likely a visitor will be deterred and not wait for it to load up.

So here’s a neat trick to optimize your template. I’ve started doing it with some of the newer templates now being hosted on eBlog Templates. You’ll want to do what’s called “commpress your css” into a much smaller format. There’s a site I use called CSSDrive that offers a free web-based CSS Compressor. All you do is select a few basic options like compression mode and comments handling and then paste in your css. The css is the code between the <b:skin> and </b:skin> tags.

Make sure you backup your template code before doing this! Some people might not like how the css looks after it’s compressed so it’s best to have a backup. You also might make a mistake and copy the wrong sections which could screw up your template code. Bottom-line, backup your template before doing this.



After you click on the “Compress-it!” button it will go through your .css code and shrinks it down. Essentially it removes unnecessary white spaces and better organizes each css element into one line. Here are the results for one of the Blogger templates I compressed.



My xml Blogger template was originally 1,286 lines of code and after the css compression was done, it dropped it down to 914. Now that’s not a huge difference (14%) and you probably won’t notice a difference when you load up your blog with the new code, but every little bit helps. Also, some template code might be messier than others so the size decrease could potentially be a lot more.

I also just ran the normal compression mode and wanted to keep my comments so if you go with the super compact mode and strip out all comments, you can compress it even further.

This tool can be used for WordPress blogs or any other websites actually. Most of the Blogger templates I come across are the ones in need of a code clean up, however. So if you’re ready to give CSS Compression a shot, check out CSS Drive’s free tool and compress away!

Source : eblogtemplates.com

Read More...

10 January 2008

Uploading a Video with Blogger Video Clip

Uploading a Video with Blogger Video Clip

Ever wanted to upload a video to your Blogger blog? Check out this video tutorial!

Today we are releasing video uploading to Blogger! This feature allows you to upload videos and create a video podcast with the same ease that we currently provide with photo uploading.


When you go to the Blogger post editor, you'll see a new button () next to the image uploading one. Just select a video from your computer, wait a few minutes for the upload and processing to occur, and voila! Now when you visit your blog, you will see something like this (of course without Tomo, the Blogger Akita):



How long does it take to upload and process a video?

Uploading a video may take a while, since videos tend to be very large files. However, the exact amount of time required will depend on the size of your specific video and the speed of your internet connection. The processing stage usually takes about five minutes. Blogger will display a status message below the post editor to let you know how this is going, and there will be a placeholder icon in your post to show where the video will appear.

Read More...

09 January 2008

Creating a Podcast with Blogger Video Clip

Creating a Podcast with Blogger Video Clip

Ever wanted to know to create your own Podcast with Blogger? Check out this video tutorial!



In this article we show you exactly how to produce a podcast. Why is this important? Because, as stated above, "Anyone can have an audience," and podcasting allows you to reach millions of potential clients- for free. No other medium available today can do this. You can publish books, get booked on radio shows, give seminars, advertise, and network like crazy, and not reach a fraction of the audience possible with podcasting.

Read More...

08 January 2008

Adding a Google Gadget to your blog Video Clip

Adding a Google Gadget to your blogger

Add thousands of Google Gadgets to your Blogger blog by following this video tutorial!

Spice Up Your Blog with Google Gadgets!
Fresh out of Blogger's own Testing ground, Google Gadgets have now been enabled for all layouts blogs. This new interface allows for the integration of iGoogle Gadgets directly into your sidebar, with an array of customization options for easy tweaking. Also built into Gadgets is our robust Gadget Directory, which lets you browse through thousands of cool gadgets and add them to your blog with a simple click of a button.

You can access Gadgets from your dashboard under the Layout | Gadgets tab (the tab formerly known as "Layout | Page Elements.")



Gadgets have built-in configuration for easy integration into your layout. All gadgets are automatically sized to match the width of your sidebar, and their height in pixels can be adjusted using the Gadget's built-in options. Our large list of Gadgets is constantly growing and evolving. You can browse them all from our comprehensive Gadget Directory, which runs the gamut from sports updates to site counters, and flash games to local information tickers. To bring up the Gadget Directory, just click Add a Gadget from your layout. Have an idea for a gadget that isn't listed? Then build it yourself! We are always on the lookout for great ideas, so please submit your own creation to the iGoogle Gadget Directory, and then let us know about it in our Help Group— we may just add it to our 'Featured Gadgets' Section.

Itching to get started? Have a look at our our help video below for some guidance on browsing, adding, and customizing a gadget on your blog:


Read More...

07 January 2008

Purchasing and setting up a Custom Domain through Blogger

Purchasing and setting up a Custom Domain through Blogger

Have you ever wanted to set up your own Custom Domain through Blogger? Check out this video tutorial!



How do I buy a custom domain through Blogger?
Interested in purchasing and setting up a custom domain through Blogger? Either read the instructions below or click on the video to watch a tutorial!

You can buy a domain from the Settings | Publishing tab,. Just select the Custom Domain option, enter the domain name you'd like and click Check Availability. This will take you to the Google Apps domain purchase website, which will let you know if the domain is available and proceed with the registration if it is. Finally, you'll go to Google Checkout where you'll make your payment. Your domain is registered with one of our registration partners, either eNom or GoDaddy.

You'll get a domain registration confirmation email from Google Apps. Clicking the link in this email allows you to sign this domain up for an Apps account. Google Checkout will also send you an email with the order receipt.

Read More...

06 January 2008

How to create a blog with Blogger Video Clip

How to create a blog with Blogger Sign in to use Blogger with your Google Account

The new Blogger requires a Google Account to access your blogs. Haven't switched yet? Sign in using your old Blogger account instead.

Blogger is a free blog publishing tool from Google for easily sharing your thoughts with the world. Blogger makes it simple to post text, photos and video onto your personal or team blog. Sign in to use Blogger
with your Google Account


Read More...