extra bits


pick a new template p. 40

  • When you pick a new template, the old template, and any changes you might have made to it, are lost forever. You may want to back up your old template first (page 51).


add real links to sidebar p. 41

  • Most templates are divided into the main section, which will hold the header and the individual blog posts, and a sidebar, which holds any or all of the about, links, previous posts, and archives sections.

  • You may want to choose short names for your links so that they fit nicely in the sidebar.

  • You can add target="_blank" at the end of the opening <a> tag so that external links open in a new window.


remove the "about me" p. 42

  • Each element of a blog has a corresponding placeholder or template tag. You can find a complete table in Appendix A.


rename "archives" p. 43

  • There is no sacred text in a Blogger layout. You can change any label you like.


add "previous posts" p. 44

  • The conditional part of the <BloggerPreviousItems> tag means that the contained code is only generated if a previous post exists. So if there are only four previous posts, the contained code is only generated four times.

  • In other templates, the previous posts section may be marked up with different HTML tags. If you want the previous posts to have the same formatting as the other sidebar sections, follow the formatting you find in your template.

  • Blogger's special placeholder tags are case sensitive. Make sure you capitalize the same letters that they do.


find the right tag p. 46

  • Deciphering templates, which are a combination of HTML/XHTML, CSS, and Blogger's template tags, requires some knowledge of HTML/XHTML and CSS. For a comprehensive and clear explanation of HTML, XHTML, and CSS, see my HTML for the World Wide Web, Fifth Edition, with XHTML and CSS: Visual QuickStart Guide. You can also find complete tables of HTML/XHTML, CSS and Blogger template tags on my Web site: http://www.cookwood.com/


change the header p. 47

  • Even if the rest of the template changes make you squeamish, you shouldn't be afraid to choose your own colors. You can find a table of hexadecimal codes for colors (like #ffebcd) on my Web site: http://www.cookwood.com/html/colors/

  • Since CSS is indifferent to extra returns, I often add extra ones to make it easier to read the code.

  • On the other hand, CSS is very particular about semicolons. Every style rule must be separated from the next with a semicolon.


unify the color scheme p. 48

  • You can also take advantage of colors that you like in an existing template. For example, I copied the beige background of the description (#ffebcd) and used it for the text in the title and for the background of the post titles.


add a footer p. 49

  • Because a footer should appear only once on a page, it must go after the final </Blogger> tag. Items that should be repeated with every blog entry must go within the opening and closing <Blogger> tags.


change date display p. 52

  • Actually, you'll only be able to pick Wednesday if it happens to be Wednesday when you go to the Date Header Format menu. The menu changes depending on what day it is.


archive by week p. 53

  • As long as post pages are enabled (here in the Settings | Archiving page), changing the archiving frequency has no effect on your permalinks. If you disable post pages, however, changing the archiving frequency changes the name of the files where your archived posts are stored, and thus your permalinks will change.


specify the time zone p. 54

  • When you change the time zone setting, the time stamp for each of your blogs is updated accordingly. So, if you had created an entry at 10pm EST in Charleston, SC but hadn't changed the time zone yet, the original time stamp would read 7pm (since the default time zone is PST, three hours earlier). If you then change the time zone setting to EST, the entry's time stamp will be updated to 10pm.




Publishing a Blog with Blogger
Publishing a Blog with Blogger: Visual QuickProject Guide (2nd Edition)
ISBN: 0321637526
EAN: 2147483647
Year: 2004
Pages: 135

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